The pre-election period in Cyprus in view of the European elections, to take place on June 6 on the island, ended at midnight on Thursday. A total of 526,060 registered voters are called to elect the six MEPs from Cyprus. The number of voters includes 6,458 community citizens living in Cyprus, as well as 9,628 Cypriots who will be voting abroad. A total of 1,126 polling stations will be set up, including 34 abroad.     Speaking at a press conference, Chief Returning Officer Lazaros Savvides said the number of voters is the highest ever registered in any elections in the Republic, noting that...

“We hadn’t even heard of the European Arrest Warrant,” Frank Symeou says despondently. “Why would we?” “I spoke outside the magistrates’ court, saying that it’s an erosion of our civil liberties. And it is. But I think more people need to be aware of it, especially in the UK. Well any Europeans actually, not just the UK - any Europeans.” I couldn’t agree more, so, as promised, here’s my best attempt to explain a very complex case and a very complex piece of EU legislation. I had the privilege to interview Andrew Symeou and his family...

Question Time is the BBC’s flagship political programme, a weekly event where the general public gets the chance to grill its politicians. It being the evening of polling day, I thought I would  take the opportunity to live blog the programme. In the last few weeks, politicians on all sides have taken a real battering. So let’s see what happens tonight. And whether Europe actually gets a mention. I’ll keep updating the post as the show progresses…… FIRST QUESTION - “Should Gordon Brown resign?” Surprise, surprise. And the representative of the Government,...

There are only 48 hours left until the Greek public cast their vote in the European Parliament elections. I will not be voting here (see my previous post). Those who will be voting here I expect will do so because they believe in democracy, because Greeks are highly politicised and in part, I expect, because compulsory voting has been the norm for a long time. The political campaigning and broadcasts however would lead you to believe that your vote has absolutely nothing to do with Europe. It is one step further than playing out the European elections on national lines, here, in Greece, you are...

In March, Mrs. Clinton – FM/USA - commented in Brussels that the Obama administration was “determined to listen, advise (European Union countries) and through agreement arrive at wise solution to common challenges.” Among the “common challenges” was that the “Balkans is in danger of becoming part of the forgotten past.” She added the ominous view that “it will not be allowed for unfinished business to remain there.” The US vice president’s trip in Balkans on May was again evidence of a lack of European leadership. Biden’s visit to Serbia,...

I just voted in UK. Remarks / differences with the Greek electoral procedures: 1) They didn’t ask me to show any kind of identification (passport or whatever) only the polling card I received via post. In Greece you need to have id card. 2) The polling station was in a Methodist Church (specifically a building owned by them). In Greece that would be a scandal, the Orthodox Church providing space for such a cause. 3) I voted using a pencil? Shall I worry, will they erase my choice easily? 4) No envelopes are used here. You just fold the ballot paper. Also, the ballot box is not transparent....

The campaign for the elections has taken part during the last months. We all know that, it is not just the two previous weeks of the election day. But one thing is true: after the whole effort, one second summarizes the results, the ballot. Today, june 4th, is the first elections day. But still, just in case you wanted to forget about voting, here is something to encourage a bit more. Just a last effort! swfobject.embedSWF("http://www.youtube.com/v/QPcPYY8dFLc&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0", "vvq4fbf6e585aa56", "425", "344", "9", vvqexpressinstall, vvqflashvars, vvqparams, vvqattributes);

So Predict09 have their final prediction up. They have the European Groupings as follows: EPP: 262 seats PES: 194 ALDE: 85 UEN/EC: 53 Greens-EFA: 50 EUL/NGL: 40 Ind/Dem: 23 Non-inscrit: 30 To get Barroso elected President of the Commission, the EPP will need the support of more MEPs, but with the Spanish (20) , Portoguese (9), German (27) and UK (15) socialist bloc parties supporting him (figures are the predicted figures), and maybe bringing the new conservative grouping on side (UEN/EC) with 53 MEPs the EPP would have about 386 votes in the Parliament. Of course that is not including some of...

From the off, apologies for the apparent UKIP obsession. It’s just that apart from Labour in freefall (and I’m not going to bore you with that non-EU related drama here) the Euro elections have practically dropped off the radar. Anyway, following up my post from this morning, UKIP leader Nigel Farage has stepped in to express his outrage at an apparent problem with ballot papers (though my hunch remains that UKIP will still be celebrating massive electoral success tomorrow). This is the letter/ email he sent this afternoon…. MINISTRY OF JUSTICE ATTN ELECTIONS MINISTER Mr Michael...

The last few weeks have been really hectic with the run up to the Elections here in Ireland tomorrow. I have been out nearly every night of the week canvassing and since I got more free time I got out on the European Campaign trail with sitting Ireland South MEP Colm Bruke MEP (Fine Gael/ EPP). We went around Cork City and County and the reaction was great. As usual though in Ireland the most common question was “what party?” and once they knew we were Fine Gael it was ok. But as its an PRSTV election (like NI and Malta), personality is more important then policy. We were asked mainly...