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MEPs have broadly backed a report by the Constitutional Affairs Committee that says the 2014 European Parliament elections should be made more "European".

The debate on 3 July 2013 focused on proposals for ballot papers to list European political parties, as well as national ones.

The report - which is non-binding - also says that the European parties should name their candidates for the European Commission president in advance of the elections.

Under EU rules, the Commission president is nominated by the European Council, "taking into account the political balance of the European Parliament".

Andrew Duff, the British Liberal Democrat MEP who wrote the report said it was an attempt to counter accusations that the European Parliament lacked "democratic legitimacy".

"The media tend to follow national parliaments not us. European political parties barely function as proper campaigning organisations and we want to make the elections a better experience for the voters and for the media," he said.

The report also urges European political parties to hold a series of public debates between the nominated candidates and asks EU countries to permit political broadcasts by the European political parties.

Polish centre-right MEP Gyorgy Schöpflin said making sure campaigns were run on a more European basis would end the practice of using the European Parliament elections as protest votes against national governments.

However Ukip MEP Stuart Agnew dismissed the report as "another attempt to distort democracy".

He continued, "by all means nominate a has-been politician for the post of Commission president, but no British voter will have heard of them unless they are called Tony Blair".

The report will be voted on during the daily voting session from 11am on 4 July 2013.

Useful links:

The European Parliament's disclaimer on the use of simultaneous interpretations can be found here.

Read Democracy Live's guide to how the plenary sessions work here.

A full speaker's list can be found here.