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| ELECTIONS FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION PARLIAMENT 04/06/20099 |
| (2009-06-04) |
| Last updated: 2009-06-05 12:48 EET |
Britain and Holland were the first to hold elections for the European Parliament in what has been described as the biggest trans-national voting in the history of the continent. The process ends on June the 7th, when Romanian voters are also going to the polls. 736 euro MPs will be elected from the 27 member states for a 5 year term. The first ever European elections were held 30 years ago, when the European Union had only 9 states. The European Parliament is the only community institution whose members are elected by direct vote. The influence of euro-parliamentarians has increased from one term to another following the revision of EU treaties, so that today Parliament has joint power of decision when it comes to most pieces of legislation alongside the European Council.
In time, however, voter interest for the European elections has decreased. Turnout dropped from over 60% in 1979 to 45%. This has prompted the European Parliament to start its own institutional campaign for the first time in the history of the Union, in an attempt to attract all categories of voters, especially young voters. Turnout in the entire Union is expected to reach 45%, but the percentage will probably be lower in east-European countries. Romania is no exception, and domestic opinion polls even estimate a low turnout across the board. The Romanian president urged Romanians to go to the polls to show their commitment to the European Union, which Romania joined two years ago. Traian Basescu:
“My message to Romanians is that today they are much more responsible for the way in which Romania will be seen starting on June the 7th than political parties. Each Romanian is responsible for the way in which the Romanian people will be labelled in terms of its commitment to the Union from within. It is a great responsibility for each Romanian and for all of us together.”
Romania’s candidate list for the 33 Euro MP seats the country is entitled to in the European Parliament is not, however, particularly convincing. It features only a few candidates with good European credentials whose competence has been tested. Many of the candidates are people whose political career is more or less over, or people who are important for their parties but who didn’t get enough votes in the legislative elections last autumn to make it to the national Parliament.
Not to mention that the race for the European Parliament has also been obscured by the presidential race to be held at the end of the year. As for the expected winners of the European elections in Romania, opinion polls are expecting equal results for the Liberal Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party, the two parties making up the government coalition.
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2025-04-03
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