By Mina Randriamanga
From the 6th to the 9th of June 2024, European citizens are called to vote for 720 deputies who will serve in the European Parliament until 2029. For some, it’s a significant moment; for others, just another day.
Participation rates
It is important to note that, according to the graph below and a Eurobarometer survey, participation rates rose in the 2019 elections due to increased involvement from young people. Brexit, climate change, democratic issues, equality between genders and immigration were some of their important motivations.
Meanwhile, the percentage of participation in the European elections is rising globally and in France, the global abstention rate in the country remains high and under the global average.
In a survey of Le Monde, it appears that for 54% of the interviewed, being European is more an inconvenience than an advantage. Why is the abstention rate so high? Why are the French so uninterested in EU politics? What arguments dissuade them from voting?
First reason: lack of information
The first explanation for this lack of engagement is the lack of information. Many people seem unaware of how the institutions work, their impacts, when elections occur and what is decided there. The European Union has hidden impacts on our daily lives that go far beyond Euro, borders and Erasmus.
To expand on this point, I surveyed 30 of my friends to express their feelings about it. While 21 had planned to vote, the remaining 9 offered various arguments against voting. For instance:
To the question “do you plan to vote for the European elections in June?”, 3 of them asked me “what is that?”.
Maélie,a 20-year-old student of psychology at the Catholic Institute of Lille said: “I don’t even know when it is, I don’t have the information…I don’t even know how to vote for this, and my parents won’t help me!”
“My parents don’t vote, my family is not interested in politics at all, we don’t talk about it at home. It’s not a taboo, we just don’t talk about it, so it has never seemed important to me” (Noëline, 19-year-old student of LEA at La Sorbonne Nouvelle)
“Europe is useless, I don’t feel represented there” (Jules, 19-year-old student of political sciences at Sciences Po).
Several solutions have been developed to address abstention. For instance, the app “ADENO”, created by students of SciencePo Lille, proposes players to answer some questions to get to know the top 3 parties they may “match” with. This French initiative, available in 24 languages, helps people to understand, in a more interactive way, the topics tackled by the EU and develop their own opinions on it. Additionally, initiatives such as the European Youth Week, and the settlement of 6 direct Europe centers propose interventions, documentation, and exhibitions aimed at various audiences. More and more apps and websites are developed as “voting advice”, “toute l’Europe” or “les décodeurs de l’Europe” to stay informed about the key dates, the candidates, decode false information, and receive some notification to vote.
The European Parliament also shares messages to encourage voting. However, in a European parliament survey, 39% of the abstentionists recalled seeing these messages but still chose not to vote.
Clearly, citizens need to be aware of the existence of these initiatives and sufficiently engaged with EU topics to feel motivated to participate.
Second reason: Euroscepticism
The second explanation for this lack of engagement is the growing Euroscepticism in France, particularly promoted by populist nationalists, and extreme right parties which focus on the identity question.
They argue that, to face future problems, it is necessary to have a strong state with a strong national power, free from higher institutions like the European Union. This lack of faith in a strong European Union, strongly affects the voting behavior, with national identity taking precedence.
The “Front National” has, for example, said that “nation is the only conceivable political community, saying the only who can really exist, the only that can exist, the only who has to exist”.
Observations
Although France is far from being the biggest abstentionist if you compare it to Slovenia (28,89%) or Slovakia (22,74%), the past elections’ abstention rate is alarming.
Through my survey, I noted that each of these arguments is often used by different segments of the population. For youth, the issues often revolve around identification and lack of information and motivation, while older individuals are more concerned with national identity. Consequently, different strategies must be implemented to inform, involve, engage and develop the interest of French people (and of Europeans in general), depending on age and social background.