⚡SEEEDS High-level: Event Ensuring the integrity of European Parliament elections in 2024 through the

In view of the upcoming elections to the European Parliament in 2024 (EP elections), the EU’s commitment to defending democracy has become more important than ever. The elections provide an important opportunity to strengthen citizen participation in elections, improve trust and promote identification with democratic values.

Following the four SEEEDS webinars from January to April 2023 on the upcoming European Parliament elections (WP1), a high-level dialogue event at the European Parliament on 4 July 2023. This event was organised as a public panel discussion and brought together MEPs from the four major pro-European political groups in the EP (EPP, S&D, Renew, Greens/EFA) with civil society organisations, election observation experts and representatives from the European institutions in order to discuss regulatory options and non-regulatory support initiatives regarding the European elections.

The European Parliament

The guiding questions were:

• What are current initiatives to enhance youth and women participation and to ensure equal participation of persons with disabilities? Are they sufficient to reach as many voters as possible?

• How to protect human rights in political advertising online and ensure free voter participation?

• How to improve political and campaign finance regulations?

• How could the European Commission’s Defence of Democracy Package contribute to countering disinformation and safeguard rule of law principles?

The event agenda was registered on the website of the EU Parliament here.

The project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.