| Election Name: | 1984 European Parliament election |
| Country: | European Union |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1979 European Parliament election |
| Previous Year: | 1979 |
| Previous Mps: | List of members of the European Parliament (1979–1984) |
| Next Election: | 1989 European Parliament election |
| Next Year: | 1989 |
| Next Mps: | List members of the European Parliament (1989–1994) |
| Seats For Election: | All 434 seats to the European Parliament |
| Majority Seats: | 218 |
| Turnout: | 61% 2.0 pp |
| Elected Mps: | elected members |
| Election Date: | 14–17 June 1984 |
| Image1: | Rudi_Arndt.jpg |
| Leader1: | Rudi Arndt |
| Party1: | Socialist Group |
| Leaders Seat1: | Germany |
| Last Election1: | 113, 27.6% |
| Seats1: | 130* |
| Seat Change1: | 17 |
| Percentage1: | 30% |
| Swing1: | 2.4% |
| Leader2: | Egon Klepsch |
| Party2: | European People's Party |
| Leaders Seat2: | Germany |
| Last Election2: | 107, 26.1% |
| Seats2: | 110* |
| Seat Change2: | 3 |
| Percentage2: | 25.3% |
| Swing2: | 0.8% |
| Image3: | Henry_Plumb_(cropped).jpg |
| Leader3: | Henry Plumb |
| Party3: | European Democrats |
| Leaders Seat3: | Cotswolds |
| Last Election3: | 64, 15.6% |
| Seats3: | 50* |
| Seat Change3: | 14 |
| Percentage3: | 11.5% |
| Swing3: | 4.1% |
| Image4: | File:Giovanni Cervetti.jpg |
| Leader4: | Gianni Cervetti |
| Party4: | Communists and Allies |
| Leaders Seat4: | North-West Italy |
| Last Election4: | 44, 10.7% |
| Seats4: | 41 |
| Seat Change4: | 3 |
| Percentage4: | 9.4% |
| Swing4: | 1.3% |
| Image5: | Simone_Veil_(1984).jpg |
| Leader5: | Simone Veil |
| Party5: | European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party |
| Leaders Seat5: | France |
| Last Election5: | 40, 9.8% |
| Seats5: | 31 |
| Seat Change5: | 9 |
| Percentage5: | 7.1% |
| Swing5: | 2.7% |
| Leader6: | Christian de La Malène |
| Party6: | European Progressive Democrats |
| Leaders Seat6: | France |
| Last Election6: | 22, 5.4% |
| Seats6: | 29 |
| Seat Change6: | 7 |
| Percentage6: | 6.7% |
| Swing6: | 1.3% |
| Map Size: | 400px |
| President of the European Parliament | |
| Posttitle: | President of the European Parliament after election |
| Before Election: | Piet Dankert |
| Before Party: | Socialist Group |
| After Election: | Pierre Pflimlin |
| After Party: | European People's Party |
The 1984 European Parliament election was the first since the inaugural election of 1979 and the 1981 enlargement of the European Community to include Greece. It was also the last before the accession of Spain and Portugal in 1986.
Results showed centre-left and right-wing MEPs profiting at the expense of the far-left and centre-right. The Socialists consolidated their position as the biggest group in the Parliament, and there were notable changes for the smaller groups, with far-right MEPs forming a group and the coalescence of the Green and Regionalist group known as "Rainbow". Overall turnout dropped to 61%. No majority was achieved.
There was no single voting system for all member states; each of them adopted its own method, established by national law.
The United Kingdom used a one-round (first-past-the-post) system of 78 constituencies in England, Wales and Scotland, while in Northern Ireland 3 proportional seats were allocated. Belgium, Ireland and Italy used a proportional system with subdivision of the territory into constituencies. Denmark, France, West Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and the Netherlands used a single national proportional system, although in the case of Denmark Greenland had its own constituency with the allocation of one seat and in the case of West Germany the three seats for the West Berlin area were not directly elected but were chosen by the Berlin House of Representatives, given the particular status of the city.
The number of seats was the same as before for each member state that took part in the 1979 election. Greece, which had joined in 1981, was allocated 24 new seats. This raised the number of seats to 434 from 410.
| National distribution of seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Seats | State | Seats | |
| 81 | 24 | |||
| 81 | 24 | |||
| 81 | 16 | |||
| 81 | 15 | |||
| 25 | 6 | |||
The Socialists increased their share by six seats to 130 seats, up from 124 before the elections. The Democratic Alliance (formerly Progressive Democrats) also made gains, up by seven to 29 seats. The People's Party's, the European Democrats, Communists and Liberals all lost seats. The French National Front and the Italian Social Movement founded a group called the "European Right": the first far-right group in the Parliament. The Technical Group of Independents was replaced by the Rainbow Group, a mixture of Greens and Regionalists.
