The European Parliament
Once every 5 years you can vote for the European Parliament. This is the directly elected representation of the people of the European Union.
In the Netherlands, these elections will take place on Thursday, June 6, 2024. In other countries, it may be on a different date; voting is spread throughout Europe between June 6 and 9. The last time it was possible to vote for the European Parliament in the Netherlands was May 23, 2019.
The European Parliament in a nutshell
The European Parliament consists of 705 members drawn from 27 member states. Members of the European Parliament are elected by country. Currently, the Netherlands is entitled to 29 of the 705 seats in the parliament.
The number of MEPs elected to each country depends on its population. This ranges between 6 seats for small member states such as Malta or Luxembourg, to 96 for the large member state Germany.
There are no individual national parties in parliament, but European parties. Often these are national parties that have linked up with parties from (at least 7) other member states.