In May 2014, citizens of the 28 member countries of the European Union will be electing their representatives to the European Parliament.
The Parliament controls the UE budget, but other than that its powers are limited. It adopts legislation, but bills are introduced solely by the indirectly elected European Commission - which, however, normally accepts to introduce bills requested by MEPs. Parliament's ability to modify those bills is limited. And it has to share legislative power with the unelected Council of Ministers.
Nevertheless, it is the only direct opportunity for EU citizens to have a say in EU matters, other than through national elections.
European parties are conglomerates of national parties. From left to right, they are:
- The Party of the European Left.
Strongly left-wing, ranging from social-democrats to communists. It includes in particular Die Linke (Germany), the Left Front (France), and Syriza (Greece). (No British party is a member.) Its President is French Communist Pierre Laurent, but its leader going into this election is Greek Alexis Tsipras, whose party came a close second in the latest Greek elections.
It is a broadly anti-capitalist party, Europhile but campaigning for a more socially-oriented Europe, more respectful of the environment.
- The European Green Party.
Green; generally centre-left. Like the Party of the European Left, they support more social justice and more democracy, and of course far more focus on environmental issues.
- The Party of European Socialists.
Centre-left. Social-democrats. It includes, among others, Germany's SDP, France's Socialist Party, the UK's Labour Party, and Spain's Socialist Workers' Party (Zapatero's party). Led by Germany's Martin Schulz, of the SPD.
Its objective is to "redesign the European Union" and "build a Social Union", with a "social market economy".
- The European Free Alliance.
Small party bringing together regionalists, regional separatists and pro-autonomy movements from across Europe.
- The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.
Liberals, in the broadest sense. Ranging basically from the centre-left to the centre-right. Currently led by former Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt, and by a British MEP from the UK's Liberal Democrats. It also includes Germany's FDP and Ireland's Fianna Fail. (No French party is a member.)
- The European Democratic Party.
Centrist and centre-right; Europhile. Based mainly around France's Democratic Movement, led by François Bayrou. (No German or British parties are members.)
Its main aim is to promote further European integration, around the model of a "social market economy".
- EUDemocrats.
Small party of broadly centrist or centre-right Eurosceptics.
- European People's Party.
Centre-right. Currently the largest party in the European Parliament. Includes in particular Germany's CDU/CSU, France's UMP, Spain's Partido Popular (Rajoy's party), Italy's PdL (Berlusconi's party), Greece's New Democracy (the governing party in Greece), and Ireland's Fine Gael. (No British party is a member.) Led by France's Joseph Daul (UMP).
Supports a consolidation of the European Single Market, greater political integration and expansion, and the values of "freedom and responsibility" with some measure of solidarity.
- Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists.
Centre-right to right-wing. Eurosceptic. Promotes economic liberalism. In favour of closer relations with the US, and opposed to further European political integration. Includes in particular the UK's Conservative Party, and Poland's Law and Justice Party. (No German or French parties are members.)
- European Christian Political Movement.
Very small party of Christian conservatives.
- Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy.
Nationalist, Eurosceptic, strongly right-wing. Includes in particular Italy's Northern League. (No German or British parties are members.)
- In addition, there are MEPs who are not a member of any European party. These are mostly members of national far-right parties. They include the Netherlands' Party for Freedom (Wilders' party), Austria's FPÖ, France's National Front, and the UK's BNP and UKIP. The various far-right parties appear to be coalescing into loose and flexible pan-European groupings.
Whom will you be voting for? (Or whom would you vote for if you were a European citizen?)
I'll be following the election campaign, but my vote will almost certainly go to the Party of the European Left. I support strengthening and harmonising social legislation across Europe, partly out of simple social justice, and partly so that big businesses can no longer go and exploit workers in one EU country while destroying jobs in countries with higher levels of social protection. Similarly, I would be in favour of a form of flexible European "protectionism", which would restrict or tax imports from countries external to the EU which do not respect basic social and environmental norms. It's abhorrent that countries like Bangladesh or China can force the EU to import cheap good that have been produced by exploiting workers, ignoring basic health and safety norms in the workplace, and utterly disregarding the impact of production on the environment. It endangers people's health in the country of origin, damages the environment, and creates unfair, unequal competition on European markets. Which leads to the outrageous argument that we in Europe need to reduce our own production costs so as to be competitive against such imports...
