The vote in 27 member states will determine the composition of the Parliament and shape European politics for the next five years.
MEPs now also have a key say in who is the European Commission president (the winner is likely to come from whichever political group has most seats after the poll) so the outcome is even more important.
Speaking ahead of the 6 to 9 June poll, this site canvassed opinion from some key players in the EU.
They include Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, or CER, a respected Brussels-based think tank.
He said: “These elections may prove to be a turning point in the history of the EU, with the forces of disintegration set to balance and perhaps weaken the forces promoting integration, more that at previous elections.”
Grant continues, ““There is a thing called the democracy paradox, where people say democracy is the best system but then vote for parties that would restrict its main tenets.”
With up to 60 per cent of the parliament set to comprise new members, many have predicted a surge in support for candidates from far-right groupings which, if proven, could have far reaching effects on EU policy making in the next five years.
Zselyke Csaky, a senior research fellow at the CER, also shares such concerns.
Csaky said, “With discontent on the rise – among young people but also in other segments of the population – a key question is what happens to hard-right parties in this election. If the creeping normalization of far-right continues, tackling challenges that require more, not less Europe will be increasingly difficult.”
Luigi Scazzieri, another senior research fellow, predicts, as do many others, that right-wing forces are set to make sizeable gains in the European Parliament elections.
Scazzieri adds, “The influence of the right is likely to make itself felt over time, as mainstream political forces feel under pressure to tilt right on issues such as climate policy.”
Further comment ahead of the EU wide poll – one of no less than 60 taking place in the world this year – comes from Christina Keßler, a current Clara Marina O’Donnell fellow.
She says, “These are important elections which will define the EU for the coming five years.”
She goes on to ask, “Will the results make it possible for Ursula von der Leyen (current EC president and strongly tipped for another five year term) to build a coalition to support her for another mandate at the head of the European Commission? What does the result mean for the EU’s internal and external policies? And how will this EU election shape upcoming national elections in EU member states?” said Keßler,
Elsewhere, the European centre right (EPP) has been accused of “courting” Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s Prime Minister and a key figure in the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party as a potential ally for pro-European coalitions after the elections this weekend.
As the elections approach, the European Greens are sounding the “alarm” about the “threat” posed by the far right, including, they say, Giorgia Meloni.
This, say the Greens, poses a real threat to Europe’s democracy, plus to efforts to tackle climate change by ensuring the continuation of the Green Deal.
No one from the EPP was immediately available for comment but veteran Dutch MEP Bas Eickhout, a European Greens lead candidate to become the next EU commission president, says, “Giorgia Meloni presents herself as a pro-European democrat, but her actions speak louder than her words.
“Under her government, Italy has seen unprecedented attacks on press freedom, assaults on women’s rights, and a troubling nostalgia for fascist ideologies. Her agenda is not to build Europe but to dismantle it. Working with her risks enabling a political movement intent on eroding the very foundations of the European Union.
“Europe’s conservatives need to decide which direction they will turn. Greens stand ready to work in a progressive majority to set the course” said Eickhout.
German Euro deputy Terry Reintke, an MEP for ten years, believes the forthcoming elections are more than a contest for political power; “they are a battle for the soul of Europe.”
“It is imperative that voters reject those who seek to dismantle Europe from within,” said Reintke.