The 2024 European Parliament election in Italy took place on 8 and 9 June 2024, electing members of the 10th Italian delegation to the European Parliament as part of the broader 2024 European Parliament election from 6 to 9 June. It was held concurrently with the 2024 Italian local elections.
Background Political context In the 2019 European Parliament election in Italy, the right-wing populist League (Lega) of Matteo Salvini arrived first with 34.3% of the vote and 29 seats, followed by the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) with 22.7% and 19 seats. In the 2022 Italian general election, the national-conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI) of Giorgia Meloni arrived first with 25.9% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies, inside the centre-right coalition, followed by the PD with 19.0%, inside the centre-left coalition. This resulted in the establishment of the Meloni government, which was widely described as the most right-wing since World War II and continued to lead in the opinion polling for the next Italian general election.
Qatargate The ongoing Qatargate corruption scandal, which began in December 2022, destabilised the European Parliament following the arrest of several MEPs including Marc Tarabella, Andrea Cozzolino, and Eva Kaili. Among others, the case includes Francesco Giorgi, the parliamentary assistant of MEP Andrea Cozzolino, Antonio Panzeri, founder of the Fight Impunity non-governmental organisation (NGO); Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, head of the No Peace Without Justice NGO; and Luca Visentini, head of the International Trade Union Confederation.
Carlo Fidanza In January 2023, MEP Carlo Fidanza of FdI was involved in a corruption investigation by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office for having made Brescia city councillor Giovanni Acri resign in order to get Giangiacomo Calovini elected in exchange for the appointment of Acri's son as Fidanza's assistant in the European Parliament. Calovini was then elected member of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy at the 2022 general election for FdI. In June 2023, Fidanza and Calovini plea bargained with the Milan Public Prosecutor to one year and four months for corruption, avoiding the disqualification from public office that would have been triggered by the Severino Law.
Electoral system As the party-list proportional representation was the traditional electoral system of the First Italian Republic from its establishment in 1946 to 1994, it was adopted to elect the Italian members of the European Parliament (MEPs) since 1979. Two levels were introduced: a national level to divide the seats among parties and a constituency level to distribute them among candidates in open lists. Five constituencies were established, each including 2–6 Italian regions and each electing a fixed number of MEPs. At national level, seats are divided between party lists using the largest remainder method with Hare quota. Seats are allocated to parties and then to their most voted candidates. In the run-up to the 2009 European Parliament election in Italy, the Italian Parliament introduced a national electoral threshold of 4%. An exception was granted for parties representing some linguistic minorities as such lists can be connected with one of the major parties through apparentment, combining their votes, provided that those parties reach the 4% threshold and that candidates from minority parties obtain a sufficient number of votes, no less than 50,000 for the main candidate. Every political party that intends to take part in the election must collect at least 30,000 to 35,000 signatures of eligible voters for each constituency, of which at least 3,000 signatures for each region; however, the following lists are exempted from the collection of signatures: all the lists that have at least one group in the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate of the Republic, all the lists that contested themselves in the last political election with their own symbol and that have elected at least one parliamentarian, all the lists that contain the symbol of a list already exempted from the collection of signatures, and the lists that refer in the symbol to a European political party or a party of another nation within the European Union that has elected at least one MEP at the last European elections. The latter condition was established in 2019 by the Electoral Offices of the constituencies.
Constituencies
Constituency Regions Seats Population, 2022 (thousands) Area (km2) Total Per seat Total Per seat North-West Aosta Valley, Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont 20 North-East Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Veneto 15 Central Lazio, Marche, Tuscany, Umbria 15 Southern Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise 18 Islands Sardinia, Sicily 8 Total 76
Proposed changes In 2023, the Regional Council of Sardinia unanimously approved a proposal to split the Italian Islands constituency into Sicily and Sardinia due to the population disproportion between the two Italian regions. As of May 2023, the proposal is under discussion in the Senate of the Republic. In July 2023, it was informally proposed to lower the electoral threshold from 4% to 3%, the same electoral threshold used for the political elections. This proposal was welcomed by Greens and Left Alliance (AVS) and Us Moderates (NM). FdI did not shut it down since they wanted to help FI, whose future seemed uncertain after the death of Berlusconi, while Lega and IV declared themselves against the proposal. The proposal was officially rejected in September when Forza Italia, fearing the centrist competition of Az and IV, refused to lower the electoral threshold.
Signature exemptions
According to the regulations for the 2019 European Parliament election, parties may be exempted from collecting signatures under certain circumstances, including having their own group in the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate of the Republic, having elected at least one MP with their symbol in the last general election, having a logo that contains the logo of another party already exempted from collecting signatures, and having lists that refer to a European party or a party of another nation within the European Union that has elected at least one MEP in the last European elections. In 2014, the Electoral Offices of the constituencies granted exemption to the European Greens – Green Italia list, as the list was affiliated with a European political party represented in the European Parliament with its own parliamentary group. In 2019, the Electoral Offices of the constituencies established a condition that permits certain parties to participate in European elections through any party in Europe that elected at least one MEP in any European country.
