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Industry advocates say the ongoing elections across Europe are unlikely to have an impact on the EU’s cryptocurrency laws or future policies.
The European Union held elections for all member states earlier this month, marking the first major shift in government over the next five years. In response to the elections, EU member states including France, Austria and Germany have announced they will hold elections in the coming months, with additional elections expected to be held by next year.
The European Parliament elections ended on June 9. After votes were counted in the 27 member states, Parliament shifted slightly to the right. The shift created space for more innovation-friendly policies, which was largely due to appointments from France and Austria, said Mark Foster, EU policy director at the Crypto Innovation Council. Officials who played key roles in the EU’s crypto journey, such as Stefan Berger, Ondrej Kováric, and Irene Tingari, were re-elected.
The EU’s wide-ranging cryptocurrency regulation, the Markets in Crypto Assets Act (MiCA), was passed last year and will come into force this year. The stablecoin-related measures of the set of rules will come into force on June 30, while the rest of the law will come into force in December.
“The election has no impact on MiCA in its current form,” Jonathan Galea, CEO of regulatory consultancy BCAS, said in a statement, adding that the package had already been finalized.
While the European elections will not directly affect MiCA, countries are responsible for providing crypto companies with licensing regimes that meet EU business requirements. Regulators have previously told CoinDesk that most countries are already ready to implement MiCA.
“The European Parliament and National Assembly elections will not have much impact on implementation which will hand over to EU authorities and national competent authorities,” Foster said in a statement, referring to the European Banking Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority.
More general elections are expected this year: French President Emmanuel Macron has called for surprise parliamentary elections (separate from the country’s presidential election) after his ruling Renaissance party won only about half the seats that Marine Le Pen’s right-wing Rally National won in European elections.
France is scheduled to hold two votes on June 30 and July 7, but the results are unlikely to overturn previously passed crypto-related legislation. 74 companies are already registered in France, and local authorities expect the number to jump to 100 this year as regulators seek to attract more digital asset businesses.
Next year, Germany, one of the largest EU countries with the most seats in the European Parliament, will also hold elections. Germany will hold federal elections in which citizens will vote for the country’s legislative body.
“We expect that the broader trend towards right-wing and far-right parties will be replicated domestically in time, particularly in France, Austria and perhaps Germany, but we do not expect the far-right parties to garner the same levels of support that they did in the European elections,” Foster said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine was expected to hold elections this year as current President Volodymyr Zelensky’s term expires, but the country wants to end the war with Russia before holding new elections, the BBC reported in May.
The Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Spain held elections last year. Denmark, Hungary, Slovenia, Latvia and Sweden are due to hold elections in 2026. Malta and Italy will hold elections in 2027, the same year France will hold its next presidential election.
Following the recent elections, national leaders represented on the European Council will nominate their country’s candidates for commission, with the European Parliament having the final say.
The European crypto community is hoping to see blockchain rules enacted, but the role of passing new laws rests with the EU’s executive body, the EU Commission, and no changes are likely to come until the Commission sets out its priorities later this year.
Blockchain for Europe Executive Director Robert Kopich said at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2024 conference that he believes current chair Ursula von der Leyen has a good chance of being re-elected. EU leaders have already approved von der Leyen’s candidacy for a second term. The European Parliament is set to vote next month to select the body’s president.
It is unclear how his reappointment will affect cryptocurrencies, but Kopich noted that cryptocurrencies are “not a top priority” in the region.
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