Abdullah Abu Deif (Cairo)
370 million voters in the 27 European Union countries will go to the polls from June 6 to 9, to choose 720 representatives for the European Parliament, in elections that are expected to consolidate the rise of the right and nationalist parties, which may redraw the directions of the political agenda in Brussels.
Khaled Saad Zaghloul, advisor to the International Press Organization in Paris, explained that the European Parliament is one of the three most prominent legislative authority bodies in the European Union and the most important of its seven institutions, as it undertakes legislation alongside the Council of the European Union, and is considered one of the most powerful legislative bodies in the world.
Zaghloul added that Parliament consists of 720 representatives who are chosen by direct election, and represents the second largest electoral democracy in the world “after the Indian Parliament” and the largest non-national democratic electoral district, in addition to 370 million European voters registered in the June 2024 elections.
According to Zaghloul, members of the European Parliament draft legislation and make decisions that affect all aspects of life throughout the European Union, starting from supporting the economy and fighting poverty to climate change and security. Members highlight important political, economic and social issues, and defend the Union’s values of respecting human rights. Humanity, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law. Parliament also approves the Union budget and controls the spending of funds. It also elects the President of the European Commission, appoints its commissioners and holds them accountable.
Five years ago, youth climate demonstrations contributed to imposing the issue of the environment, as the European Commission included it at the heart of its wide-ranging plan to revive the economy after the Covid pandemic, before launching the ambitious “Green Charter” legislation package that included the carbon market, energy, transportation, deforestation and other environmental issues. .
Political analyst in European affairs, Ahmed Al-Yasiri, points out that the upcoming European elections differ from the previous ones in 2019, as they witness a clear decline of the left and the rise of the far right as a basic feature, explaining the matter to the spread of nationalism and identity politics in the world after long years of control by economic motives that became famous. By theorizing, there are left-wing parties.
Al-Yasiri said in statements to Al-Ittihad that liberalism is retreating in the face of identity conflicts in the world due to factors such as internal division, politics of fear, cultural war, and countries’ recent convergence around identity, which has strengthened these conflicts over time, and from here the Yemeni parties began to control the elections. and global trends.
Two historical crises, namely the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, demonstrated the advantages of Europe, according to Brussels, but they nevertheless strengthened the position of the far-right parties, which opinion polls revealed had great chances in the European elections.
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