In February 2024, FdI proposed an amendment to the Elections Decree in the Senate of the Republic. The amendment aimed to clarify the interpretation given by the Electoral Offices of the constituencies in 2019. It was suggested that parties that had elected at least one MEP in Italy at the last elections would be exempt. Additionally, it was proposed that only lists that had elected at least one member of the Italian Parliament (MP) in the proportional representation system (Italian electoral law of 2017) at the 2022 general election would be exempt. This exclusion would apply to parties that had elected an MP in a single-member constituency () with their party logo. After criticism from some parties, such as +Eu, South calls North (ScN), and Popular Alternative (AP), with the first two parties having elected an MP only in a single-member constituency, the amendment was revised to provide an exemption for all parties that have elected an MP, whether in a proportional representation or a single-member constituency. On 7 March 2024, the Constitutional Affairs Committee in the Senate of the Republic approved the amendment.
Outgoing delegation Outgoing MEPs
The table shows the detailed composition of the Italian seats at the European Parliament as of 1 February 2024. EP GroupSeatsPartySeatsMEPsIdentity and DemocracyLeague 22 Progressive Alliance of Socialists and DemocratsDemocratic Party14 Solidary Democracy1 Independents1 European People's PartyForza Italia 11 South Tyrolean People's Party 1 European Conservatives and ReformistsBrothers of Italy9 League1 Non-attached membersFive Star Movement5 Brothers of Italy1 Democratic Party1 Greens and Left Alliance1 Christian Democracy Sicily1 Independents1 Renew EuropeAction2 Italia Viva1 Independents1 Greens–European Free AllianceGreens and Left Alliance1 August 24th Movement1 Independents1 Total76 Source: European Parliament
Retiring incumbents
The table shows the MEPs who did not seek re-election. Constituency Departing MEPPartyEP Group First elected Terms Date announced North-West Italy Mercedes Bresso Democratic Party 2004 3 North-East Italy Achille Variati Democratic Party 2022 1 North-West Italy Marco Zanni League 2014 2 Southern Italy Laura Ferrara Five Star Movement 2014 2 15 March 2024 Italian Islands Ignazio Corrao 2014 2 9 April 2024 North-West Italy Lara Comi Forza Italia 2009 3 17 April 2024 North-East Italy Paolo De Castro Democratic Party 2009 3 20 April 2024 North-East Italy Gianantonio Da Re League 2019 1 23 April 2024 Central Italy Matteo Adinolfi League 2019 1 23 April 2024 Central Italy Nicola Danti 2014 2 1 May 2024 Southern Italy Massimo Casanova League 2019 1 2 May 2024 North-West Italy Marco Campomenosi League 2019 1 Central Italy Antonio Maria Rinaldi League 2019 1 Italian Islands Francesca Donato Christian Democracy 2019 1 North-West Italy Giuliano Pisapia 2019 1 Southern Italy Franco Roberti Democratic Party 2019 1 Southern Italy Andrea Cozzolino Democratic Party 2009 3 North-West Italy Tiziana Beghin Five Star Movement 2014 2 North-East Italy Marco Zullo 2014 2 North-East Italy Fabio Massimo Castaldo 2014 2 Italian Islands Dino Giarrusso 2019 1 North-East Italy Paola Ghidoni League 2022 1 Southern Italy Elisabetta De Blasis Brothers of Italy 2022 1
Parties and leaders This is a list of the parties that took part to the election. Some parties ran only in one or a few constituencies out of five. PartyMain ideologyLeader(s)Europeanparty2019 resultOutgoing MEPs Votes (%) Seats LegaLeagueRight-wing populismMatteo SalviniID 34.3% PDDemocratic PartySocial democracyElly SchleinPES 22.7% M5SFive Star MovementPopulismGiuseppe ConteNone 17.1% FI–NMForza Italia–Us ModeratesLiberal conservatismAntonio TajaniEPP 8.8% FdIBrothers of ItalyNational conservatismGiorgia MeloniECR 6.4% SVPSouth Tyrolean People's PartyRegionalismDieter StegerEPP 0.5% AVSGreens and Left AllianceGreen politicsDemocratic socialismAngelo BonelliNicola FratoianniEGPPEL 2.3%1.7% SUEUnited States of EuropeEuropean federalismEmma BoninoMatteo RenziALDEEDPPES 3.1% PAIAnimalist Party–ItalexitAnimal rightsCristiano CerielloAPEU 0.6% APPopular AlternativeConservatismStefano BandecchiEPP 0.4% AActionLiberalismCarlo CalendaALDE Did not contest PTDPeace Land DignityLeft-wing populismMichele SantoroPEL Did not contest LFreedomPopulismCateno De LucaNone Did not contest DSPSovereign Popular DemocracyAnti-establishmentMarco RizzoNone Did not contest RVValdostan RallyRegionalismStefano AggraviNone Did not contest
Candidates
Top candidates The following table lists the top candidates of each party/list in the five constituencies.