National issues steer attention.
In Spain, the latest pre-election survey by the Center for Sociological Research (CIS) predicted a victory for the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), but most other polls predict that the country's conservative People's Party (PP) will win the elections.
However, the leaders of the main political parties focus on the country's internal issues - such as the Amnesty law for the withdrawal of legal actions against several Catalan separatists and corruption cases - resulting in little attention for the European Parliament elections.
Meanwhile, Portugal grapples with fears of low turnout. It is one of the EU countries that allows early voting, which was reinforced this year in an attempt by the Portuguese authorities to encourage people to vote. Many Portuguese went to the polls several days early last Sunday, following the country's worst abstention rate during the 2019 elections, when around 69 percent of eligible people didn't vote. This was the worst rate since joining the EU in 1986.
Slovenia will hold three referendums at the same time as the European elections, including on assisted voluntary end-of-life and legalisation of cannabis.
In addition, the process of recognising Palestinian statehood was underway just before the elections. As a result, European issues have not received as much attention as they would otherwise have. On Tuesday night, the Slovenian parliament formally approved the recognition, making Slovenia the latest European country to do so after Spain, Ireland and Norway.
Government parties in Slovenia had hoped that the simultaneous referendums would increase turnout in the European elections. A poll commissioned by national daily newspaper Delo last Friday showed that 39 percent would turn up to vote, ten percentage points more than in the previous EU election, and altogether a higher turnout than in any EU election in Slovenia so far.
In Slovakia, the attack on pro-Russia Prime Minister Robert Fico has shaken up the campaign and could boost support for his populist coalition.
In Poland, where Donald Tusk's pro-EU government came to power at the end of 2023, the campaign remained marked by the angry farmers, supported by the right-wing nationalist opposition party Law and Justice (PiS).
Migration on voters' minds.
EU voters, according to surveys, are weighing up issues spanning from the war in Ukraine, economic prospects, trade protectionism including with the United States and the risk of artificial intelligence (AI) to jobs, migration, and also climate change.
In Austria, for example, according to a survey by the Austrian Society for European Politics which surveyed 5,400 people, a uniform EU migration and asylum policy (56 percent) and reducing the gap between the rich and the poor (55 percent) are among the highest priorities for citizens.
In the Czech Republic, far-right populist groups such as Freedom and Direct Democracy (Svoboda a přímá demokracie, or SPD) have succeeded in making the topic of migration a major issue in this election as well. It claims that the government negotiated a bad Migration and Asylum Pact for the Czech Republic and thus invited migrants to Europe and to the Czech Republic.
ANO 2011, the party of former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš which is part of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, has gradually become one of the most vocal critics of the EU. It strongly opposes the EU Green Deal and the recently adopted Migration and Asylum Pact. According to polls in May, ANO 2011 is set to win the elections with 23,1 percent of the vote.
Voting in the EU neighbourhood.
While European countries that are not a member of the EU cannot vote in the European Parliament elections, in some countries, campaigns are still held.
An example is Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). On June 9, Croatian citizens in BiH will elect twelve MEPs from 300 candidates and 25 lists. The elections will be held at seven locations across the country.
BiH doesn't have its own representatives in the European Parliament because it is not a member of the EU, but the policy of Croatian representatives is often focused on advocating for EU enlargement and other issues important to BiH, especially since Croats live in the country as a constituent people.
However, Slovenian, Polish and Romanian citizens will not be able to vote in the European Parliament elections in BiH, because the government did not give its consent after opposition from ministers of Serbian nationality. In Ljubljana, this decision was described as unacceptable and the Foreign Ministry summoned the interim Bosnian charge d'affaires in Slovenia to express its protest.
(The content is based on news by agencies participating in the enr, in this case AFP, ANSA, APA, CTK, dpa, EFE, Europa Press, FENA, Lusa, STA).
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