Dutch voters head to the polls as four-day, 27-country ballot to select MEPs begins – as it happened

Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders poses with his ballot paper. Photograph: Reuters

3.58pm BST

Summary of the day

• Elections to the world’s only directly elected transnational assembly got under way in earnest as Dutch voters went to the polls in the first of a four-day, 27-country ballot that will return 720 MEPs to the next European parliament.

• The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has told parliament he backs the deportation of violent foreign-born criminals even if they come from Syria or Afghanistan, as he signalled a more hardline stance three days before Germans vote in European elections.

• Reinhold Lopatka, lead candidate for the Austrian People’s party in the European election, told the Guardian that the issues of illegal migration, inflation and the war in Ukraine are dominating the campaign.

• Lopatka also criticised the far-right Freedom party, saying: “They are the voice of Putin here in Austria.”

• Anna Stürgkh, a candidate for Austria’s liberal NEOS party, said that “from 25ish onwards, it is definitely the Russian war on Ukraine that is a hot topic and that people want to talk about.”

• She also said that “especially amongst the younger voters, the whole Gaza conflict is actually also really important to them and they want to talk about that as well.”

• Andreas Schieder, lead candidate for Austria’s Social Democratic party in the European elections, said “the overall main issue, of course, of this European election is the threat of a victory of the extreme right.” He highlighted his call for investment in European industry and a social Europe.

• Markéta Gregorová, a member of the European parliament representing the Czech Pirates, said a lot of voters have been asking “what do you bring to the table” and that “in the bigger cities, I got so many people approaching me regarding disinformation.”

• A new wave of EU language versions of Pravda, the Russian network, have started springing up all over Europe in what counter-disinformation experts say looks like an attempt to “convey large amounts of disinformation and pro-Russia propaganda” as EU voters go to the polls.

• The American ambassador in Budapest, David Pressman, criticised the Hungarian government’s friendly links to Russia – and the Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó’s latest trip to Saint Petersburg.

Updated at 12.14pm BST

3.42pm BST

European commissioner Thierry Breton has shared an election playlist.

EU elections have started! 🇪🇺🗳️

My top 3 advice:

1. Go vote

2. Check out this playlist: https://t.co/neSGPllXAH

3. Vote#UseYourVote #Playlist pic.twitter.com/uSStPxtkek

— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) June 6, 2024