Civitas
+44 (0)20 7799 6677

2009: a pivotal year for the EU?

pete quentin, 3 November 2008

The next European Parliament elections will take place in June 2009.
Direct elections for the European Parliament were introduced in 1979 in an attempt to increase the European Union’s democratic credentials – after all it is difficult for an appointed authority to lecture the developing world about the moral superiority and practical advantages of democracy (the European Commission and Council should take note). However at the last European Parliament election in 2004 turnout was only 45.6% across the EU, down from 49.51% in 1999 and 62% in 1979. In the UK only 38.9% of people voted. Raising voter turnout is crucial because the 2009 EP election will provide the only chance for EU electorates to have any say at all in the EU for the next 5 years.


EU Communication Commissioner, Margot Wallstrom, has vowed to increase voter turnout at the 2009 election. For example, the European Broadcasting Union (not an EU institution, but the brains behind the Eurovision Song Contest) has been enlisted to make the election more visible. But in case the ‘all-singing, all-dancing flamboyancy’ for which Eurovision is famed does not do the job the EU is also planning to boost voter turnout by blasting an EU ballot box into space. According to an EP spokesman the stunt is intended “to show people that they can vote anywhere”.
The ballot box (symbolising democracy in the EU) will orbit the earth, going round and round and round and round… However there is a danger that the EU plan will ultimately result in more space debris and another potentially dangerous obstruction to future serious scientific missions. The EU ballot box won’t be the first piece of EU space waste; in 2005 a copy of the European Constitution was launched into the final frontier on a Russian rocket. In light of the rejection of the EU Constitution and the on-going trials of its replacement (the Lisbon Treaty) the EU’s new orbiting ballot box plan might simply represent another “lame duck” initiative deposited into a vacuum.
Celestial publicity stunts and cosmic propaganda are not the way to boost interest and voter turnout at the 2009 EP election. According to a Eurobarometer Special Survey report there is a lack of awareness of the election (75% of Europeans do not know that the next European Parliament elections will be held in 2009). Believe it or not this is an improvement from 6 months previous when 90% did not know. However, there is cause for optimism since the report found that the lack of interest in the upcoming elections will not necessarily mean that people will not vote. For example almost one in three said that they would definitely vote and only 14% said that they would definitely not vote. People are ignorant about the upcoming election, but they are keen to exercise their vote.
Apathy towards European elections is worsened by people’s lack of understanding about the relevance of the EU and the importance of the EP elections. For example 60% of respondents said that they “do not sufficiently know the role of the European Parliament”, and 58% said that they “did not feel sufficiently informed to vote”. Therefore the report concludes that a key challenge will be to inform European citizens about the European Parliament’s role.
To this end, the Civitas EU Project seeks to promote awareness of the EU amongst 6th form students, a demographic which according to the Eurobarometer report are the least likely to vote (22% of 15- 24 years olds compared to 35% of 55+ year olds and an EU average of 30%).
As part of the project, on Thursday 12th March 2009, in the run up to the 2009 EP election, Civitas will once again be hosting a national EU Conference on current EU issues relating to AS and A level curricula. The conference will provide a day-long programme of insightful lectures and engaging debates on the current EU issues from a host of high-profile participants in the EU argument. It will provide a great opportunity for students to hear cutting-edge arguments from both sides of the EU debate. Previous conferences have attracted audiences of over seven hundred. Speakers at these previous events have included, Tony Benn, Kenneth Clarke QC MP, Lord Willougby de Broke, Derek Scott, Charles Grant (Director of CER) and John Peet (Europe editor at the Economist).
This year’s exciting new programme of lectures will include:
• The EU: a unique political model
• Discussion panel with MEP candidates for the 2009 EP election
• European economics – Can the EU help to avoid financial turmoil?
• EU Law: a help or hindrance to business?
• Debate: Do we need a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty?
The Conference will take place in the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster. More details will be posted on the Civitas website shortly.
In terms of promoting awareness of the 2009 European Parliament elections, political gimmicks and celestial stunts are mere distractions. The 2009 Civitas EU Conference aims to bring EU education straight back to earth.

7 comments on “2009: a pivotal year for the EU?”

  1. G. Heath.
    If we left the EU it would be Brussels that would be worse of along with the rest of the EU.So i think we are all agreed that the EU is of no benefit to the UK and a positive drain financially.

  2. Mike
    The standard answer to that question if I rephrase it slightly, (the things at the top of the list which pro-EU people site as EU’s advantages to our country, i.e the things the EU does for us we could not do sans EU) are trade and jobs. The fact is that both improve once we leave.
    So not only is there nothing the EU can do for us we cannot do ourselves, we most definitely will do it/them better.

  3. I often ask myself what is it that the EU can do for our nation that we can not do ourselves.

  4. Peter Davey is right. The EU is desperate not to let real democracy come into the equation. It maintains the illusion, like Big Brother, of being there for our benefit and at our request. Aided and abetted by our own flimsy excuse for a government over the last 35 years, in the UK it performs this wool-pulling-over-eye trick by maintaining the deceit that the EU is good for UK jobs and trade. However, unhindered by EU red tape which affects both, our trade and jobs can only increase once we are out.

  5. Actually, 2009 might well not be the only chance the people of Europe get to vote on EU matters for the next few years.
    As the other commenters have suggested, should the European electorate come up with the “wrong” answer, they might well be required to keep on voting, time after time, until they come up with the right one.
    The EU’s idea of democracy reminds me of Humpty-Dumpty’s comment to Alice (in Wonderland): “When I use a word, it means what I want it to mean, the question is, Who’s to be master? That’s all.”
    The “Eurocrats” have made it quite clear whom they wish to be master. Perhaps we need to remind them what happened to Humpty-Dumpty.

  6. Mike’s entirely right. Can I vote out the Council or the Commssion? No. Can I vote to get the UK out? Not unless I vote UKIP. Voting in the EU is all irrelvant as in about 30 years, the UK will be out anyway, it’s inevitable. Just in time for the last lights to go out in this country as we followed the worst of EU nonsense, their ideas about climate change. Still, the good news is that the US has just voted to send itself down the tubes too.

  7. The view of the electorate is of no consequence to our Lords and masters in the EU. The Irish thought that democracy would prevail when they voted against the latest treaty/constitution, but oh no that will not do. The only kind of democracy they refer to is one that suites their agenda. Democracy is dead long live the EU.

Newsletter

Keep up-to-date with all of our latest publications

Sign Up Here