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Европейская кампания 2024 г. в Германии. По-прежнему выборы "второго порядка"?
The tenth direct European elections were held in 2024, with citizens from all member states of theEuropean Union involved. Despite the well-established tradition of European campaigns, the perceptionthat this vote is of little importance and secondary is embedded in the academic political discourse.Several provisions of the concept of second-order national elections are often cited as evidence. Accordingto its proponents, the secondary vote is traditionally characterized by low turnout, setbacks for governingpolitical parties, a high percentage of invalid ballots, and broad prospects for various small, new, populist,radical, or protest parties. This paper aims to assess the applicability of the concept to the 2024 campaignfor the European Parliament in Germany. The article employs statistical data making it possible tocompare the results of first-order (Bundestag) and second-order (European Parliament) elections. Thesedata relate to turnout, protest voting, and the results of all the country’s main political parties. Specialattention is attached to the key elements of the legal and institutional transformation of the EuropeanParliament, as well as the political issues and intra-party crises that influenced the election results. Thearticle concludes by saying that one may detect a definite trend over the last three (2014, 2019, 2024)campaigns, concerning both a gradual increase in citizens’ interest in voting for the European Parliamentand a decrease in the percentage of spoiled ballots. Nevertheless, in some respects, the 2024 elections canstill be regarded as second-class. For example, turnout in 2024 was significantly lower than in thepreceding 2021 federal campaign, while members of the ruling Traffic Light coalition, which is in thesecond half of its term, were unsuccessful. Protest voting for both Eurosceptics and Eurooptimists was alsoevident. Finally, the combination of economic, energy, foreign policy and migration issues, as well as thesystemic crisis of the Left party, weighed heavily.