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Report on the 2019 Elections to the European Parliament

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Report on the 2019 Elections to the European Parliament EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 19.6.2020 COM(2020) 252 final COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE Report on the 2019 elections to the European Parliament {SWD(2020) 113 final} EN EN 1. Introduction The elections to the European Parliament are among the largest democratic exercises in the world. In May 2019, European Union citizens directly elected 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)1 from over 15,000 parliamentary candidates, with over 250 million votes cast in Europe. The record-high turnout in the 2019 European Parliament elections (‘the elections’), the highest in 25 years, shows the vibrancy of our democracy and the renewed engagement of EU citizens in shaping the future of the EU, especially among its youth. The post-election survey shows that EU citizens believe that their voice counts in the EU as never before.2 A truly European debate emerged on topics such as the economy, climate change and human rights and democracy.3 These were also the most digital European Parliamentary elections. A large proportion EU citizens use the internet,4 and online sources and social media play an increased role in our European democratic debate, giving political actors unprecedented opportunities to get their message across, and even greater access to the debate for citizens. The Cambridge Analytica scandal5 revealed a darker side to these advances. It brought to light interference in elections exploiting online social networks to mislead citizens and manipulate the debate and voters’ choices,6 by concealing or misrepresenting key information such as the origin and political intent of communications, their sources and their funding. 1 On 31 January, the UK left the EU and the UK’s elected Members ceased to be Members of the European Parliament. Consequently, the total number of MEPs went down from 751 to 705, with 46 of the 73 seats vacated by the UK held in reserve for new countries joining the EU. The remaining 27 seats were redistributed among 14 EU countries, better to reflect the principle of degressive proportionality, as follows: France (+5), Spain (+5), Italy (+3), The Netherlands (+3), Ireland (+2), Sweden (+1), Austria (+1), Denmark (+1), Finland (+1), Slovakia (+1), Croatia (+1), Estonia (+1), Poland (+1) and Romania (+1). Data presented in this report has been adjusted to reflect this change. 2 56% agree that their voice counts in the EU (the most positive result since this question was first asked in 2002). European Parliament, The 2019 post-electoral survey, p. 11, see: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/at-your-service/files/be- heard/eurobarometer/2019/post-election-survey-2019-complete-results/report/en-post-election-survey-2019-report.pdf. 3 Based on over 11,000 electoral materials, including posters, television commercials, social media posts and printed announcements by 418 political parties or candidates, as well as 193 official Facebook accounts, the European Elections Monitoring Center identified the most common issues raised in election campaigns, namely ‘Europe’ (15% of all topics), followed by ‘values,’ ‘economics,’ ‘social’ and the ‘environment’. See Johansson, Bengt and Novelli, Edoardo, ‘2019 European elections campaign – Images, topics, media in the 28 Member States’, 9 July 2019, https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/e6767a95-a386-11e9-9d01-01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 4 Most EU citizens use the internet at least once a week and almost half (45%) now use it as their main source for information on national political matters and to find out about the EU. Standard Eurobarometer 90 – Media use in the European Union, December 2018, https://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/index.cfm/ResultDoc/download/DocumentKy/86432. 5 The scandal broke in 2018 following reports including from former employees of Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy company, that Cambridge Analytica had commissioned an app made available to Facebook users to harvest data from them and their circle of contacts, which was used subsequently to target political messaging in the context of a number of elections in subsequent years. Data was taken from US citizens, and citizens from a number of EU states. Follow-up actions were taken by regulators. 6 For instance by targeting specific minorities and vulnerable groups (See on this, the European Parliament Resolution of 10 October 2019 on foreign electoral interference and disinformation in national and European democratic processes (2019/2810(RSP)). 1 Personal data could also be used covertly and unlawfully to target citizens with manipulative content. Behavioural insights derived from citizens’ online activity were used to ‘game’ the online platforms’ systems to artificially amplify this content. Other online interference techniques may be used, including cyberattacks and circumvention of traditional electoral safeguards such as funding rules. Before the elections, the Commission published a package of measures (‘the electoral package’) aimed at addressing these challenges, helping to ensure that the elections were both free and fair. The package promoted a comprehensive approach and mutual support among competent authorities, supported by the establishment of elections networks at national and European level. It built on long-standing work with Member States in the context of elections and called for improved transparency in political campaigning, provided increased clarity on the application of data protection requirements in the electoral context, promoted oversight by competent authorities and protection against cyber threats, as well as greater awareness and readiness to meet the challenges of the online environment.7 The Commission’s Fundamental Rights Colloquium in November 2018 was dedicated to Democracy in Europe. This high-level event identified avenues to foster free, open and healthy democratic governance in an era of low turnout in elections, populism, disinformation and challenges facing civil society.8 The electoral package, coupled with the Commission’s initiatives on disinformation – the code of practice on disinformation9 and the action plan against disinformation,10 including the Rapid Alert System and the analytical and awareness-raising activities of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Strategic Communication (StratCom) Task Forces – contributed to securing the integrity of the electoral process and voters’ confidence in it, which improved.11 Building on the findings of the report on the 2014 European Parliament elections,12 lessons learned from past elections, and delivering on the commitments in the 2017 EU citizenship report to promote and enhance citizens’ participation in the democratic life of the EU,13 the Commission took a number of initiatives to increase the sense of a European dimension in the elections and to support the broad participation of all EU citizens. It worked with other EU institutions, as well as with political parties, Member States and others. It also engaged 7 Adopted on 12 September 2018, State of the Union 2018, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_18_5681. 8 https://ec.europa.eu/info/events/annual-colloquium-fundamental-rights/2018-annual-colloquium-fundamental-rights- 2018-nov-26_en. 9 https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=54454. 10 Jointly issued in 2018 by the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/action_plan_against_disinformation.pdf. 11 Confidence in free and fair elections improved in 21 Member States between September 2018 and June 2019. The biggest increases were observed in Greece (80%, +18 pp.), Lithuania (78%, +14 pp.), Romania (65%, +14 pp.) and Spain (77%, +12 pp.). For further details, see section 4 of the staff working document which accompanies this communication. 12 https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/com_2015_206_en.pdf 13 http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/document.cfm?doc_id=40723 2 with Member States to ensure that EU law and rights are upheld in the elections, addressing the concerns raised by individual citizens and stakeholders. The Commission also stepped up its communication efforts vis-à-vis European citizens, in close cooperation with the European Parliament with a strong national and local dimension. This report reviews the above elements14 based on: - extensive responses to Commission questionnaires received from Member States, the European and national political parties, national data protection authorities and IT platforms;15 - exchanges with Member States in the framework of the newly established European Cooperation Network on Elections and a related expert group; and - Eurobarometer and other surveys including the post-election survey published by the European Parliament, and relevant studies. 2. Participation in the elections 50.66%16 of EU citizens eligible to vote took part in the 2019 elections. This figure is a 25- year high and marks the first increase in turnout since 1979. The increases since the 2014 elections were strong in most Member States, particularly in nine.17 Modest decreases were also observed in eight Member States.18 Significant discrepancies in turnout among Member States remain.19 Both Europe’s young and first-time voters drove turnout figures up. Their turnout increased strongly and exceeded the increase in turnout of other age groups.20 Of the youngest age category,21 42% indicated they voted, compared to only 28% in 2014: a
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