Every five years, the Finnish media is filled with European issues when citizens across the European Union head to the election polls to elect a new European Parliament, which is the world’s greatest democratically elected decision-making body. The role of the Parliament in European decision-making has increased repeatedly, most recently by the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, when the Parliament became an equal legislator along with the Council of Ministers in almost all political fields. The European Parliament does not have the same government-opposition marching order as the Finnish Parliament. Instead, the European Parliament forms groups behind various issues at its discretion. A single active and professional MEP can play an important role in the Parliament of 751 members. In the Parliament, one MEP is elected to report on each directive, for example. This MEP has an important role as a presenter of the issue and the former of the Parliament’s view. Therefore, those 13 representatives who we will send to Brussels will make a difference.
The importance of the parliament elections, however, has not been conveyed to the voting booths. Last time, the turnout in the European elections in Finland was only 40.3%, when in the election of the President, who no longer has powers, was 72.8% in the year of 2012. Brussels seems remote, although EU legislation impacts Finland in almost every political segment. Last year, we celebrated the theme year of EU citizens, the idea of which was to bring the union closer to citizens and take the citizens to the centre of EU politics. In connection with this theme year, I participated in a citizen debate in Helsinki and the final climax of the theme year in Brussels at the end of March. Almost an entire European Commission and 180 EU citizens across Europe participated in the joint European debate in Brussels. The following reflects the European citizens’ thoughts before the EU elections.
The poor economic situation across Europe was brought up constantly in discussions. Participants from the Southern Europe said that the adjustment measures of the Commission, the European Central Bank and IMF hit hardest the poor and middle-class citizens. They have to suffer from irresponsible and corrupt policy making and the fundamental problems of EMU, which are reflected as cuts in public services and salaries. Economic discipline, migratory pressure on Southern Europe and the lack of prospects have led to the rise of extremism and nationalism in the south. The EU citizens who participated in the discussion would like to respond to these impacts by the European-wide solidarity in economic, financial and immigration policy, as well as put people ahead of the banks. Economic discipline, youth employment and the future of the euro area will be hot topics also in the upcoming euro elections.
Discussions repeatedly brought up the distance between decision-making in Brussels and the citizens, as well as the lack of common European public sphere. ”Dear Mr. Barroso, I showed your picture to my friends in Poland and no-one knew who you were”, began one 18-year-old participant in his speech to the President of the Commission. Across Europe, news coverage of EU issues is limited and coloured by crisis or trivia. In Finland, too, the EU tabloids often cling to details, without seeing the goals of common regulations, such as the harmonising of the common market, promoting energy efficiency or protecting consumers from environmental pollutants – sometimes there is fuss about the EU banning crooked cucumbers, drinking of old coffee or banning balloons from children. There has not been much in-depth analysis on the EU’s decision making, such as ACTA contract rejected by the European Parliament, the Parliament’s decision to discontinue mobile roaming charges in the EU or the EU’s new fishing policy concerning excessive fishing.
As a solution for the lack of the citizens’ EU knowledge, the citizen debate in Brussels suggested that a new common EU channel should be created. By following the channel, you could easily keep track of current topics in EU politics. In addition, according to the participants, EU education should be increased at schools. In this way, the EU would be regarded as a decision-maker that has influence on domestic politics. Improving the citizens’ influencing opportunities was considered particularly important. The suggested methods to bridge the gap between Brussels and the citizens included making the EU citizens’ initiative easier, including national parliaments in the election of the commission and making the election process more democratic.
How would you develop the EU’s decision-making system and bring common policies and their goals to public awareness? Who is your voice in the European Parliament?
Advance voting in the European Parliament elections will be held on 14 May–20 May 2014 and the actual election day is Sunday, 25 May 2014. This is the world’s greatest democracy event, so do not miss it! If you have not found your own candidate yet, there are plenty of candidate matchers online. AYY organised the election panel on 8 May 2014, where the top candidates were grilled in English, the working language of the Parliament, focusing on tough economic, environmental and integration issues. You can have a look at the candidate’s performances here: http://youtu.be/C8q-HcUuB9Q. These elections will determine the EU’s direction for the next five years. What kind of Europe would you like to have?
Milla Ovaska
The writer is an EU nerd and works as AYY’s specialist in international affairs.