The Banking The Banking Executive Magazine - June 2024 Issue

EU Election 2024 man MEPs get 96 seats and the French get 81, while Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg only get six each. The European Parliament is based in both Brussels and Strasbourg, with MEPs doing the bulk of their commit- tee work in Belgium, and most of the monthly sessions where they actually vote on laws in France. CHOOSING THE EU NEXT LEADERS The next chief of the European Com- mission, the executive body that pro- poses new EU laws, is supposed to come from the political grouping that wins the most seats. After the election, the new European Parliament must approve or reject the nominees for Commission presi- dent and 26 other national commis- sioners, who will lead the EU for the next five years. The commissioners (one from each country) oversee core EU policy areas including global trade deals, farm subsidies, antitrust fines against US tech giants like Google and Apple and the potential enlargement of the bloc to include Ukraine. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT The European Parliament is one of the three main EU institutions, and the only one that is directly elected. The other two institutions are the Council, where the ministers and heads of government meet, and the European Commission, the bloc’s ex- ecutive arm. When MEPs get into Parliament, they find like-minded politicians from other countries and form political groups. Currently there are seven groupings: The Left, the Greens, the Socialists & Democrats, Renew Europe, the Euro- pean People’s Party, the European Conservatives and Reformists and the Identity and Democracy group. The winner of the election is the group that has the most seats after the poll, and that is important because the EU leaders are obliged, accord- ing to the EU’s treaties, to take the election results into account when they put forward a name for the Eu- ropean Commission president. KEY PERSONS IN 2024 EU ELECTION Ursula Von der Leyen, who is Euro- pean Commission president since 2019, is running for a second term of European Commission presidency. The main rival is Nicolas Schmit who has been traveling across Europe connecting with Socialist and center- left voters, arguing for better housing, workers’ rights and not backtracking on the Green Deal. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, has been touring the EU to get out the vote, making a particular effort to attract youngsters to cast their ballots. TURN OUT AT THE 2024 EU ELECTION The 2024 EU election failed to draw the crowds, and turnout was lower than it is for national European elec- tion bringing with it a real legitimacy problem for the EU. The EU election typically sees lower turnout in Cen- tral and Eastern Europe than in richer northern and western countries. ISSUE 186 JUNE 2024 the BANKING EXECUTIVE 9