Spain’s political system favours two long-time established parties, the People’s Party and the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party). Next to these two, there exist some smaller parties, who especially cover regional topics of the independence-minded Catalonian and Basque region. Since September 2007, this has changed. A new party has emerged: the UPD (Unity, Progress, and Democracy) arose from the Basque people’s movement ¡Basta Ya! (“That’s enough!”) which had turned against the Basque terrorism and the way the President Zapatero’s government dealt with it. In December 2000, the movement has won the Sakharov prize for the defence of human rights and freedoms awarded by the European Parliament.

Many leading Spanish intellectuals, for example the philosophers Fernando Savater and Carlos Martínez Gorriarán, support the young party. Rosa Díez, former member of the Socialist party and of the European Parliament, is now the party’s front-runner. The experienced politician wants change the firmly established structure of the political system so that smaller parties like the UPD will be more successful. At the 2008 parliament elections, the party gained 1.19% of the votes. The European Parliament elections are now the next big test for how well the new party has been able to rally support within the Spanish people.

Here what came to my mind while thinking about Sweden and the upcoming elections. Just extend this list if you'd like:

Snow storms in April | EU presidency from July to December 2009 | A handsome prince | Furniture with do-it-yourself assembly instructions | Funny city names (at least for a German girl.. sorry): UPPSALA rocked already years ago | Not only elks on street signs but also cats | Swedish Jack Sparrows capturing politics | Köttbullar and potatos | Red hair and red houses | High-class music: Mando Diao for the dancers, Kristofer Astrom for the dreamers

Photos are private or reserved under a Creative Commons Licence. All by flickr: Pippi/CDrewing, inbus/hmboo, snow/-12C, köttbullar/incinerator, house/kreativkind.

European Union budget commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite won Lithuania’s presidential elections on May 18th 2009. The independent candidate won with over 66% of the vote. The country has been hit very hard by the crisis; this is why the Lithuanians elected someone experienced in economic and financial matters. Grybauskaite is the first female president in the history of Lithuania but nobody would doubt that she’s able to handle the situation. Already being compared to Magret Thatcher, the “iron lady”, Grybauskaite shows her personal strength with a black belt in Karate. Which by the way, in combination with her excellent proficiency in Russian, could help to improve the country’s relations to Russia.

Her government will definitely not be euro-sceptic. Still, only 40 % of the Lithuanians plan to participate in the European elections. Maybe the Lithuanian citizens feel that they have now a perfect representative in Brussels: a woman who knows her way around in the EU and at the same time has the possibility to advocate Lithuanian interests in the Council of the European Union – the institution which most people consider to be more important than the European parliament.