The A-Z of European parliamentary elections
Published time: May 25, 2014 14:39
People
walk in front of visuals promoting elections in front of the European
Parliament in Brussels, May 24, 2014. (Reuters/Eric Vidal)
As the final day of voting in the EU elections kicks
off, Europe gleefully awaits the announcement of the results on Sunday
evening– or does it? Follow RT’s alphabetized breakdown to find out
about the polls, the parliament, and problems on the continent.
Voting began on Thursday in the UK and the Netherlands, with
Latvia, Malta and Slovakia all casting their votes on Saturday.
The final day of polls will close with Italians voting for their
preferred candidate.
Low voter turnout and increasing Euroskepticism sweeping the
continent suggests that the 400 million who have the right to
vote may not want to exercise it; Ireland’s Friday exit polls
showed that turnout stood at a mere 30 percent.
A – Austerity
Austerity measures have descended upon Europe since the beginning
of the eurozone crisis in early 2009. Governments have been
implementing increasingly harsh fiscal policies to pick up the
pieces. Unemployment has been a direct result of the mass public
spending cuts with Spain being hardest hit, shortly followed by
Greece. A report published in April demonstrated that spending
cuts in Greece have directly led to the suicides of 500 people.
Anti-riot
policemen clash with demonstrators in Turin during one of several
rallies against unemployment and austerity in Italy for May Day, on May
1, 2014. (AFP Photo / Marco Bertorello)
B –Bailout
The eurozone’s three big lenders, known as the Troika, yield a
great amount of power, as they have lent over 396 billion euro to
Greece, Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. Greece was the
first in 2010, and most recently, Cyprus in 2013. Ireland exited
its bailout last December, and Portugal exited its 78 billion
euro ($108 billion) international bailout program earlier this
month. However, all other countries which initially received
Troika ‘bailout’ funds are still being supported.
C – Catalonia
Catalonia has been seeking independence and self-governance since
the final years of the 19th century. According to a March poll,
up to 60 percent of Catalan people want independence from the
rest of Spain. Last December, the Catalan regional parliament set
November 9, 2014, as a referendum date to decide their fate.
Historically Catalonia, which already enjoys significant autonomy
from Madrid, has been one of Spain’s better-off regions and the
local population has resented having to send their taxes to the
capital to help support poorer areas of the country. However, the
area of 7.5 million residents is currently 57.1 billion euro
($78.5 billion) in debt, which is the most of any of Spain’s 17
autonomous regions.
D – Disenchantment
In the last European Parliament elections in 2009 there was a
mere 43 percent voter turnout. According to European Parliament
figures, only 34.7 percent of eligible UK voters exercised their
right in 2009. The only countries to regularly achieve a high
turnout of around 90 percent have been Luxembourg and Belgium –
and that’s because voting is compulsory in both. Voter turnout
has been steadily decreasing since the first parliamentary
elections in 1979.
E – European parliamentary elections
The elections for European Parliament will take place from 22 to
25 May 2014 and will elect 751 deputies. The last set of
elections was held in 2009 on the backdrop of a nascent financial
crisis in the Union. Since the onset of the economic upheaval, EU
politicians have championed austerity measures and cuts to social
welfare as a solution to the crisis.
A
man casts his ballot for the European Parliament elections on May 25,
2014 at a polling station in Warsaw. (AFP Photo / Janek Skarzynski)
F – France
European far right parties have been steadily gaining popularity,
and nowhere is that tendency more evident than in France. Crisis,
immigration, and unemployment have been nudging disillusioned
Frenchmen towards the Front National – headed up by Marine Le
Pen. At the end of March, Le Pen saw an unprecedented win for the
far right when her party won mayor’s seat in 15 towns. Polls
suggest that the FN may well be in line to win a large proportion
of the votes in France.
G – Greece
It’s impossible to do a round-up of Europe-wide politics and
factors influencing the impending elections, without mentioning
Greece – which is frequently held responsible for the eurozone
crisis.
