On 3rd May, the European Parliament adopted a report on the reform of the EU electoral act, harmonising several voting modalities and providing for the creation of a second vote aimed at electing 28 MEPs on a Union-wide constituency.
Under the French and Czech presidencies of the European Union, the Council has been discussing its own position, and a public session of the General Affairs Council will take place on 18 October to exchange views on the matter (see here the background note for the Council discussion on the electoral law, including specific questions proposed by the Czech presidency).
Following extensive research, European Democracy Consulting published a report for the Council (and a subsequent brief presentation) showing that, beyond its objective contribution to geographical diversity, the arbitrary re-ordering system introduced by the European Parliament does not actually prevent the over-representation of Member States large and small, that it suffers from a high degree of volatility, that it fails to sufficiently respect parties’ and movements’ preferences in the ordering of their lists, and, most importantly, that it introduces a structural and unavoidable discrimination favouring the largest Member States of each group.
On 11 October, given the technical nature of the discussion, European Democracy Consulting published a detailed outline of the shortcomings and limitations of the Parliament’s proposal. Today, we are publishing a second detailed outline explaining the Ranked apportionment method — a transnational list system solving the issues afflicting the EP’s proposal.
This new detailed outline introduces the inner workings of the Ranked apportionment method, using data-based examples. Using an innovative design, the Ranked apportionment method is stable, respects parties/lists’ preferences, and provides Member States with equal chances and fair representation. The Ranked apportionment method satisfactorily solves all identified issues with the election of a transnational constituency, and ensures the democratic appointment of our European representatives.
Finally, this outline comes together with a dedicated Q&A answering the most common questions about the Ranked apportionment method.
It is our hope that these documents will make it easier for Member States to understand the issues deriving from the EP’s proposal and its group system, and to remedy them via the adoption of the Ranked apportionment method, in the interest of all European citizens and of our common European democracy.
