Voting Rights in the EU - what can the EU do to increase democratic participation?

Source: EESC

by Aari Helmelaid, 6 minutes

Suffrage is a right. Suffrage is a privilege. Suffrage is a moral duty. The ability of citizens to vote is key for the functioning of a democratic society. Citizens of the EU are given substantial voting rights both in their home member states and abroad, but the mere right of suffrage has proven insufficient to combat the lack of interest in elections at both the national and the supranational level and the decrease in democratic participation. This begs the question, what is the EU doing to increase democratic participation?

Basic voting rights

The most basic voting rights are the rights of citizens to vote in the elections of their member state of origin. Typically, this allows them to vote in the municipal or regional elections, parliamentary elections and depending on the constitutional system, presidential elections (such as is the case in France, where the head of state is elected by popular vote). Some European states, however, do not allow a head of state to be elected through popular elections, either because they are a monarchy, or because the head of state is instead elected indirectly by the parliament. For example, in Italy, the president is elected jointly by parliament and regional representatives. In Sweden on the other hand, the head of state is a monarch and is hence not elected. Most European countries usually also extend voting rights to long-term non-EU residents, although there is no harmonized approach to voting rights of third-country nationals in the member states. For example, in the Netherlands, non-EU nationals who are at least 18 years old and have been resident in the Netherlands for at least 5 years, have the right to vote in municipal elections. Latvia on the other hand does not allow any voting rights in local elections for non-nationals or non-EU citizens. 

EU citizens living abroad in another EU member state have the right to vote and stand in municipal elections, on the same grounds as nationals of the host member state, as promoted by article 22(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Any person who holds the nationality of an EU country is automatically also an EU citizen. Citizenship of the Union is additional to and does not replace national citizenship.

Voting rights for EU citizens living abroad and elections of the European Parliament

In addition to the basic voting rights in the member states, EU citizens also have the privilege of voting in the elections to the European Parliament. Article 39 TFEU guarantees the right of every EU citizen to vote and to stand as a candidate at elections to the European Parliament in the Member State in which he or she resides, under the same conditions as nationals of that State.

Such voting rights are unique because European treaties not only created a set of supranational institutions and a legal system that is deeply intertwined with the national legal systems, but they also created the freedom of EU citizens to reside in any member state and be treated equally in all relevant matters as national of the state. 

The project of European Integration surpassed many of the barriers that would otherwise jeopardize a country’s autonomy, all while holding conferral and respect for national identities to the highest degree as the fundamental principles to guide the governance of the Union.

Democratic participation is in decline

Despite extensive voting rights granted to EU citizens, turnout for elections to the European parliament tends to be rather low and has in fact been decreasing. From 1979 to 2014, turnout fell from an average of 62% to 43%. In the most recent elections to the European Parliament, turnout was 51 % which signals an improvement. Nonetheless, when less than half of those eligible to vote are not exercising this right, the EU must realize the existence of some shortcomings in its European Integration project and make reforms to increase democratic participation.

For students in a city as internationally oriented as Maastricht – the birthplace of the Maastricht Treaty -  engaging in EU elections and politics is rather obvious. However, the population of the member states, living in more secluded areas, disconnected from global or international matters, may be disengaged from the broader European issues that are handled in some distant bureaucratic metropole in western Europe.

What can the EU do to increase democratic participation?

Although the goals to increase democratic participation are clear, there is no singular solution to achieve this. There have been a few initiatives on the Union level that aim to increase democratic participation and particularly turnout in elections. 

Recently in 2022, an initiative has arisen in the European Parliament for a treaty change in the electoral system. The proposal calls for a pan-European constituency, under which European voters would have two votes in the elections to the European Parliament. One vote is allocated to elect MEPs in national constituencies, and one vote in a Union-wide constituency, composed of 28 additional seats. This means that a voter in Cyprus could cast their second vote for a candidate in Slovenia for example if they feel that their values are best represented in a union-wide perspective by the foreign candidate. To uphold balanced geographical representation, member states would be divided into three groups depending on the size of their population. The lists would be filled with candidates coming from these groups in a proportional way. This EU-wide constituency list of candidates should be submitted by European electoral entities, such as coalitions of national political parties, national associations of voters, or European political parties in the European Parliament.

Increasing the variety of candidates may help combat the common criticism that the European Union suffers from a democratic deficit, and may increase interest in voting among the population.

source: European Citizens’ Initiative

Other participatory Initiatives

Participatory democracy is much more than just voting every few years in big elections. Another initiative on the civil level is the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), a mechanism aimed at increasing direct democracy and allowing EU citizens to propose changes in EU policy. The initiative permits any proposal, with the signatures of at least one million citizens in the European Union, from at least seven different member states to call on the Commission to propose a legal act (a directive or a regulation) in an area where the EU has conferred powers from the member states.

The citizens thereby practically become an institution of the EU. Only the commission has the direct privilege of legislative initiative, but the European Parliament can suggest proposals. Through the ECI, the citizens fall on the same level as the European Parliament and are able to ‘suggest’ legislation to the Commission. The successful initiatives are brought to the attention of the Commission which has the discretion to decide whether to legislate on the proposed policy. The Commission is not obliged to do so, but the refusal to take into consideration the will of the people that organized and supported the initiative puts pressure on the Commission to take steps toward more concrete action. A few ECIs have been successful. For example, the Right2Water initiative aimed to force the EU and the member states to implement the human right to water and sanitation. The initiative led to the Commission proposing and adopting the Drinking Water Directive.

With that being said, participatory democracy should in the first place be also inherent on the local level. For this, the initiative of participatory budgeting (PB) has become popular among European cities. PB involves the city administration allocating a certain amount of their budget to projects initiated and voted upon by local residents. Most projects involve creating more opportunities in neighbourhoods, such as building community gardens, playgrounds, and outdoor activity areas. Participatory budgeting projects allow for more experimentation on the local level, which could be an effective tool for growth in participation in state elections and potentially more attentiveness to EU-level initiatives and elections. PBs bring a sense of community and add a personal touch to local governance. There are criticisms around PBs too, such as lack of diverse representation in the local population, and lack of trust in municipal authorities.

Much can be said about voting rights, election participation, and the variety of projects aiming to increase direct democracy, but only time will tell whether Europe can overcome barriers between the citizens and the governing institutions, to head towards a more Europeanised, democratic future.