Special Call for Papers: EP Election

The tenth election to the European Parliament (EP), convened on 6–9 June 2024, came at a critical time for the European Union. Since the previous election, the Union has confronted a number of crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, economic challenges and the cost-of-living crisis, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These have exposed a number of fracture lines within the European electorate, and between political parties and groupings at the European and national levels. At the national level, responding to citizen dissatisfaction over responses to these and other challenges (migration, the climate crisis), parties of the far-right have advanced in the polls, moving from the political fringes toward respectability, influencing the policy agendas of mainstream parties in a more populist and nativist direction, and joining government in a number of Member States.

Reflecting this trend, the 2024 European Parliament elections were expected to deliver a significant move to the right at the European level. While the final result did not quite reflect the seismic shift anticipated, parties of the far-right nevertheless gained more seats than ever before. Such a change in the constitution of the European Parliament has potentially significant ramifications for the European Union, and for its engagement in key policy areas. New coalitions of influence within the EP may potentially impact decisions on civil liberties, migration, environmental policy and the European Green Deal, Ukraine, enlargement and so on.

The Australian and New Zealand Journal of European Studies (ANZJES) invites proposals for papers for a Special Issue on the European Parliament Election 2024. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Parliamentary coalition formation, including challenges to the centrist EPP/S&D/RE Grand Coalition;
• Impact on key policy frameworks (environmental policy and the European Green Deal, migration, agriculture etc.);
• Impact on the geopolitical direction of the European Council and the European Commission;
• Impact on European values in the context of a changing international order;
• Significance of the EP election result for national politics and forthcoming national elections;
• Impact on decision-taking in the European Council and European Commission;
• Significance for international relationships, particularly in the context of the forthcoming US Presidential election.

Further information on the Special Call (including processes and deadlines) may be accessed here.