Conference by David GOUARD – Certop, Université de Toulouse II Jean Jaurès, France
“Electoral Participation of Non‐National EU Citizens in France”
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Room LW 204 Lab, ‘Louise Weiss’ Building, Campus Saint Raphaël, 89 boulevard Vauban
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Abstract
The 1992 Maastricht Treaty grants EU citizens the right to vote in local and European elections in their country of residence within the EU. Today, in France, this right concerns some 1.3 million European citizens of voting age. However, only a quarter of them are registered to vote in municipal and European elections. Significant disparities are observed according to country of origin. Indeed, EU citizens from Northern European countries are more registered than those from Southern Europe, who in turn are more registered than citizens from Central and Eastern Europe.
Research into the electoral participation of non-citizen immigrants in their host countries draws on competing theoretical frameworks: exposure theory, resistance theory and transferability theory. Some studies also refer to more traditional theories of political participation, as well as contextual approaches.
As part of the REPERE program (Empirical Research on the Electoral Participation of European Nationals), we are examining the influence of these different factors on the electoral registration of EU citizens living in France.
To this end, between December 2024 and May 2025, we distributed an online questionnaire targeting EU citizens of voting age living in France. Based on a dataset of 2,000 respondents, our study seeks to identify and rank the main explanatory factors for voter registration. The study notably highlights the specific impact of the size of the municipality of residence. From this perspective, the structure of the French institutional landscape—characterized by a predominance of very small municipalities—emerges as a favorable factor for the exercise of European citizenship.
David Gouard is Assistant Professor in Political Science at CERTOP, University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès.