At stake is the democratic representation of more than 500 million people, the control over the largest economy in the world and the future of an ambitious political union.
Voting started today in the UK and the Netherlands, followed tomorrow by the Irish. Saturday and especially Sunday the majority of the European nations will vote.
But will the majority of the European citizens actually use their vote? Last time the turnout was a measly 43%, slightly flattered by a few small countries where voting is still an obligation. Comparable to the all-time low of 42% in the 2010 federal US elections.*
When we look at voter turnout at national elections in Europe (ranging from a low 60% in France and the UK, to 70% in Germany, even up to 85% in some other nations) it becomes crystal clear that the European parliament wasn't very popular in 2009. A lot more people found their national parliament worthy of a walk to the polling stations than the concept of a democratic European union
Does that make the European Union undemocratic? Yes in the sense that it doesn't have a majority voting for it so in theory the non voters could be the greater block. No, as we don't know why people don't vote and the chance that they have a united vision on Europe or any other matter is negligible.
Post-election interviews show that people don't vote for a variety of reasons. I already voted for my national parliament, completely forgotten, never heard of it, didn't know what to vote, am opposed to the EU, etc.
But the nagging question remains: can the political European union survive if the number of voters stays this low? What if the turnout this year is even worse and falls below the 40%? Does it show the failure of a political union?
There is an even worse scenario: more people turn up this week, but political parties which advocate the death of the European project get their votes. Parties like Austrian Freedom Party, the Northern League in Italy, the Left Alliance in Finland, the Swedish Social Democrats, the Czech Civic Democratic Party, Fidesz in Hungary, the Centre Party in Estonia, the PVV in the Netherlands and Ukip in the UK.
Is an European common market sustainable without support of the people? Will the democratic deficit kill the European Union as a democratic political platform? Do we, European citizens, accept a reality where the business sector profits from the economic benefits while private citizens turn away from it?
Can we afford to skip our vote and leave Europe to the sceptics and the private sector? Are we willing to let our national leaders decide on our interests?
*(national data from http://www.idea.int/vt/countryview.cfm?id=-1) #EP2014 #Europe #Politics
I will
I am going to vote for the Pirate Party.
Interesting in that it appears that the voting public on your side of the pond is as complacent as the one here. Is a sad state of affairs that we are all so divided that there is not enough unity to make the real changes that are needed.
Voted.
I was surprised at how any political parties have candidates standing for MEP position in my area. I keep all the political leaflets (so that everyone in the house can read them all) and we only had leaflets from 3 parties yet there was nearly a dozen on the ballot paper!
Most of them appeared, from the names, to be anti-Europe.
Anyway I'm annoyed at all those cheap parties that couldn't be bothered to send leaflets around. We sit around at dinner and make fun of all the poor logic, inability to count (10 reasons for… yet only 9 listed), and promising to fix things that the role doesn't give you control of (MEP candidates promising to improve local schools and that sort of thing). Hey it gets the whole family paying attention to political candidates even if it is just to laugh at them. 🙂
Voting when I get home
I can't vote. I'm not in my country, and it's not possible to cast your vote in another eu country.
+Gijs van Dijk At least here in Germany it is possible to vote by mail.
Lucky you +Uwe Raabe. I can't vote because I'm not in the city for which my ballot is valid.
I can't vote myself as I am not a citizen but I encourage everybody to vote Pirates.
+Gijs van Dijk if you are registered with the town hall you can vote in a different EU country. So it depends on the length of your stay.
Why +Shaker Cherukuri To force democratic participation (as people can't say it wasn't their choice)?
I know the argument +Shaker Cherukuri but what democracy locks up it's citizens for not voting?
Meanwhile the Netherlands reports a slightly lower turnout and a severe loss for the Eurosceptic PVV.
quant a moi comme je ne suis de votre can je peux pas voté