Each country decides on the form its election will take, but must guarantee equality of the genders and a secret ballot. Each country has its own election methods. The legal age to vote is 18, except in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Malta, where it is 16, and in Greece, where it is 17.

Members of the European Parliament have gained increasing influence over time. EU laws, for example, now must be approved by the European Parliament, which was not always the case.

Elections were not always direct 

In the early years, members of the European Parliament were appointed by the national parliaments. In Denmark, a number of domestic Parliamentarians were assigned to also serve as a European Parliamentarian. The old system  somewhat corresponds to how national parliaments even today send delegations to the parliamentary assemblies of  NATO, the UN, and the Council of Europe. Direct elections were later instated in order to strengthen  democracy in the EU.

Low voter turnout

Despite the European Parliament's increasing amount of influence in daily matters in Denmark and across Europe, voter turnout has remained low. The overall turnout in the 28 member states was 50.95% in the 2019 election, which represents the highest turnout for European Parliament elections since 1999. The next European Parliament elections will be held in 2024.