| 1984 European Parliament election - final results at 23–26 July 1984 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group | Description | Chaired by | MEPs | ||||
| SOC | Social Democrats | Rudi Arndt | 130 | ||||
| EPP | Christian Democrats | Egon Klepsch | 110 | ||||
| ED | Conservatives | Henry Plumb | 50 | ||||
| COM | Communists and the Far Left | Gianni Cervetti | 41 | ||||
| LD | Liberals and Liberal Democrats | Simone Veil | 31 | ||||
| EDA | National Conservatives | Christian de La Malène | 29 | ||||
| RBW | Greens and Regionalists | Else Hammerich Jaak Vandemeulebroucke Bram van der Lek Paul Staes | 20 | ||||
| ER | Far Right Nationalists | Jean-Marie Le Pen | 16 | ||||
| NI | Independents | none | 7 | Total: 434 | Sources: http://www.europe-politique.eu/elections-europeennes-1984.htmhttp://aei.pitt.edu/5179/01/000473_1.pdf | ||
| Group Nation | SOC | EPP | ED | COM | LD | EDA | RBW | ER | NI | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 4 PS 3 SP | 4 CVP 2 PSC | 3 PRL 2 PVV | 2 VU 1 Agalev 1 Ecolo | 24 | ||||||
| Denmark | 3 A 1 Siu | 1 D | 4 C | 1 SF | 2 V | 4 N | 16 | ||||
| France | 20 PS | 7 UDF 2 UDF (CDS) | 10 PCF | 6 UDF (PR) 5 UDF 1 UDF (PRV) | 20 RPR | UPC | 10 FN | 81 | |||
| Greece | 10 PASOK | 9 ND | 3 KKE 1 KKE–E | 1 EPEN | 24 | ||||||
| Ireland | 6 FG | 1 Ind. | 8 FF | 15 | |||||||
| Italy | 9 PSI 3 PSDI | 26 PCI | 3 PLI 2 PRI | 1 PdUP 1 DP 1 PSd'Az | 5 MSI | 81 | |||||
| Luxembourg | 2 LSAP | 3 CSV | 1 DP | 6 | |||||||
| Netherlands | 9 PvdA | 8 CDA | 5 VVD | 1 PSP 1 PPR | 1 SGP | 25 | |||||
| United Kingdom | 32 LAB 1 SDLP | 45 CON 1 UUP | 1 SNP | 1 DUP | 81 | ||||||
| West Germany | 33 SPD | 34 CDU 7 CSU | 7 Grünen | 81 | |||||||
| Total | 130 | 110 | 50 | 41 | 31 | 29 | 20 | 16 | 7 | 434 |
| European Parliament election, 1984 - timeline | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Parliament | 1984 election and regrouping | Second Parliament | ||||||||
| Groups | Pre-elections January 1 | Change | Results July 23 | New groups | First session July 23 | |||||
| SOC | 124 | +6 | 130 | SOC | 130 | |||||
| EPP | 117 | -7 | 110 | EPP | 110 | |||||
| ED | 63 | -13 | 50 | ED | 50 | |||||
| COM | 48 | -7 | 41 | COM | 41 | |||||
| LD | 38 | -7 | 31 | LD | 31 | |||||
| EPD | 22 | +7 | 29 | EDA | 29 | |||||
| CDI | 12 | +8 | 20 | RBW | 20 | |||||
| NI | 10 | +13 | 7 | NI | 7 | |||||
| 16 | ER | 16 | ||||||||
| Total | 434 | +0 | 434 | Total | 434 | |||||
| Sources: http://aei.pitt.edu/5765/01/003730_1.pdf http://aei.pitt.edu/5179/01/000473_1.pdf http://www.europe-politique.eu/elections-europeennes-1984.htm | ||||||||||
| European Parliament election, 1984 - Delegation at 23 July 1984 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group | Description | Details | % | MEPs | ||
| SOC | Social Democrats | West Germany 33, Belgium 7, Denmark 4, France 20, Italy 12, Luxembourg 2, Netherlands 9, UK 33, Greece 10 | 30% | 130 | ||
| EPP | Christian Democrats | West Germany 41, Belgium 6, Denmark 1, France 9, Ireland 6, Italy 27, Luxembourg 3, Netherlands 8, Greece 9 | 25% | 110 | ||
| ED | Conservatives | Denmark 4, UK 46 | 12% | 50 | ||
| COM | Communists and the Far Left | Denmark 1, France 10, Italy 26, Greece 4 | 9% | 41 | ||
| LD | Liberals and Liberal Democrats | Belgium 5, Denmark 2, France 12, Ireland 1, Italy 5, Luxembourg 1, Netherlands 5 | 7% | 31 | ||
| EDA | National Conservatives | France 20, Ireland 8, UK 1 | 7% | 29 | ||
| RBW | Greens and Regionalists | West Germany 7, Belgium 4, Denmark 4, Italy 3, Netherlands 2 | 5% | 20 | ||
| ER | Far-Right Nationalists | France 10, Italy 5, Greece 1 | 4% | 16 | ||
| NI | Independents | Belgium 2, Italy 3, Netherlands 1, UK 1 | 2% | 7 | ||
| Sources: http://www.europe-politique.eu/elections-europeennes-1984.htm http://aei.pitt.edu/5179/01/000473_1.pdf | 100% | 434 | ||||