How did Europe vote?

In the morning of Monday 26th May, Europe woke with a feeling of anticipation; everybody wanted to know how Europe voted. The latest figures (as of the morning of 26/05/2014) show a victory of the European People’s Party (EPP), led by Jean-Claude Juncker, with 214 seats. Close behind them, the Socialists won 189 seats. Then come the liberals (ALDE) with 66 seats, the Greens with 52, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) with 46, the European Left with 42, the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) with 38. One hundred and four seats are left for the currently non-aligned and newcomers to the European Parliament.

These results were analysed this morning at an event co-organised by Burson-Marsteller, Votewatch Europe, and the League of Young Voters, which comprised two panels to discuss how Europe voted and what it means for EU policy. Coordinated by VoteWatchEurope, the first panel featured Professor Simon Hix, Head of the Government Department of the London School of Economics, Poul Skytte Christoffersen, the Danish Ambassador to Belgium and former Head of Cabinet to the Secretary General of the Council of the EU, Claire Fernandez, policy officer at the European Network Agaisnt Racism and Giuseppe Porcaro, Secretary General of the European Youth Forum.

Although, we do not yet have the age breakdown of those that voted, Giuseppe Porcaro underlined the concrete impact of young leaders in the campaign. For example, Ska Keller, the Green leading candidate for the European Commission presidency, is only 32. Indeed, the strong results of Matteo Renzi’s party in Italy and of Alexis Tsipras in Greece showed that young leaders managed to convince the electorate. However, one of the lessons of this campaign is that, compared with 2009, youth issues and especially youth unemployment, were among the key battlegrounds debated between the candidates. It remains to be seen whether the new European Parliament will live up to the promises that candidates made on key youth issues.

The discussion this morning also highlighted the impressive work of the League of Young Voters, supported by the European Youth Forum. In the weeks following the final results, the League will look at the overall impact of youth-led campaigns on the 2014 European Parliament elections campaign.