EU elections explainer: 2024, a transition year into EU leadership overhaul

This is the first article in a two-part series, with the second article providing analysis on what's to come after the upcoming EU elections.

Jacques Delors was one of the EU's most devoted craftsman. President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995, he notably estimated in 1988 that by 1998, "80% of the legislation [in Europe] related to economics, maybe also to taxes and social affairs, [would] be of [EU] origin."

This statistic has since been debunked by several studies, which show a more accurate percentage would differ across countries and average between 10% and 35%. The impact of European-level policy and regulatory work on any given field may not be easily quantifiable; however, it is undeniable when one looks at the evolution of privacy and personal data governance across the last decade.

And the EU is about to get a new impulse for action.

EU apparatus overhaul

Every five years, the EU apparatus is overhauled. Approximately 200 million voters will be called to elect European parliamentarians, though turnout ranges between 40-50% with large variation across members states. The electoral result leads the European Council to establish its priorities and the European Commission to unveil its policy agenda for the next term and roll out new legislative proposals by early 2025.

In many member states, elections tend to translate into predominantly pro-European versus euro-skeptic dynamics. This dynamic will be reflected even more acutely this year as the rise of extremism across many countries is expected to draw a more radical representation in the European Parliament.