Election follow-up
Is public support for EU in decline?
In June 2004, following the European Parliament elections, we asked our panel of Your Sayers the following question: Does the drop in turnout and increase support for anti-EU candidates in the European Parliament elections indicate that public support for the EU is in decline?
So what is your view on this?
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‘Public support for the EU is in decline.’
Indeed the drop in turnout is an indication that public support for the EU is in decline. Personally, I very much regret that people do not go to the polls in my country (Germany), or let’s say not enough people.
I think a compulsory vote could be an idea, but of course that is a disputed issue. I was surprised to see that so many anti-EU parties got votes in different countries, that is a clear indication of an anti-EU atmosphere which we should really follow up. Regards.
‘Politicians have been indifferent for the real problems and issues of the EU.’
According to me, the result of the European Parliament Elections 2004 was the response of the European Public to the politicians, who have been quite indifferent for the real problems and issues of the E.U. During the whole pre-election period, the politicians mostly focused on one candidate country for their campaigns; Turkey. The ones who support Turkey’s entrance into E.U. and the ones who do not support. But what about the present problems of the E.U. to be solved ? Economy, unemployment, aging population, immigration policy, health policy, energy, terror etc.
The politicians tried to use the Old Trick of Illusion and Easy Way. What is it? Using a popular subject in order to obtain votes, instead of working hard on solving the complicated problems and trying to explain them to public. I wonder what would have been the main argument of the European Parliament Elections, if there hadn’t been the issue of “Turkey”?
So, the European Public was indifferent to vote for the politicians who were indifferent to their real problems.
‘Elections marked by apathy.’
The first European Parliament elections in the 25-Members EU are marked by apathy of the voters and punishment of national governing parties – the voters have exercised their right to reprove the own national governments, delivering defeats on them. As a result the overall balance of the 732-member parliament is little changed, with the centre-right European People’s Party remaining the biggest bloc, followed by the Socialists.
‘A lack of European leadership.’
It would be foolish to claim that the failure of engaging people in voting for this year’s election has nothing to do with the general support for the EU. It has. People have difficulties in understanding what the EU is, does and how it affects their every day life.
One key issue is the lack of European leadership. The competition of power between the member states, the institutions and different special interest groups blurs the picture of what the EU is about. However, one should not jump to the conclusion that the low number of voters automatically constitutes a vote of no confidence against the whole Union. People may very well chose not to vote if they feel at a loss; they don’t want to cast a random vote. Then again, the election has bearing upon one of the institutions.
One must not forget the general trust in the work of the Commission nor the democratic input one may find in the negotiating governments of the member states. Accordingly there is, even after an election like this, reasons to be optimistic about the future of the EU.
‘I believe that the low involvement of voters in the EP elections was caused by the distance of the EP from the local voter.’
People are more concerned with issues happening right at their doorstep today or tomorrow. The long-perspective effects of the actions of the EP are less visible to them. Besides, in many cases people don’t even know what exactly does the EP do. Better to be safe and sorry, and so it seems to them is that the only right and sensible thing is to avoid voting.
The raising popularity of anti-Europe candidates can be, indeed, the result of growing dissatisfaction with the Union. Or, it can also be explained with how the anti-Europe groups serve their messages rather than with what their views exactly are.
For example, in my country the major parties are very pro-Europe. Yet, their results at the EP elections were not too good. It was because of the image thy created of EU. Their concept was, basically, that of course, being a member is useful to Estonia, but… we can only make use of the benefits when fighting our way through. Besides, all the old EU members are stagnated anyway, so it is only up to us to shake Europe… a rather negative perception…
So, I think the described tendencies are caused by people’s resentment to aggressive EU-euphoria and their unawareness rather than the decline of support to EU.
‘I think that the drop in the turnout for the EP elections wasn’t surprising.’
