(Crux. John L. Allen Jr.).
Although non-Europeans may not be paying attention – and, for that matter, a fairly wide swath of the European population itself isn’t exactly riveted either – but elections for the European Parliament loom June 6-9, when voters will select 720 representatives who will chart a course for the EU for the next five years. The balloting may not be a pop culture phenomenon – last time, in 2019, about 200 million Europeans cast ballots, around half of all those eligible, and roughly the same number who tuned in a month later to watch Manchester City beat Inter Milan 1-0 in the Champions League final.
However, it’s a good bet that attention levels in at least one European setting will be unusually high: Within Vatican City, where Pope Francis and his team have a clear incentive to want to see a strengthened EU emerge from the vote. That reason? Because if Donald Trump returns to power in the U.S., as polls presently suggest he very well might, then Francis (and, presumably, whomever he might hope succeeds him) would desperately want a more assertive and consequential EU to become their primary partner on the global stage.