Greece has received a 130-billion-euro loan to help keep its
ailing economy afloat, but in return, it has had to comply with
strict austerity measures governing its budget.
The measures have had a serious knock-on effect in the country,
triggered mass protests with enraged Greeks alleging European
banks are pocketing the bailout money. Greece has also seen a
rise in suicides related to the economic hardship with reports of
HIV injections being used as a way to qualify
for state benefits.
School
teachers clash with riot police near Education Ministry as they protest
against government' reform in Athens on April 4, 2014. (AFP Photo /
Angelos Tzortzinis)
H - Homogenization of number plates
European countries were up in arms in April over the possibility
of introducing a common EU-wide design and causing sweeping fears
that all cars would have to bear the 12 stars of the EU flag on
their license plates. UK Conservative MEPs called the idea
“idiotic.” Officials later stated that there had been no firm
proposals, according to a BBC report published shortly
afterwards. However, the uproar that followed was symptomatic of
wider fears of EU top-down regulations being apparently imposed
on unwilling member states. EU legislation presides over domestic
law, so some countries (incl. UK) started calling for national
parliaments to have a ‘red card’ of sorts to block MEPs.
I – Ireland
Ireland exited from the EU bailout scheme last December, hailing
the event as a milestone. However, the country’s finance minister
declared at the time that Ireland was far from being at the end
of the road. Moody’s Investors Service has already upgraded
Ireland’s government debt rating to investment grade based on the
one-time Celtic Tiger’s growth potential and Dublin’s timely exit
from its EU/IMF support program. The debt upgrade came amidst
falling unemployment figures and lenders slashing the interest
charged on the national debt to 3.5 percent – lower than the cost
of loans under the bailout and less than was paid before the debt
crisis, according to the Irish Independent.
J – Jose Manuel Barroso
Jose Manuel Barroso is the 11th and current President of the
European Commission. The former Portuguese prime minister assumed
the post in 2004 prior to the onset of the financial crisis and
has since had the problematic task of directing the 28-nation
bloc. Barroso admitted earlier this month in a speech that the EU
had failed to engage with its citizens during the crisis.
However, he urged them to strike a balance between full
federalism and anti-Brussels populism at ballots.
K – Kiev
The tense situation in Ukraine has been the setting for the
entire buildup to the European elections. Elections in Ukraine
are currently taking place at the same time as the European
elections. Violence and political instability has rocked the
south and the eastern regions of the country meaning it could be
impossible to open polling stations in these areas. The Council
of the European Union stated on May 12 that it “
stands by
Kiev for free and fair presidential elections.” However,
Russia has warned that the May 25 presidential vote in Ukraine
may aggravate the crisis if military operations in the
south-eastern regions are not halted and the OSCE road map drawn
to settle the situation is not implemented.
“The upcoming
elections on May 25 can only worsen the differences in the
country,” Russian deputy foreign minister, Grigory Karasin,
said at a meeting with the British Ambassador to Russia Tim
Barrow, on May 20.
A man uses binoculars as protesters guard a road block in central Kiev on January 31, 2014. (AFP Photo / Sergei Supinski)
L – Lampedusa: Small but significant
The small Italian island off the coast of Tunisia is hotbed of
migrant activity which has only got worse since the beginning of
the year. At least 34,800 people have made the crossing from
Africa to Italy already this year – compared to 43,000 across the
whole of 2013. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano demanded on May
13 that the EU step up its efforts.
“
The European Union has two options: either it comes to the
Mediterranean to put the EU flag on Mare Nostrum or we will let
migrants with right of asylum leave for other countries,”
Alfano tweeted. Hundreds have died in attempted crossings in the
past two years.
M – MEPs
Seven hundred and fifty MEPs and a European Parliamentary
President are being elected, fewer than the current figure of
766. Elections take place by proportional representation which
means seats are allocated based on the population of each Member
State: The UK and Italy get 73 apiece, France 74, Finland 13,
Greece 21 and smaller countries such as Luxembourg, Estonia and
Malta get six each.
