Exhibition
Shaping Europe
The 1979 European election: A democratic milestone
The world's first directly elected international assembly
More than 185 million voters in the nine countries of the European Community were called on to vote in 1979. On 10 June, the European Parliament became the first international assembly directly elected by universal suffrage: a historic moment for European democracy.
The new European Parliament held its constituent session at the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg. MEPs chose Simone Veil as President of the European Parliament. Veil was a symbolic figure for many reasons: rescued from the concentration camps during the Second World War, she was a women’s rights activist, committed to Franco-German reconciliation, and strongly dedicated to the European project.
