Turnout and Registration of Mobile European Union Citizens in European Parliament and Municipal Elections : FAIR-EU Analytical Report

Democracy is one of the fundamental values of the European Union (EU). The starting point of democracy is that it represents ‘rule of the people’. But which people should be represented? In this report, particular focus is on the representation of ‘mobile EU citizens’ – the 14.3 million people of voting age holding the citizenship of one Member State and living and working in another. With a particular focus on supra- and sub-national elections, it first looks at the scope and enactment of Directives 93/109/EC (EP elections) and 94/80/EC (municipal elections) that in principle grant mobile EU citizens the right to vote on the same terms as national citizens of their countries of residence. Thereafter, based on the most comprehensive database hitherto, it examines the available information on registration and turnout rates amongst mobile EU voters in the most recent municipal elections and EP elections prior to 2019 in each Member State. Finally, it examines the available registration and turnout data of mobile EU voters in depth in a selection of key countries. Based on these three levels of analysis, conclusions are drawn about the representation of mobile EU, and policy suggestions are made based on them.