Transnational lists : An opportunity for the future?

Abstract: In the tumultuous political climate following Brexit, a new energy has been given to the idea of establishing transnational lists for the European elections. With the ever-increasing need for democratic legitimacy on the EU stage, the system of transnational lists is viewed by many as a salvation to the problem with democratic deficit within the European Union. The idea of transnational lists was voted in the European Parliament during the plenary session in Strasbourg on February 2018 but rejected after a debate on a clearly divided issue. By analysing the debate from 2018, this study aims to investigate what are the conditions, found in the debate, that could make transnational lists in the European Parliament possible.  When analysing the debate from 2018, five significant conditions for transnational lists were identified. These conditions were democracy, question of federal states, the aspect of spitzenkandidaten, solidarity and the size of Member States. Interestingly, the conditions were observed to be both obstacles and possibilities for transnational lists. Taken together, these results suggest that there is an association between the above-named conditions and the failure of the proposition for transnational lists, alternatively, to a future breakthrough.