How France will help decide the 2024 European elections

RFI

5 May 2024 at 3:00 am·2-min read

With nearly 50 million eligible voters and more than 80 seats, France has a bigger say in choosing the next European parliament than any other country except Germany. As EU elections approach, RFI looks at who's running and how French electors are expected to vote.

While polls in other parts of the European Union open from 6 June, voting takes place in mainland France on 9 June.

It's open to all registered French citizens aged 18 and up, as well as EU nationals living in France.

The polls will decide who sits in the European parliament for the next five years.

They're also a chance for a mid-term clash between French rivals ahead of the next national elections in 2027, notably between President Emmanuel Macron's centrists and his challengers on the hard right.

Here are the need-to-knows of the EU elections in France.

► How many seats does France get in the European parliament?

France will fill a record number of seats in the next EU parliament: 81, two more than it holds currently.

That's because the legislature is getting an extra 15 seats, which are meant to rebalance representation in line with the latest population counts. It also continues the process of restructuring the parliament since the UK left the EU in 2020, which saw some seats scrapped and others redistributed.

France is one of 12 member states to benefit from the latest rejig. It remains the second-biggest country in the parliament after Germany, which leads with 96 seats out of a total of 720.

She has made much of her EU credentials, as well her background in rural France.

The Daily Beast
Biden Camp Has a Field Day With Wobbly Trump at Podium
XThe Biden campaign gleefully turned one of Donald Trump’s favorite digs against him on Saturday, branding the 78-year-old candidate as woefully geriatric in response to his embarrassing stumble at a Minnesota rally on Friday.Video from the event shared by Biden-Harris HQ on X showed Trump grabbing the lectern during his remarks on stage, after nearly toppling the podium over.A feeble Trump nearly falls down on stage after he leans on his podium too hard and then goes on an angry rant calling hi
The Telegraph
Palestinian student ‘full of joy’ after Oct 7 attack upset she faces deportation
A Palestinian student who said she was “full of pride” after Hamas launched its attack on Israel faces deportation.
The Telegraph
It will be fun watching Labour getting crushed for a change
The big beasts have gone. The only member of the Cabinet who enjoys a tussle on the BBC’s Today programme and escapes with just flesh wounds and a spring in his step is Michael Gove. The rest have gone or are going and that makes it tough for those of us on the touchline. We are like the parents of pupils at a little school that managed to raise a rugby team and are watching the poor sods being thrashed left, right and centre. We wince as some big brute, who looks far too tall for his age, cuts
The Daily Beast
Reporter Puts Trump on the Spot Over His 2020 Vow on Minnesota
KSTPIn an interview with a St. Paul, Minnesota reporter that aired a few days before his scheduled appearance Friday at the state GOP Lincoln Day fundraising dinner, former President Donald Trump denied saying that he wouldn’t return to the Midwest state if he lost it in 2020—but the local ABC affiliate brought the receipts to prove otherwise.KSTP reporter Tom Hauser spoke with Trump over a video call conducted Tuesday before the indicted ex-president went to court to hear testimony from his for
The Telegraph
BBC apologises after repeatedly suggesting Tel Aviv is capital of Israel
The BBC has apologised after one of its senior presenters suggested Tel Aviv was Israel’s capital, contradicting its own guidelines.
The Telegraph
I’m bored of educating ignorant Argentinians about Britain’s right to the Falklands
It’s now 42 years since Argentina embarked on its doomed attempt to take the Falkland Islands by force and to subjugate the Britons who had lived there for so long. Having been humiliated and kicked out by the British Task Force a mere 70 days later, you might have thought Argentina had learned its lesson: that the Falkland Islanders will fight to the last man and woman to defend their homeland, and Britain will always support them.
HuffPost
Trump Complains 'I Have The Only' Illegal NDA While His Lawyers Claim He Knew Nothing Of It
In trying to argue that nondisclosure agreements are common and legal, Trump contradicted his lawyers' story that he wasn’t aware of the deal.
The Telegraph
Donald Trump’s lawyer fighting to stop former president from testifying in trial next week
Donald Trump’s defence lawyer won plaudits for his aggressive handling this week of Michael Cohen, one of the key witnesses in the ongoing “hush money” case against the former president.
The Telegraph
The radical new Dutch government is the canary in the EU coal mine
It will scrap many of the net zero policies. It will cut taxes for business. It will put limits on net migration, it will switch to nuclear power, and it will make sure farming receives the support it needs.
The Independent
Trump and Melania attend Barron’s graduation after she failed to show at hush money trial
Former president and first lady attended ceremony in Palm Beach, Florida after judge overseeing Trump’s criminal trial granted permission for him to be there
CNN
The phone call that may upend the Trump NY hush money case
Gene Rossi and Leslie Ellis join The Lead
France 24
The battle of Monte Cassino: Both glory and dishonour for the French army
On May 18, 1944, Allied troops captured Monte Cassino in Italy, celebrated for its historic hilltop abbey, after four months of bitter fighting. The soldiers of the French Expeditionary Corps particularly distinguished themselves in the battle for this key point in the German defensive line. But their military honours are now marred by accusations of war crimes. “Garigliano is a great victory... France will know one day. She will understand.” On the evening of his departure from Italy in August
The Telegraph
Donald Trump repeats demand that Joe Biden take drug test before presidential candidates debate
Donald Trump has repeated his demand that Joe Biden take a drug test before the United States presidential candidates debate on live television, saying the president was “high as a kite” when he made a State of the Union speech in March.
The Telegraph
Keir Starmer’s plan for government is vanishing before the voters’ eyes
The strange thing about Keir Starmer’s policy ideas is that they tend to evaporate as the years go on. He ran for Labour leader with clear, radical pledges: to abolish the House of Lords, waive all university tuition fees and more. Over time, such promises were downgraded then, dropped altogether. On Thursday, it seemed his policy vanishing act was complete. Amid great fanfare in an Essex film studio, the Shadow Cabinet gathered to reveal the latest strategy: to promise, in effect, almost nothin
The Independent
Rishi Sunak’s threat of nuclear war failed to move voters, new poll reveals
This week’s weekly tracker poll by Techne UK provides more bad news for the Tories
The Telegraph
Army’s most secretive unit on recruitment drive for undercover operations
The Army’s most secretive unit is on a recruitment drive to select more men and women to carry out undercover operations, The Telegraph can reveal.
The Daily Beast
Opinion: Mitt Romney Has a Point About Pardoning Trump
William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty ImagesDonald Trump poses an existential threat to liberal democracy; therefore, a reasonable reaction to his possible return to power has been to throw everything but the kitchen sink at him.This ranged from supporting his impeachment and removal, to voting for his adversaries (including Nikki Haley), to charging him with 88 criminal offenses in four criminal cases.But a new theory has emerged that suggests the latter example of this confrontational approach was
The Independent
British decline linked to Brexit, weak leadership and poor finances in damning report
A damning report has shown that the UK has dropped out of the top 10 countries for good governance under Rishi Sunak’s leadership
Business Insider
Russia is finally getting serious about its war, and it spells trouble for Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin's war machine looks different today than it did at the start of the conflict.
Yorkshire Live
DWP PIP claimants given five-week warning over planned payment changes
The Department for Work and Pensions is looking at changes to Personal Independence Payments

► How many seats does France get in the European parliament?

Latest stories