An excellent, view here of the European Parlaiment Elections and voter’s unenthusiatic reaction towards them. The skilled author, Timothy Garton Ash suffers, however, from having only a national view of the importance of the elections. At European level, the elections are vital and, given the current state of economic collapse, could influence many global policies, potentially for centuries.
The nation-centric view of Timothy Garton Ash is most common, very few European citizens grasp the importance of the EU in thie daily lives. For example, in last minute negotiations last week, the Parliament provisionally agreed to legislation that may make Internet cookies “unworkable”, this was not event reported well in the EU press. The EU is hugely important, but when skilled and engaged commentators like Timothy Garton Ash cannot engage with debate at an EU level, what chance has the average citizen?
European Elections – could change the world (not that anybody cares)…
(addition on 5th may: Op-ed in New York Times on this topic)
