Elections 2024, Italy’s first party represents the undecided

Brussels – EPP or Renew? Greens or Conservatives? Probably none. Italians and European elections do not seem to get along well, to the extent that the winner of an electoral contest, in the case of the Italian citizen-voters, would be the party of abstention. Six months after the European elections, Eurobarometer has produced a special survey on the subject that highlights the lack of interest in the political-institutional organisations of Europe. If voting were to take place in a week’s time, 62 per cent of those eligible would ‘probably’ go to the polls. This means that between those who do not know and those who really have no intention of casting a vote, 38 percent of Italians would abstain.

At the last EU elections, those for the renewal of the European Parliament in 2019, voter turn out was 54.5 per cent. Therefore, in the event that the voting stances determined the special poll were confirmed at the time of the vote (6-9 June 2024), it would improve the situation only slightly, without, however, solving the problem of the undecided. A role, in this sense, can be played by the election campaign, which is the only time to draw attention to the topic of elections.

In public, Italians appear little interested in discussing politics. Whether it is local, national or European issues, they prefer to discuss other things with family and friends. Six out of ten Italians (60 per cent) admit that they only ‘occasionally’ discuss issues related to the European Union and EU policies, while one in four (25 per cent) even ‘never’ talk about them when in the company of friends and relatives. But this also applies to the government. Political discussions between close colleagues occur mainly “occasionally” (57 per cent) and in some cases (17 per cent) not at all.

Yet the Italians seem to be ready. They are among the best prepared in the European Union when asked the exact date of the next European elections. Forty-four per cent of those interviewed know the date, a figure lower only than Belgium (46 per cent) and Luxembourg (47 per cent), while all the others do not know how to match the days with the month, indicating only one correctly, or even ignore the electoral calendar altogether.

The figure seems to be established. 44 of Italians declare themselves to be “not interested” in the European elections. So, at least, says the Eurobarometer survey. The complex answer lies at the ballot box. The premises, however, are not the most Euro-enthusiastic.