The European Parliament, its powers, and the 1979 European elections

Written by Gilles Pittoors.

This briefing traces the evolution of the debates on the European Parliament’s powers, and their (dis)connection to the organisation of the first direct European elections in 1979. It spans the period leading up to 1979, and also assesses the aftermath of these landmark elections. It shows that well into the 1970s, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) put great effort into de‑coupling the debates on organising Parliament’s direct elections from those on expanding its institutional powers. MEPs’ main fear was that demanding both as a package deal would be too much for Member State governments to swallow, creating a risk of ending up with neither. Separately pursuing more powers and direct elections was considered the smarter strategy.

Yet by the end of the 1970s, with progress being made on both fronts, it had become difficult for MEPs to maintain this distinction. Increasingly, MEPs pushed a discourse of a self‑reinforcing, virtuous circle of empowerment and elections. They developed this discourse further after the 1979 elections, when a disappointingly low voter turnout dictated a re‑coupling of the issues in order to maintain the momentum of the Parliament’s growing empowerment. The briefing concludes by connecting this historical debate to contemporary issues, highlighting how the question of Parliament’s powers has become intimately connected with questions of democracy, representation and elections.

Read the complete briefing on ‘The European Parliament, its powers, and the 1979 European elections‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.