Out now: The 2024 European Parliament Elections – A Turn to the Right in the Shadow of War

By Manuel Müller

Out now!

Just over a year ago, the citizens of the European Union went to the polls to elect the tenth European Parliament. For the third time in a row, these European elections were overshadowed by major cross-border events: While the 2014 election took place in the aftermath of the eurozone crisis and the 2019 election was marked by the asylum crisis (as well as, thanks to the Fridays for Future movement, the climate emergency), the 2024 election happened in the wake of two other major events that affected many Europeans even more directly than the previous crises.

First, the Covid-19 pandemic of disrupted everyday life in a way that hardly any EU citizen had experienced before. Then, the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the escalation of the Middle East conflict not only brought questions of war and peace back onto the political agenda, but also led to an acute cost-of-living crisis. The mood during the election could hardly have been more dire: According to a Eurobarometer survey conducted eight months before the election, almost three-quarters of respondents said that their standard of living had fallen or was likely to fall over the next year.

The elections themselves saw a significant surge in support for the far right. The populist radical right and extreme right parties, which had already gained ground in 2014 and 2019, achieved a new record high. Compared to 2019, each of the three far-right groups, as well as the non-attached far-right MEPs, increased their number of seats. In total, the far-right bloc achieved both its highest ever increase in seats and its strongest ever result in a European election.

An edited volume on the European election

But the rise of the far right is not the only story of this European election. To name just a few examples, it was also the first election in which an incumbent Commission President stood as the lead candidate for a European party. It was the first election in a long while in which EU enlargement was seriously debated. It was the first European election in which 16- and 17-year-olds were allowed to vote in Germany and Belgium. It was the election that followed the 2022 Qatargate corruption scandal. It was the election in which the small transnational Volt party achieved its best result to date.

It was the first election in which the proportion of women among MEPs fell rather than rose. It was the European election most heavily influenced by social media campaigns to date. It was the second European election in a row to see an increase in voter turnout (although less than expected). And it was, once again, a second-order election that lagged far behind national elections in terms of public perception.

To provide academic analysis of this wide range of facets, Michael Kaeding, Alex Hoppe and I have edited a volume, which has now been published by Springer Nature. Spanning 38 chapters, the book features contributions from 67 authors, who explore various aspects of the election. In order to do justice to the election’s cross-border importance, all contributions adopt a supranational or comparative perspective.

38 chapters, 67 authors

The edited volume is available as an e-book or in print. It builds on two German-language predecessor volumes on the 2014 and 2019 European elections (by Michael Kaeding and Niko Switek, and by Michael Kaeding, Manuel Müller and Julia Schmälter, respectively), but is even more comprehensive than these. In addition, the authors are more international, and this time the book is being published in English first – although a German translation is also planned for autumn.

To offer a “sneak preview” of the individual chapters, some authors have created short videos summarising their findings. These videos will gradually appear on this blog over the next few weeks. To access the book itself, please follow this link.

Michael Kaeding, Manuel Müller, Alexander Hoppe (eds.): The 2024 European Parliament Elections. A Turn to the Right in the Shadow of War, Cham (Springer Nature Switzerland) 2025.