Europe gets its elections show on the road

THE EUROPEAN Parliament office in Dublin started a €90,000 campaign to encourage participation in the June 5th elections in the four Euro-constituencies with the launch of a double-decker "Use Your Vote" bus in Dublin's Merrion Square yesterday.

The total campaign cost for the 27 member states is €18 million. Head of the European Parliament Office Francis Jacobs said the "Elections Roadshow" would travel to 20 counties throughout the State from May 11th to 17th.

Other elements of the campaign include a series of larger-than-life 3D "sculptures" in Dublin, Galway and Cork; a dedicated website www.europeanelections.ie; advertisements on TV and radio stations; posters in bus shelters; and leaflets and brochures highlighting the relevance of the European Parliament and explaining also to non-Irish EU citizens, who are resident in Ireland, how to use their votes either in Ireland or at home.

In June 2008, the directorate general for communication of the European Parliament awarded the contract for the information campaign to the Berlin-based Scholz & Friends advertising, public relations and marketing firm.

McConnells Fusion, the Irish branch of Sholz & Friends, is in charge of implementing the strategy here, along with the parliament office.

"We are glad and proud to play a part in this campaign and to support the European Parliament and its information office in Dublin. European citizens have the choice to influence how things are going. That's what we want to reveal with this campaign," said Sally Ann O'Donovan, managing director of McConnells Fusion/S&F Dublin.

Mr Jacobs said: "The objective of this campaign is to raise awareness among potential voters in Ireland, whether Irish or from any other EU member state, about their right to participate in the European elections and the ways in which they can do that.

"The key message we want to deliver to people is 'Use Your Vote'. The European Parliament will take decisions over the next five years that will affect the lives of all European Union citizens. In Ireland, voters will elect 12 MEPs across four constituencies - Dublin, East, North West and South (three each).

"The EU plays an important role in the lives of its citizens - whether it's the food we eat, the water we drink, the cars we drive or the air we breathe," he added. "So the campaign will draw voters' attention to the elections' relevance to their own personal life."