European Parliament elections 2019: A sustainable paradigm shift or a brief beacon of participation and voter mobilisation? / Europaparlamentswahl 2019: Ein nachhaltiger Paradigmenwechsel oder ein kurzes Strohfeuer hinsichtlich der Partizipation und Wählermobilisierung?

English Abstract: The 2019 elections to the European Parliament were largely overshadowed by the imminent threat of Brexit, global political issues with the USA in the main role, and renewing nationalism in some member states. This article analyses developments in EU voter turnout over the 40-year history of directly elected elections to the European Parliament, with a specific focus on the 2019 elections, where for the first time in history of the European Parliament elections, an increase in turnout was achieved. One of the core questions is whether the European Elections can leave behind the rank of a Second-Order-Election and whether they can structurally adjust to the turnout rates of the EU-national states in the future. Or were there unique special circumstances in this EU election which had led to this increase in voter turnout? For this purpose, the data of the EU election turnout are put into context with those of national main elections as well as with the USA presidential and midterm elections. Based on the underlying data and recognizable parallels to USA election developments between the presidential elections and the midterm elections, it is possible to speak of a second-order election for the 2019 European elections as well, with some limitations with regard to the European campaign themes that were used slightly more intensively in 2019. But beyond that, the analysis shows positive developments like higher turnout rates among youth in particular and tendencies towards a better image of the European Union, which could have the potential to foster future efforts to overcome the Second-Order-Election thesis.