Power
Greece | What will the rioters vote for?
Just some months ago, riots broke out in Greece. Especially young people fought against the police and the political system. Will they vote in the upcoming European elections?
France | Will UMP suffer a loss from Economic Crisis?
France always have been a politically interested and quite more sweeping nation. Politics does matter. Unfortunately not more than in any other country, when it comes to European Elections. France is simply European - not more and not less. Aprt from the number of people willing to defintily take part in the upcoming electons. But the power of mass that is mobilised quickly and then striking all-out is impressive. In Iceland people demonstrated and chased away the old government after the country was hit by the Economic Crisis; in France people are on the streets already before anything similar is possible.
France suffers, too, and people are responding: Sarkozy was never ever before that unpopular. Current surveys recognized support for the president felt down from 60 % in 2007 to 37 % in march 2009. The Financial Crisis, but rather Sarkozy´s fury for reform, is troubling the French. At present he tries to reform three dozen sectors, from A like the army to U like university. Last one arouses most disagreement. Almost all universities in France are sporadically or permanently in strike, fighting a reform that was adopted to liberalise the universities and their autonomy.This could lead to the first big slap in the face for Sarkozy and his Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) after the presidential election of 2007. But the biggest winner won´t be the Socialist Party (PS), most powerful counterpart, either. The former presidential candidate in 2007, Ségolène Royal is currently at odds with the party leadership, notably Martine Aubry and Bertrand Delanoë. The party tried to reunify the rivals for the national protest campaign taking place this May 1st. Instead the 2009 founded left-wing party called New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) is predicted to gain about 10 % of the votes. The anti-european party succeeded the Trotzkyist Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) and crusades for the concept of a new Socialism of the 21st century. In consideration of the Financial Crisis, at least catalyst for their formation, their chances are growing.
Denmark might benefit from high voter turnout in the European parliament elections
Denmark is the country widely known for one of the most favourite children’s games, Lego. Out of small Lego pieces you can build almost everything – sculptures, houses and landscapes can be found at the famous Legoland, a family amusement park. David Černý, a Czech artist which we have already mentioned here, has rebuilt the map of Denmark out of Lego to be part of his artwork “Entropa” which is currently exhibited at Justus Lipsius building in Brussels. At first glance, the map does not seem to be notably extraordinary. Take a second look and you’ll find a familiar face in it: Yeah, it’s Prophet Mohammed, starring also in the notorious cartoons published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten in 2005 which have stirred the biggest crisis in Denmark since World War II.
Although there are lots of different opinions on the cartoons, it might not have been surprising that such critical voices could be heard from Denmark. The country is known for its quite patriotic inhabitants and strict immigrations policy – stricter than the EU laws. Denmark has also obtained four opt-outs from the Maastricht Treaty following the treaty’s initial rejection in a 1992 referendum. The opt-outs concern the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) and the citizenship of the European Union. Overall, the Danes were rather regarded as independent and patriotic than as one of the more cooperative EU member states. Also, the voter turnout was very low, indicating very little interest in the European issues.
Surprisingly a new poll by Eurobarometer shows that some 56% of the Danish people plan to cast a ballot in the European parliament elections. Only Luxembourg (62%) and Belgium (70%) are expected to have higher voter turnouts – in these two countries voting is mandatory. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Poland where 17% of the population intends to cast its vote.
Maybe this will turn out to be a wise decision: simultaneously with the elections to the European parliament, a referendum will be held on changing the Danish Act of Succession. In the future, male heirs to the throne will not have precedence over female successors. In order for the law to be approved in the referendum, it must get both a majority of votes cast in favour and at least 40% of all eligible voters voting in favour. A majority of voters support this change. Since it is non-controversial topic, the law could fail to be passed because simply not enough people show up at the ballot-boxes. The European parliament elections could prevent this from happening.
Czech Republic | Back to euroscepticism?
What to think of the Czechs? Just during their Presidency of the Council of the European Union the government was overturned. The Czech parliament confirmed the fifth motion of no-confidence since 2006 against President Topolánek (Civic Democratic Party, ODS), brought to Parliament by opposition leader Ji Paroubek from the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD). Topolánek is still in office provisionally, but will be replaced as interim prme minister by non-partisan Jan Fischer on May 8.
After putting the cat among the pigeons in January 2009 with a doubtful architecture called "Entropa", created by Czech sculptor David Cerny by order of the Czech government, the European Presidency turned completely into a total loss. The Czechs affairs are not only impeding European policies, they are also turning the long time European friendly atmosphere back to euroscepticism. The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty is still not guaranteed. The European Parliament election will in that sense become trend-setting for the Republics position towards Europe.In 2004, the turnout of the Czech Republic in the European Parliament election was with just 28 % one of the lowest. This seems to be an immanent problem of Eastern European members of the European Union. Leading parties were the ODS (30%) and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (20 %). In 2009, the most important themes for Czech citizen are economic growth and unemployment, but also the safety of energy supply.