WITH a supermodel, a porn star, two astronauts and several Polish Big Brother contestants among the candidates vying for seats in the European Parliament, it is little wonder that few will take this week’s European election seriously.
Most voters are understandably dismissing the election as irrelevant and boring; with party lists largely made up of failed national politicians, power-hungry apparatchiks and other nonentities, even those who do vote will have little idea who they a
re sending to Brussels and Strasbourg - a situation compounded by complicated voting systems.
In theory, between June 10 and 13, 350 million voters in the 25 European Union member states will be eligible to elect 732 members to the European Parliament. In practice, the polls suggest under half will bother to take part. Usually, such mass apathy could be expected to allow governing elites to tighten their grip on power. Fortunately, it seems this time will be different - so much so that the elections could prove to be a major turning point in the EU’s 50-year history of ever-closer integration.
Governing parties are bracing themselves for a mauling from the electorate in almost every European country. The main winners will be small eurosceptic parties that reject the proposed European constitution and the corruption, remoteness and lack of democracy that characterise EU institutions.
Other groups and individuals seen to champion ordinary people against the political and bureaucratic class will also benefit. It is increasingly likely that these parties will hold the balance of power in the European Parliament between the main centre-right and centre-left parties, giving them a real opportunity to influence legislation and even stem its tide.
In addition to electing perfectly respectable eurosceptic candidates and protest parties, there will sadly also be a darker side to this anti-establishment backlash, with several rabidly anti-immigration, racist and quasi-fascist parties expected to gain ground, as well as a few extreme-left parties harking back to Stalin and Mao.
But while extremist groups are unlikely to make the kind of breakthrough many have feared, their rise is no less worrying and must urgently be fought - not least by ditching the flawed, social-democratic consensus policies that have dominated the EU for decades.
High unemployment, weak economic growth, a collapsing social fabric, rampant crime, an increasingly entrenched dependency culture and declining educational standards have fostered a climate that breeds demagogues such as France’s Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Until these problems are tackled head-on and governments admit they have got it wrong, it is a sad reality that more voters will turn to extremist parties, as the rise of the racist British National Party demonstrates all too well.
With the exception of Spain, where the new government is still enjoying a honeymoon, and one or two other countries, governing parties are on course to be defeated around Europe.
In the UK, the cosy three-party system could be shaken up by a strong performance from the United Kingdom Independence party, which could grab between 7% and 15% of the vote as furious voters use the opportunity as a quasi- referendum on Britain’s relationship with the EU, on which they have not been consulted since 1975.
The only way for Europe’s politicians to regain the confidence of their electorates is to start to deliver, especially when it comes to jobs and economic growth. Politicians of both left and right must finally accept that highly-taxed, highly-regulated, big-government economies of the kind the European constitution would entrench further, simply do not deliver jobs and prosperity. To make free market reforms possible, many of the powers handed over to Brussels in previous treaties will have to be transferred back to national parliaments. This should be accompanied by a bonfire of regulations.
At the same time, western Europeans must swallow their pride and learn from the EU’s new member states, as well as from Ireland, which have pioneered remarkably successful supply-side reforms. Estonia, for example, charges a 0% corporation tax on reinvested profits. Latvia and Lithuania charge company tax at 15%, making their economies more attractive for companies wishing to invest there.
Among the most recent countries to join the tax-cutting camp is Finland, which has just announced it intends to slash company tax from 29% to 26%. Some countries, of course, will never accept the laws of economics. In response to these cuts, France, Germany and Sweden started lobbying for a minimum harmonised rate of company tax across the EU, probably set at 20% of corporate profits.
This sort of fortress Europe mentality is the exact opposite of what is required to assure Europe’s long-term future. As politicians across the EU will forcibly be reminded this week, tired old answers will simply no longer do. Let us hope they finally learn their lesson.
A timetable for EuropeTHURSDAY Polls open at 7am and close at 10pm. But unusually for the UK the votes will not be counted on the night of the poll, leading to none of the traditional overnight drama as results are announced into the morning.
SUNDAY Because most of the rest of Europe votes on a Sunday, the votes for England and Wales will not be counted until Sunday.
MONDAY Votes in Scotland will not be counted or announced until Monday.
The delay is because of the Sabbatarian sensitivities.
Scotland can expect to know its European winners and losers by around midday a week tomorrow.
