European Elections are over! Bump! An event we were looking forward to for four month. Now it is over and nothing has changed. The turnout was quite low as usual. The campaigns were quite national as usual and there are no real surprises about the election turnout. Boring could you now think…
But especially these facts that are as usual, make me thinking and wanting to do something against it. In fact before the election I did nothing, but blogging in German and English. Did that help to motivate young people to vote?
In my opinion these elections are a sign that European culture has changed. Politics is only for a few young people still interesting. We have to try to make it understandable and “sexy” for the upcoming generations.
But is that the meaning of the European politics or do we perhaps need a completely new system? Should we try to personalize our elections more as the American Elections? Is voting for parties still suitable in our time or would it better fit to pick an issue of the Greens and another topic of the EPPs? Create your own profile of politics?
Anyway there is one encouraging outcome of the elections. For the Greens, 3 people younger than 30 years will go to the European Parliament. One of them is Jan Philipp Albrecht (I introduced him in my blogs). With his party he got 12 percent, what is a good turnout for the Greens in Germany. Albrecht said: “That is a big success fort he young Greens. 3 people younger than 30 are in the European Parliament. The Greens are therefore the only party that takes Europe’s future seriously.”
However, I don’t know if I was able to make more young Europeans attentive to the European Elections. But in any way I enjoyed blogging and I was more watching news from the European perspective.
(10 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5)
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QUOTE: “3 people younger than 30 are in the European Parliament. The Greens are therefore the only party that takes Europe’s future seriously.” UNQUOTE
So no other party takes Europe seriously, other than the Greens? Absurd - and unpleasantly ageist. One star for that.
The turnout was not just “quite low” it went down for the 7th election in a row to an all time low.
The European Parliament is too big to be effective.
MEPs often say how they simply sit and click-vote through reams of proposals.
They also state how little speaking time they have (any parliament member’s complaint of course! - but seems particularly bad in the EU parliament, they arte typically shafted to a few minutes at late hours with empty chambers).
Debates, or what passes for debates, are apparently quite farcical, again also in comparison to other parliaments.
In fairness, the need for translation prevents a natural free flowing repartee, even if the conditions were there, but there are clearly problems that should be addressed organizationally.
The number of members could be cut from the present 785:
Around 600 is probably the upper workable limit for an effective parliament, as reflected in the size of say the British and German national equivalents. the US House of Representatives has 435 voting members.
The third thing is a Parliament with a more focused relevant remit.
In other words less, but more important, EU decisions in Parliament, devolving smaller matters locally with the same total spend, using a more effective EU net-pay Budget system, so that countries do not have to claw back money they have paid in to the EU.
More see http://ceolas.net/#eu11x
Also see Finland entry comment re
European Government based on Parliament
http://elections.thinkaboutit.eu/2009/06/some-trivia-over-ep-election-in-finland/
I like your post. It shows that you enjoyed what you did and that you are an optimist.
That politics is all about personal integrity and not the spread of pessimism is something the last two commentators obviously do not understand.
Hi, Helena!
The quote you don’t like was from a young Green MEP, not from Franziska. The MEP is obviously going to say that only the Green party is interested in the future of Europe, but it is just rhetoric. Other parties are definitely interested in the future of Europe.
But, however you look at it, the only MEPs representing under 30s are now from the Green party. Are we too stupid to be MEPs? Too young and immature? Surely the fact that only the Greens were brave enough to seat young MEPs (although it makes a difference whether the candidates were voted for directly or chosen by the party) says a lot.
It might be unpleasantly ageist. But not necessarily in the way you meant.
Or, to put it a different way:
Nobody should think that MEPs aged over 30 are too old to think about the future (if they do think this, they are completely wrong).
But in a parliament representing all of Europe, it is right that there are MEPs representing under 30s. It is just a shame that they are all Green MEPs, and not from other political groups.
Somebody is impersonating me!!!!!! I did NOT post above!!!
“But is that the meaning of the European politics or do we perhaps need a completely new system”
A new system would be preferable, and yes, it could be based on the USA :
But also in how Parliament functions, making it a more relevant institution.
That means no Commission, and Government based on Parliament, see
http://ceolas.net/#eu3x
The other points you make are
“The campaigns were quite national as usual …”
“Should we try to personalize our elections more as the American Elections?”
One problem in Europe is the lack of cross-border politics, which would also make the EU more relevant.
For example if there was going to be a common election for a European president,
people might still just vote for their own national candidates, and the language barrier would be there for many non-national candidates - still it would be an interesting spectacle!
Just adding stg about the age: actually I was for a long time convinced that MEP’s should be mature, with life wxperiences etc…but I’ve changed my mind. I somehow feel that our generation has to get involved into established politics now. There are problems which directly concern our generations (from climate changes, pension funds, educational system,…) and we have to be actively involved in deciding about them. I can really see that there are many qualified young candidates and even more: they have a vision and they have a program. So, go, go, new generations!!!!
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