The 1999 European Parliament election was a European election for all 626 members of the European Parliament held across the 15 European Union member states on 10, 11 and 13 June 1999. The voter turn-out was generally low, except in Belgium and Luxembourg, where voting is compulsory and where national elections were held that same day. This was the first election where Austria, Finland and Sweden voted alongside the other member states, having joined in 1995 and voted separately. The next election was held in 2004.
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In this Dossier
1999 European Parliament election in the context of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist Group on 29 June 1953, which makes it the second oldest political group in the European Parliament after the European People's Party Group (EPP Group). It adopted its present-day name on 23 June 2009. Centre-left in orientation, the group mostly comprises social democratic parties and is affiliated with the Progressive Alliance and Socialist International.
Until the 1999 European Parliament elections, it was the largest group in the Parliament, but since then it has always been the second-largest group. During the eighth EU Parliament Assembly, the S&D was the only Parliament group with representation from all 27 EU member states. In the current EU Parliament the S&D is currently composed of 136 members from 25 member states.
1999 European Parliament election in the context of 1999 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom
The 1999 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's part of the European Parliament election 1999. It was held on 10 June 1999. Following the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, it was the first European election to be held in the United Kingdom where the whole country used a system of proportional representation. In total, 87 Members of the European Parliament were elected from the United Kingdom across twelve new regional constituencies.
The change in voting system resulted in significant changes in seats. The Conservatives won double the number of seats they had won in the previous European election, in 1994, while the Labour Party saw its seats reduced from 62 to 29. The Liberal Democrats saw their number of seats increase to 10 from just 2 in the previous election. The UK Independence Party (UKIP), Green Party and Plaid Cymru gained their first seats in the European Parliament.