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Irrelevant and Obsolete? The European Parliament and Voters in Perspective

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The 2009 Elections to the European Parliament

Part of the book series: EU Election Studies ((EUES))

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Abstract

Irrelevant and obsolete? This might be one way to characterise the European Parliament (EP) at a time when the question of the democratic deficit and its rectification has taken on new meaning for both structural and constitutional reasons — by virtue of the reforms foreseen by the Lisbon Treaty — and for socio-technological reasons exemplified by the growth and accelerating change and speed of social networking, ambient and mobile technologies. In the 2009 Euro elections, candidates, sitting MEPs, the Party Groups and national and local parties went online; blogs proliferated; Vice-President of the Commission Margot Wallström’s plan to communicate Europe to citizens, to listen to them and enter into a civil-society dialogue sought to capitalise on blogging via youtube.com/eutube, social networking and face-to-face pan-European Citizens’ Consultations on the Future. Begun in 2007, these ended in April 2009 and socio-economic issues raised during them were presented in regional reports in November 2009. She insisted: ‘My maybe naïve, but firm, conviction is that ECC will help the European Union to make better decisions, better anchored with citizens.’ The EP was on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Flickr. It had its own newsfeeds and a dedicated web space — europarltv. The European Movement, Young European Federalists (www.itstimeforeurope.eu), students, professional bodies, local governments, information outlets (like Europe Direct and www.placedeurope.eu) and civil bodies went online (www.touteleurope.fr), and the EU’s benefits were presented in ways designed to appeal to online youth (http://europa.eu/ europago with its 59,000 members and over 5 million hits; www.leseuronautes.eu); online newspapers added blogs (blogactiv) and those who were aware were able more readily than ever before to talk to each other (Debate Europe), tweet-watch (TweetElect09.EU), match their policy preferences against parties in order to refine their choice, check voting predictions by state and across the EU (Wahl-o-mat, and www.predict.09.eu) and provide fodder for analysts.

Europe is not only a matter of politicians and intellectual elites; it concerns all European citizens. Politicians nevertheless have to assume their responsibility. Therefore the strategic communication objective must be to build public awareness and approval of European Union and of the role and functions of the European institutions… through messages that are clear, consistent, coherent and convincing, and that are communicated with feeling and respect… made intelligible and relevant to each so that everyone appreciates [personally] its importance…

EC Group of Experts on Information and Communication Policy March 1993

With less than one month to go before the European Parliament elections on 4–7 June, this huge exercise in consulting citizens right across the 27 Member States is making an important contribution to informing the electorate about the important role the EU plays in their daily lives. More than 100 MEPs and candidate MEPs were involved in discussing the citizens’ recommendations for action with them. I’m sure that this was two-way communication with citizens, letting law-makers know which issues concern them most, and parliamentarians taking this on board and informing citizens what the European Parliament can do for them.

Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament May 2009

European Citizens’ Consultations (ECC) provide a unique opportunity for the public to discuss their concerns and ideas with each other, and with policy-makers. They inform and enrich the debate on how to shape effective policies to address the challenges we face, adding to the information we get from opinion polls and consultations with stakeholders.

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission May 2009

My maybe naïve, but firm, conviction is that ECC will help the European Union to make better decisions, better anchored with citizens.

Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission May 2009

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Authors
  1. Juliet Lodge
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  1. Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence, University of Leeds, UK

    Juliet Lodge (Co-Director) (Co-Director)

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© 2010 Juliet Lodge

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Lodge, J. (2010). Irrelevant and Obsolete? The European Parliament and Voters in Perspective. In: Lodge, J. (eds) The 2009 Elections to the European Parliament. EU Election Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230297272_2

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