However, MEPs still organize themselves into political and
ideological coalition groups rather than comprising a party as
such. The European People's Party (EPP) made up the largest block
in the most recent incarnation of the European Parliament, with
274 MEPs. The Non-Inscrits are the members who don’t belong to
any particular political group and they are the smallest group,
comprised of only 30 MEPs.
Members
of the European Parliament vote during the last plenary session before
May 25 elections on April 15, 2014 at the European Parliament in
Strasbourg, eastern France. (AFP Photo / Frederick Florin)
While the flagrant abuse of lavish expenses and lax oversight
that once gave the European Parliament a bad name has been
addressed, parliamentarians still enjoy a comfortable lifestyle,
particularly compared to their constituents.
Unlike the system in place before 2009, when all MEPs received
the same wage as those in the domestic parliament, the salary for
all incoming MEPs will be 96,000 euro per year.
The number is supplemented by generous expenses allowances that
total more than 4,200 euro a month, as well as a daily allowance,
paid-for first class travel, and large discounts on healthcare.
Once all of these are factored in, an average MEP earns more than
200,000euro a year. Together with their support staff (who can no
longer be just family members given a sinecure) MEPs are
estimated to cost their countries, which foot the bill, between
30,000 and 40,000 euro a month.
N – Nationalism
Nationalism and, at times, neo-Nazi sentiments have been rising
in Europe in the face of increasing Euroskepticism. Neo-Nazism is
on the rise in Europe and if nations do not opt-out of the EU
democratically, the entity has a violent end ahead of it, UKIP
leader Nigel Farage predicted during a second public debate on
the UK’s EU membership at the beginning of April.
“
There is a neo-Nazi party in Greece that look certain to win
seats in the European parliament …We see in Madrid, we see in
Athens very large protests, tens of thousands of people, a lot of
violence,” Farage said.
O - Overspending
The EU’s annual budget exceeds 140 billion euro and many experts
have voiced concerns that the sum is being mismanaged.
However, more than 40 percent of that money goes towards
subsidizing farmers through its Common Agricultural Policy.
Farmers constitute about 5 percent of the population of Europe,
and produce less than 2 percent of GDP, but receive nearly 60
billion euro from the EU. While the policy has been accused of
misallocating resources and rewarding uncompetitive businesses,
the EU insists that it ensures food security and rural
development, even as Europe struggles with austerity. The policy
has been criticized for giving money to the most profitable farms
and already-wealthy farmers.
Funding is divided between direct aid to farmers at 39.4 billion
euro, 11.5 billion euro for rural development, 385 million euro
for export refunds and 94 million euro for food storage. France
gets the biggest subsidies, receiving some 9.85 billion euro.
Farmers'
market producers and vendors of the common open air markets prevalent
across Greece shout slogans as they protest against liberal reforms in
central Athens on May 2, 2014. (AFP Photo / Aris Messinis)
A deal signed last year for EU budgets up to 2020 produced the
first real-term reduction in EU spending, by 3 percent. But this
has not made the purpose of EU expenditures, which are jointly
administered by Brussels and the 28 member states, any less
controversial. The new budget will see 20 percent of all funds
allocated to combatting climate change – a highly politicized
area that has sparked pushback from conservatives across Europe.
P – Parliament
There are 766 MEPs, who are responsible for representing some 500
million people dispersed across 28 EU countries. The European
Parliament met for the first time some 56 years ago after being
created by Europe's founding Treaty of Rome. However, elections
weren’t held until 1979. The European Parliament is the only
directly elected institution of Europe – the other most important
component bodies of the institution are the European Commission
and the Council of the EU. Both rely heavily on appointments.
Elections begin on May 22 and last through until May 25. Italy
will be the last country to vote, closing ballots on Sunday
evening.
