Turnout won’t be 45% at the European elections this time!

(Image: created by Oxys for cafebabel.com)

We were sulky voters in 2004. It was the worst case in the history of the European parliament. Only 45% of Europeans made the effort, despite the fact that this assembly is the one making the decisions affecting our everyday life. Lame!

debate

by Fernando Navarro Sordo @ , Adriano Farano @ , Alexandre Heully @ Translation: Nabeelah Shabbir @

02/06/09

Tags : european parliament, Power, EUdebate2009, internet, journalism, Opinion publique, débat européen, the elections in numbers, European elections 2009.

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For the elections in June 2009, we can’t continue to go down the same cul-de-sac, when:

we have to discuss the role that Europe should play in the global financial crisis

the rise in the cost of living has become unbearable for too many European households

climate change is screaming for a common action on a European and global level

the European population is aging and a European debate is looming on immigration

Europe is divided over the question of a 65 hour work week.

If we do nothing, we – the European media, the artists, the bloggers, the intellectuals, the thinkers, the European civil society actors – we will be the first, tomorrow, to complain about a Europe which doesn’t interest anybody.

Citizens - have your say

Europeans won’t go to vote if a dignified public debate hasn’t even emerged on the European level. Why are representatives sent to Strasbourg – often in all renumerated luxury - when they don’t even explain the role of the European parliament to us? Why vote for male and female politicians if their political parties refuse to engage in a European programme?

So what is our role as a European media? After the infamous ‘no’ vote by the Irish people in a referendum on the Lisbon treaty in June 2008, cafebabel.com launched a debate - the conclusion we came to is quite simple.

So that a European public opinion can exist, we have to roll up our sleeves to spice up the debate on the European elections, to make them more understandable, sexier and more controversial.
That translates to our new website. Like cafebabel.com the magazine, eudebate2009.eu is published simultaneously in six languages – the real zing to the European elections in 2009.

eudebate2009 will Europeanise the electoral campaign in 2009. It will poke the candidates in the European elections. It will give the word to us, the citizens.

Images : (kiki99/flickr, Fernando Navarro, Daquella Manera/flickr, Cristobal Marín/flickr et Miguel A González/flickr)

Don’t know who to vote for in 2009? EUdebate2009 will help you!

Add your pinch of salt to the elections – see our ten commandments below to help agitate European ideas.

1- What actions and reforms you would take for Europeans in 2009? publish a tribune

2- Follow the European electoral debate - start a campaign blog

3- Stimulate the European political conscience - react in our forums

4- Got an irritation or analysis on a European question? Send us your videos

5- Take part in online surveys. Spread the news

6- What do you think you know about Europe? Take part in a quiz (to come)

7- Who will you vote for in June 2009? Use the eudebate2009 vote-o-meter (to come)

8- Propose surveys, features, cartoons or interviews. Why not edit them too?

9- Flag up the best initiatives in your country. Do they add spice to the electoral campaign?

10- Participate in EUdebate2009 as an opinion leader and comment on our articles – no taboos included

You plus us – no better formula to to raise the participation level in the European elections. Say bye to 45% - it’s not a number we will be seeing again in June 2009!

Finished reading this? What do you think? Write to us in the comment sections!

First published on 13 November 2008 on eudebate2009.eu

by Fernando Navarro Sordo @ , Adriano Farano @ , Alexandre Heully @ Translation: Nabeelah Shabbir @

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Barry - 2009-02-02 11:55:55

A, there is no such place as europe, it is just the name given to a continent made up of many very different nations with very different languages, and cultures, as such there is no such thing as a european. B, The peoples of 27 previously independent nations have been disenfranchised by a handful of self serving politicians, who show no regard whatsoever to the peoples of those nations. C, the eu is a group of 27 unelected failed politicians whose main aim is to fill their own pockets, and call themselves the commission. D, the second level of power falls to the presidents, and prime ministers of the nations, none of whom have a mandate from their own people to hand power over to the eu, but are doing that anyway. E, the elected MEP's have no power to start debates, or even have the right to speak in them, they have to win a lottery for a short slot in which it is impossible to debate freely. They are expected to rubber stamp all edicts from the unelected eu commissioners. F, The only time that over 1 million citizens of the previously independent nations acted together to send a petititon to brussells to start a debate, which should be an automatic action, to end the gross stupidity of having two sets of parliamentary buildings, a single unelected commissioner binned it without any debate, or consideration at all. What is the point of voting in a euro election, we will only be ignored by the politbureau of the political failures at strasbourg, the peoples wishes and needs mean nothing, and when the constitution is illegally forced on us by the political class we will be completely subsumed to disenfranchisement.

Adriano - 2009-02-04 11:27:22

I also think that EU establishment is going too far in ignoring peoples' vote. But I don't think, like you Barry, that Europe doesn't exist. It is an ongoing process, a heavy one with strong impact on our lives. That is the reason why we have to participate to it and try to have an impact on it. How? By starting at the lowest level, the one of participation, debate, open thinking. You know, I really think the Internet is a good way to start. That's why you are more than welcome on this site to comment, express yourself and make your legitimate thouths heard. Just accept that many many people may not agree with you. Why? Because often they are part of the Erasmus generation and they had the chance to live Europe on a day by day basis. To learn another language. To live in another culture. And I can tell you that when it happens, you really can taste what does Europe mean and where is such place called Europe.

Julia - 2009-02-12 14:27:41

Yes, me for example. I am part of the so-called "Erasmus generation". I have had the chance to live abroad for a year and travel around Europe (without visa, without any border controls!) meeting interesting people from all over Europe and experiencing different cultures. We had fun together. We helped each other when we had problems. This is what Europe means for me. And there certainly are enough problems that need to be solved on a European or even global level. So why can't we start to discuss what kind of Europe we want instead of rejecting it as a whole? Obviously, we need changes and improvements - more democracy, as both of you, Barry and Adriano have noted, and also more participation from the citizen's side. It's time to start working on this. There already is a place called Europe and the question is what we make out of it.

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