The issue of the electoral system Jo Leinen Transnational electoral lists and personalisation of European politics are required to involve citizens in a genuinely transnational European polis based on the values of solidarity, democracy, equality and respect of human rights. For the first time in 2009 the European Parliament together with the European Com-mission joint forces for setting up a true European election campaign. TV and radio spots were produced in different languages, featuring renowned personalities and picking up political issues of equal importance all across Europe. They included ques-tions on how much of a fortress citizens want the EU to be, what energy mix is pre-ferred or whether genfood should be on the dinner table. Despite these efforts, voter turnout on June 7th remained low. Analyses of the cam-paign clearly showed that instead of a European campaign with competing European political parties focusing on European issues and presenting their different political concepts, there were 27 national campaigns, focusing mainly on national issues. The low turnout during the elections shows that new efforts are required if we don't want to further create distances between the European Union and its citizens. There is a structural problem that must be addressed quickly. Apart from certain European provisions such as proportional representation, the elections to the European Parlia-ment are based on national legislation. They take place on different days and under different regimes. Consequently, they are rather a combination of 27 national elections than truly European elections. Once again, the elections that were meant to be about European topics have been decided by issues that are mostly national. It makes it difficult for voters to grasp the European dimension of the European elections. There is a structural gap between the mandates of the MEPs and the way they were nominated and elected. But as long as the parties put up lists that only consist of na-tional candidates, the election campaigns will keep on focussing on national issues. This has to change for the next polls in 2014. We have to move forward and create a real European Electoral System, if we want to re-instil interest in the citizens, along with a sense that their vote on the European level does matter and can bring about change. We need transnational European lists of candidates of the European Political Parties, i.e. two votes for each citizen, one for national lists and the other one for European lists. Thus, the EU would receive a dou-ble legitimacy. The national lists would respect the role of the member states inside the European Union. The European lists would be a strong instrument for the devel-opment of a real pan-European debate and at the same time strengthen the European democracy and its legitimacy. Parties would have to pick European candidates, add-ing a whole new, cross-border dimension eventually and creating an understanding among themselves, their members and voters that the EU is more than just the sum of its members. In order to europeanize the European Elections we also need to make sure that a real European electoral campaign is possible. The EU is not a second rate institution, trail-ing somewhere behind nation-states but an important player in the world; and, more importantly, the chief decision-maker for inner-European issues, such as the internal market, the common currency or environmental affairs. Decisions from the European level have direct impact on the every-day life of each EU citizen, e.g. passenger rights, cross-border health care, Co2 emissions for cars, health standards at the place of work or food safety. We have to find ways to re-integrate citizens in European debates, involving them in the huge task of creating an EU that lives the values of solidarity, democracy, equality and respect of human rights. European integration will not be brought about by bu-reaucracy or technocrats harmonising industrial standards but by real, sometimes heated political debates, exchange of ideas and cross-border people-to-people con-tacts. We need to move away from the top-down processes towards a bottom-up ap-proach. Re-structuring the European electoral system will be an important starting point in this regard; beginning at the very core of the campaign – with the timely and democratic preparation of the lists of candidates. It is not acceptable that only a few weeks before the elections, the electorate in some countries still doesn't know who their candidates are and what the alternatives are. It results in the total lack of thor-ough and informative campaign, which in any case would be crammed into a space of only two or three weeks and leads people to believe that European politics only hap-pen shortly before elections. The missing synchronisation of debates and activities between the countries hinders the emergence of a true European debate, too. In addi-tion, it is unacceptable that in some cases the party lists are drawn up by exclusive, intransparent party circles. It is therefore crucial that we develop EU-wide minimal standards for the establishment of the lists of candidates that include a well ahead deadline as well as rules on how to integrate the members of the parties in the decision making process. But European lists can only be one aspect of this new system. Apart from the lack of a European debate, the campaign for the European Elections suffered under something else: there was not enough personalization. It was unclear to the citizens what person-nel changes would occur after the elections and how much of an impact a majority shift in the European Parliament can have on the composition of the European Com-mission. Once the Lisbon Treaty enters into force, new provisions will apply that link the nomination and election of the Commission president to the results of the Euro-pean elections, thus transforming the voter's voices and choices into political realities that impact the direction of the development of the European integration. If we want to raise the interest of the electorate and demonstrate the political alternatives, the European Parties must put forward their candidates for the position of the President of the "European Government" (i.e. Commission President) prior to the elections. This would be the most effective way to achieve a real politicization of the European Elec-tions because it would lead to a much higher presence of European topics in the media and a pan-European dialogue about these personalities and their programmes. The voters could then better judge the strengths and weaknesses of the different parties and candidates in Europe and take a more informed decision. A controversial and open debate about political choices is fundamental to any democracy. We need to al-low the citizens to express their choices about the political forces that will govern them on the European level. Ever since the 1960ies changes in the electoral system to the European Parliament have been the topic of many debates among the EU's heads of state and governments and leaders of national political parties, being aware of the immense impact they can have on the nation-state's role in the European set-up, i.e. with the attention of voters shifting away from the national towards the European level. As a result, these changes have often been stalled and progress remained slow or altogether absent. However, as the European level is assigned more and more tasks because many modern challenges can no longer be solved at the national level, it is crucial that these new powers and competences of the European Commission and the European Council are matched with the necessary parliamentary control. A control based on democratic legitimacy, brought about by conscious choices of a high number of informed voters, which in turn are the result of open, pan-European debates by European Political Parties offer-ing alternative solutions to European questions. In the new legislature, the European Parliament should as quickly as possible start with the preparations for a new electoral system towards the next European elections in 2014. The debate has to start now!