Everybody knew that with such a dull preparation (in France and Spain, we barely got to see any candidates and from what I’ve heard, it was the same everywhere) many people weren’t going to vote. I really believe that the media should talk about the European Parliament more during the rest of the time, it’s normal that most people don’t know anything about it if they’re never told anything! Especially as many politicians treat it as a place to wait until they get a better job in their country…
As for the increasing votes that go to anti-EU parties, I find it really hard to understand: how can one vote for democratic, European elections and elect an anti-European, undemocratic party??? What really surprised me was the amount of people who voted for these parties in the new countries. Then again, perhaps the results were the way they were because most of those who had voted in favour of the enlargement didn’t bother to vote for the Parliament.
I don’t think it means the EU is on the decline, but rather faith in politics in general. Many people have decided that voting (whether for national or EU elections) is useless, which is very sad and contrary to my idea of a democracy. However, it is surprising to see that many of those who didn’t vote are interested in the EU, they just need a little ‘re-education’. We should find a way to explain that each vote counts!
‘The support of the public is indeed in decline, and the election of anti-EU candidates support it.’
That is true for sure. The European Union originally was the European Economic Community that offered a vision a new united Europe to every citizen in that Union. The European Union has transformed a lot over the past decades, it is a sure fact that that the new Members of the Union and young people of the old Members respond to the European Union in a different way.
During the past decades being a Member of the European Union was a sort of a rescue, simply because it offered a great deal of money which helped each country to develop, to rise the life standards and invest in every section of the economy that it could develop, for example Greece developed the tourism and agriculture and it also broadened the horizons for the economy. Nowadays, the acceptance and entrance of a country as a member state has to do with other things. The old Members did not only benefit from the funds, but also from the common things of the Union, such as the identity or the no-need of the passport. That meant that those countries could be involved in the decisions and treaties.
As a result of the marvelous travel of improvement of the Union, many treaties and other common decisions, like the creation of the Monetary Union, the new countries have a lot to think about before entering the Union. Others agree, others disagree. There are, whatsoever, certain acts of the European Member States that cause a disbelief towards the Union, as for example the disability to agree on the Constitution or the disability to agree on a common position towards the Iraqi war.
The European Union is developing and getting more and more responsibilities, either that is a good thing or not. The importance of the Union in our everyday lives is significant. The European Union functions is a rather difficult to understand or weird way, which makes it even harder for people to understand the meaning of being a citizen of the European Union. The EU should by all means try to get closer to young people and to the elders, otherwise that will not only harm the work of it, but it will makes the work of everybody involved harder, including the citizens. The support of the public is indeed in decline, and the election of anti-EU candidates support it.
The presence of them in the Parliament will work negatively towards the common goals of the Union, towards a broaden and more united Europe, or towards a EU of the European Parliament and the National Parliaments with the democratic deficit.
‘Don’t we care about our progress?’
I don’t think that we had to have a look on the Euro elections results in order to see that the EU public support has declined. It is obvious even from the new member states that people don’t care about the EU from the fact that the average percent of the voters was around 35-40%. What we don’t really know is the reason.
I am pretty sure that the Euro elections active dialogue result will show the exact same result concerning the target group of young people. In my country (where voting is compulsory according to our constitution and those who do not vote are supposed to be punished [never have been though]) the majority of people preferred to go to the beaches or watch the Euro 2004. I wonder why do the politicians of some countries intend to give the new Euro-Constitution on a referendum voting since people do not care about the EU. Don’t we care about our progress?
Something must be done really fast in order the public awareness concerning EU matters to be spread out. Let’s hope that in the next Euro elections the Member States will be no less than 27 with the entrance of Bulgaria and Romania.
‘The end of the European dream?’
I had a great difficult to understand what was asked as theme of this month. Solutions: Am I crazy? Is the fever of Euro2004 disturbing me? Or… In Portugal we still don’t have relevant and known anti-EU candidates? Anyway I also feel that public support for the EU is in decline… the results of last elections prove that people isn’t interested. My hope is that the last one is correct!
What’s the reason? Maybe the lack of a European dream or a European project… Maybe the new European Commission President turn this into a reality, involving people in this project and giving them the initiative and courage to support the EU more actively.