The downswing of European Parliament election turnout seems to continue. In a new Eurobarometer survey, held in January and Febuary this year and yet not published, only 34 % of the European citizen declared they intend to vote the new European Parliament between the 4th and the 7th of June this year. This would be the lowest result since the Parliament was first elected in 1979.No Europeans or what?
Besides the member states like Luxembourg (62 %) and Belgium (70%), where voting is mandatory and hence accordingly high, Europeans show only few interest in electing their own representatives. In that way Europe act united. Just a few examples of the survey:
Poland 17 %
Austria 21 %
Great Britain 22 %
Portugal 24 %
Slovakia 25 %
Italy 30 %
Bulgaria 31 %
Germany 43 %
Malta 56 %
Denmark 56 %
Most of the people (64 %) said they had just little knowledge of what the work and power of a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is. Quite and still a problem that need to be solved by European campaigning and education. But 62 % of the people declared not to vote because it would not change anything, too. This is at least not a "European" problem, but a problem of democracy and elections itself that can´t be banned by simple explanations and demands of European institutions to realise the right to vote. Therefor the making of what can be called the "spirit of politics" in a long-term process is essential.
People know what is right for them, but they are indifferent of keeping that by simply electing the European Parliament. Do things really not change after everybody has cast his ballot? Maybe not. Nevertheless the Europeans are well advised to vote in favor of things not getting worse. Sometimes democracy means just to maintain the status quo...
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