Q – Questions
A host of issues will face the newly-elected European Parliament
at a time when the future of the Union is doubtful. The financial
crisis has given rise to questions from member nations over the
centralized control of the EU.
How to function better as a better as a multicurrency union? What
is the best use of EU funds? The role of the EU in 21st century
society – especially since the eurozone crisis is still very much
in doubt, especially given the swing to the right? And does the
EU have a future at all?
R – Referendums for independence
In January 2013, UK Prime Minister David Cameron promised that
there would be a nationwide referendum on EU membership should
the Conservative Party win the next general election in 2015.
Other regional and national separatists have been seeking
referenda – such as Catalonia and Scotland.
Demonstrators
take part in a protest as part of a campaign for independence from
Spain, at the Pedralbes Palace in Barcelona (AFP Photo / Josep Lago)
S – Scotland
Support for Scottish independence has been gaining ground - a
poll published on May 14 showed that support for Scotland to vote
to leave the United Kingdom in a referendum on September 18 had
risen. While there was little major surface change – with support
elevated by only one percentage point since previous polls, it
showed that among those who were definitely going to vote, some
35 percent would opt for independence, according to Reuters.
Forty-four percent opposed the move.
T – Turnout
The voter turnout at the EU elections has been steadily declining
over the last few years, with the previous vote in 2009 seeing
only 45 percent of the EU population make their way to polls.
Luxembourg and Belgium have consistently topped the 90 percent
mark in previous years mainly because the vote is obligatory,
while the rest of Europe struggled to meet the 50 percent mark.
U – UKIP
Britain’s UKIP party has blossomed from a single issue campaign
group – attempting to keep the UK out of Europe - into an
important minor party. On May 16, Scotland’s first minister said
that in the UK the Lib Dems could be edged out by UKIP and YouGov
polls conducted in April predicted UKIP would garner 23 percent,
Conservatives 21percent, Liberal Democrats 14 percent, Labour 31
percent and Greens 7 percent in the EU elections.
V – Voteman
Disenchantment of the voting public prompted Denmark to devise an
animated muscle-bound maniac on a mission to make young Danes
vote.
Voteman caused global controversy after the
video triggered a storm of complaints over scenes of pornography
and violence.
Screenshot from youtube video / Soenderfi
W – Wilders and PVV
Dutch Politician Geert Wilders who leads the right wing Dutch
Freedom Party (PVV) is a controversial figure in European
politics. The anti-Islam, anti-immigration politician has drawn
criticism in the past for calling for “
repeat offenders to be
forcibly removed from their neighborhood and send to a village
for scum.”
According to exit polls PVV has seen a decrease in its popularity
in the EU elections, winning 12.2 percent of the vote as oppose
to 17 percent in 2009. As a result the party will lose three of
its five seats in the EU parliament.
X - Generation X
Generation X was born between the mid-1960s and mid 1970s and has
the lowest voter participation rate on account of high
skepticism. Members have been described as cautious and pragmatic
and generally retaining less faith in governments.
Y- Generation Y
Generation Y –the millennial generation - is generally defined as
the subsequent group, from the mid-to-late ’70s until the early
’90s. The group has changed the ways in which people communicate
with its maturity now having its own impact on politics. Having
followed a generation that generally regards politics as
unimportant, its young, but confident and ambitious members have
shown signs of wanting to reclaim this area of life.
Z - Generation Z
Generation Z is still developing its identity. However, the
atmosphere of rapid change and widely-available and
elaborately-developing technology means that priorities will
undoubtedly have a significant impact on its attitude and
outlook. Only part of it is currently even of voting age.
However, the group faces significant obstacles, growing up in the
knowledge that it will take time to regain lost earning power,
studying and entering the job market as austerity measures,
unemployment and cuts to welfare programs continue in Europe.
French
protesters, including university students and researchers, hold banners
as they rally against budget austerity in the education field. (AFP
Photo / Lionel Bonaventure)
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