THE TROUBLE with the European Parliament elections is that they are not political enough. It is not sufficiently clear to the 375 million people entitled to vote what difference it will make whether they support one party group or another because it is not contested enough. As a result there is widespread ignorance about what is at stake, turnout levels are lower than they should or could be and the political functioning of European Union itself is sub-optimal.
It is not a good state of affairs given the existing substantial power of the Parliament to affect policy-making, set to increase further if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, making most policies subject to co-decision with the Council of Ministers.
This is partly because the elections are not about choosing a government as happens at national level. But the political parties fighting the elections in Ireland and throughout the other 26 European Union member-states can be blamed for failing to clarify their different policies on such issues as climate change, energy, the EU budget, job creation, who should lead the next European Commission or EU enlargement – on all of which the Parliament has joint power or influence. If Lisbon is passed, agriculture, fisheries, legal migration, space and sports policy would be added to the list. And while economic policy remains largely determined at national level – like health, education, welfare and taxation – all are affected by European policies.
That means these elections are important for the way we are governed at various different levels, whether national, European or local. Certainly, it is difficult to bring together political parties from a diverse 27 member-states into coherent groups at the Parliament. But gradually that has happened, as the four main transnational groups have formed: the centre-right European Peoples’ Party, including Fine Gael; the Party of European Socialists, including Labour; the European Liberal Democrats, now including Fianna Fáil; and the European Green Party, including the Irish Greens. Research indicates MEPs now vote mostly with their groups rather than their own nationals, as do members of the Commission and the Council.
These emerging political realities have not been properly reflected in the Irish campaign to elect the next European Parliament, nor in the other 26 national contests. Some parties associate much more loosely with their groups than others and some groups impose more discipline. There has been too little transnational campaigning on different policy ideas – a lamentable failing in the middle of such an economic crisis. Personalities outrank policy issues for most candidates, voters and media alike, impoverishing political debate and reinforcing low levels of knowledge about what is involved. There is not enough relationship between voting, leadership and policy output – too little political contestation, in short.
Despite these shortcomings the European Parliament elections have an important role in our democratic life and deserve support. Much can and should be done to make them more relevant over the next five years.
