European Parliament elections 2024: How far right will the E.U. shift?

From Thursday through Sunday, the E.U. is voting in the world’s largest election outside India. Here’s what to know.

By
, 
, 
and 
June 6, 2024 at 6:01 a.m. EDT
The European Commission headquarters in Brussels. (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images)
6 min

BRUSSELS — The European Union is shifting to the political right. The question this week is how far — and what that will mean for Europe and the world.

From Thursday to Sunday, roughly 350 million E.U. citizens are eligible to vote in European Parliament elections. Polls suggest that various far-right parties could win the largest share of seats they’ve ever held in the E.U.’s legislative body, potentially surpassing the traditional center-right group in numbers.

The outcome of these once-every-five-years elections will influence European policymaking in the years ahead. It will also be a measure of Europe’s political temperature — potentially previewing Western voter sentiment ahead of national elections, including in the United States in November.

Here’s what to know.