Allowing transnational voting during European elections could alleviate the EU’s democratic deficit

European Parliament elections are often criticised for lacking the required level of voter engagement to confer democratic legitimacy to the integration process. Jonathan Bright, Diego Garzia, Joseph Lacey and Alexander Trechsel assess whether ‘transnationalising’ European elections by allowing voters to back parties in other EU countries would help alleviate the problem. They argue that language barriers may represent a challenge, but suggest that internet-based ‘voting advice applications’ could help bridge this gap and offer a more representative range of choices to national electorates.