The European Parliament is the only parliamentary assembly of supranational character in the world, which is not composed of members of national parliaments but elected by direct suffrage. When in 1976 the Council of Ministers of the European Community decided to introduce direct universal suffrage, the elaboration of a uniform electoral procedure common to all Member States was expected to happen in the near future. Until the act was ready Member States could apply their own electoral procedures, whereas the community law regulated only essential matters, necessary to hold the elections in the Community. Obstacles which contributed to problems with the establishment of a uniform electoral system for elections to the European Parliament in the entire European Union led to the adoption of “common principles” of the European Parliament electoral procedures in 2002. Since 2002 several proposals for the modification of the electoral law have been made in each term of the European Parliament, aiming at its harmonisation. The aim of the article is to evaluate whether currently it is possible to modify the election system to the European Parliament, which would go further than the provisions of 2002 and whether it would improve the uniformity of applied electoral procedures.

The objective of this article is to explain the differing levels of support achieved by Eurosceptic parties in European Parliament elections in Poland for the years 2004, 2009, and 2014. Taking into account the specificity of EP elections, which in theory assign greater importance to European issues, the analysis is conducted using the “Eurosceptic opportunity structure”, which is composed of: political space, social attitudes towards integration, and the external factor (the dynamics of the European integration process). Additionally, there is analysis of the attitudes of Eurosceptic parties standing for election. The analysis demonstrates that the supply and demand sides created a similar opportunity structure for Eurosceptic parties in all three elections, while the external factor provided those parties with greater possibilities in 2004 and 2014. Analysis of the attitudes of Eurosceptic parties, however, indicated that they had greater chances to attract voters by invoking the European question in 2004 and 2014. The combination of these conclusions along with the support received by Eurosceptics in particular elections confirms the validity and the explanatory function of the adopted assumptions, while emphasizing the fundamental role played by the parties themselves in the examined aspect. Nonetheless, to confirm the primary assumption and state with more certainty the impact of the European issue on electoral behaviours, more in-depth analysis is necessary.

Gloss to the Judgment of the Court of Justice 9 June 2022, EP v Préfet du Gers and Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques (INSEE), C-673/20

The commented judgment was formed by the Court of Justice in the term of preliminary ruling, which was asked in the argument between a United Kingdom national who had been resident in France since 1984. As a result of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, the applicant was deprived of her right to vote in European Parliament elections and in municipal elections in their Member State of residence during that period. The issue in dispute concerns citizenship of the European Union and the rights associated with it, including electoral rights. The Court of Justice has unequivocally recognised that when a Member State withdraw from the European Union, its citizens lose their status as citizens of the Union and any privileges attached to it.