The construction of common electoral safeguards by the European Union

Abstract

Article 10 of the Treaty on the European Union stipulates that the func­tioning of the Union is predicated upon the principle of representative democracy. Consequently, electoral guarantees constitute an essential component for ensuring the normative efficacy of this proclamation. Notably, the Union does not exercise autonomous competences in electoral affairs. The guarantees for elections to the European Parliament are, to a significant extent, dependent on those implemented by the electoral sys­tems of the Member States. Nonetheless, an examination of the evolution of Union Law, particularly from the 2020 European Democracy Action Plan, reveals observable changes, many of which pertain to political and electoral communication within digital environments. This article scrutinizes this evolution and its ramifications on the electoral guarantees prevalent in state systems.