Wait, all these people come from different countries. How do they understand each other?
Good question, two-part answer. Part one is translation. Europe has such a large translation budget to help everyone understand each other that it has to forego other niceties like, say, geopolitical power. The translators are paid, generously, by the European taxpayer, so the 720 lawmakers from places like Slovenia and Portugal can understand each other when they get up to speak in what they call the “hemicycle.” That’s why the lawmakers wear headsets while someone else is speaking, because that’s where the translation is coming from.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTION POLL OF POLLS
For more polling data from across Europe visit POLITICO Poll of Polls.
Part two of the answer is a dirty little secret: Everyone in the European Parliament more or less speaks English. In fact the entire bureaucracy of the EU operates in English, although this is a specific dialect — call it euro-English — that isn’t American or British English but its own thing, formed of 27 accents thrown into a big melting pot. Periodically, the French try to rise up and change this, pointing out that 300 years ago, the diplomatic lingua franca was French, and that Britain officially voted to leave the EU in 2016. But guess what? Three hundred years ago, we were all wearing powdered wigs and curing minor colds by blood-letting. The euro-English is pervasive and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
Got it. So when should I pay attention?
There’s plenty going on. For example, von der Leyen is trying to build support for her second term, which means making sure she has enough backing among leaders and political groups. If chosen by the leaders, she will need to be approved by a majority in Parliament, which means building a coalition that will support her re-election. In doing so, von der Leyen is reaching out not just to the socialists, the Greens and the liberals but also the hard-right party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Von der Leyen’s not the only one seeking Meloni’s support. Thanks to the strength of right-wing parties across Europe, Meloni is in a bit of a kingmaker position. And she is being coveted by Europe’s far-right forces, who would like to draft her into their camp to form a sort of super-group of right-wing parties that would, if it came to pass, be much more like the Republican Party in the U.S. In fact, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has extended an invitation to Meloni to join her far-right group.
Practically speaking, the election takes place over a weekend, from June 6 to June 9. Results will trickle in throughout the evening of June 9. Due to the quirks of having 27 different electoral systems (Italy’s polls don’t close until 11 p.m. on June 9, for example), the definitive makeup of the next EU Parliament won’t be fully known until the morning of June 10.