Posts Tagged European parliament election
Forcing Europe onto the agenda
Posted by Claire Daley in European Union on 31/03/2009
There has been widespread press coverage of Mr Stuart Wheeler’s announcement that he intends to donate £100,000 to the UK Independence Party and to vote for UKIP at the forthcoming European Parliament election in June 2009. Mr Wheeler has said that whilst he still intends to vote Conservative in the local elections on the same day, for the European election he will support UKIP because he cannot “work from within” the Conservative Party to influence its policy on Europe.
2009: a pivotal year for the EU?
Posted by Pete Quentin in European Union on 03/11/2008
The next European Parliament elections will take place in June 2009.
Direct elections for the European Parliament were introduced in 1979 in an attempt to increase the European Union’s democratic credentials – after all it is difficult for an appointed authority to lecture the developing world about the moral superiority and practical advantages of democracy (the European Commission and Council should take note). However at the last European Parliament election in 2004 turnout was only 45.6% across the EU, down from 49.51% in 1999 and 62% in 1979. In the UK only 38.9% of people voted. Raising voter turnout is crucial because the 2009 EP election will provide the only chance for EU electorates to have any say at all in the EU for the next 5 years.