Interest in EU elections on the rise as polls project unprecedented shift to the right

Voter interest in the 2024 European elections is on the rise, but projections of a surge in support for far-right parties are sowing doubts over the European Union's future path.

More than half (57%) of EU citizens are interested in the upcoming European elections six months before the ballot opens, a substantial 6 percentage points higher than ahead of the previous election in 2019, according to survey results unveiled by the European Parliament on Wednesday.

The European elections take place every five years across the EU's 27 member countries, with voters choosing who represents them in the European Parliament, the bloc's only democratically-elected institution.

If the election was held next week, 68% would cast their vote according to the survey, 9 percentage points more than in 2019.

But despite this rosy outlook, projections of a surge in support for far-right parties amid recent electoral victories in many EU countries are casting doubts over the future of the Union.

The European Parliament's spokesperson Jaume Duch told Euronews that a shift to the right in the parliament's make-up will not necessarily erode the EU's role, despite some far-right parties' eurosceptic origins.

"The parties that were previously practically supporters of leaving the European Union are now making other kinds of proposals that no longer involve leaving - because it’s very cold out there - but rather proposals that aim to adapt the European Union to how they consider it should be," Duch explained.

"I prefer that the European Union not only continues to work as it has done until now, but that it can also work better, because that will benefit us all," he added.

According to poll aggregator Europe Elects' latest projection, the European Parliament's right-wing Identity and Democracy (ID) group - home to far-right parties such as France's Rassemblement National and Germany's Alternative für Deutschland - could gain as many as 11 seats in June's vote.