A strange and covert campaign
All of the candidates in the European elections have experienced the same strange sensation of conducting a discreet and almost covert campaign, even though that campaign focused on a subject about which all those I met were passionately interested. This is why the poor turnout of 43% came as no surprise. What lies at the root of this exasperating paradox? How can it be remedied?
The main reason is common to all the countries of the European Union. The European elections are perceived as a vote with no immediate impact on power, so people question why they should take the trouble to go out and vote. Too many of the electorate, especially young people, have long ceased to regard voting as a fundamental civic act, as both the foremost right and the foremost duty of citizens of a democratic country, and now see it as an optional chore. A quarter-century after the first election of the European Parliament by universal suffrage, neither the public authorities nor the education system nor the political parties nor the media have made much of an effort to inform our fellow citizens about the workings of the European institutions. The assembly in Strasbourg is felt to be remote, its powers are unclear, and people feel that their vote will do nothing to alter an unknown script that has been written in advance. So why bother?
Two extraneous factors compounded the problem this year. The first was the closeness of the French regional elections, which had given French voters an opportunity to send a powerful political message to their leaders. A new cabinet had taken office, but only two months had elapsed since then, and it was too early to judge its actions. The other factor was the division of France into eight Euro-constituencies. The desire to bring the electorate closer to their representatives was laudable, but the huge size of these super-regions, their sheer newness and the artificiality of some of them (Lower Normandy was lumped together with the Département du Nord, which borders on Belgium, while Corsicans voted for the same candidates as the people of Gex, near Lake Geneva, for example) disorientated potential voters. What is more, this provided the media with a reason, or perhaps a pretext, not to cover the campaign, since the national media regarded the campaigning as a regional issue, while the regional media considered that it transcended their geographical sphere of coverage. A major television channel even decided and announced that Europe did not interest the French and refrained from organising any debates at all, even on election night!
On the ground, however, the mood was quite different. At least one good thing about this regional arrangement was that it compelled candidates to work the entire territory of their respective constituencies. In the space of a month, I travelled 7 500 miles to get round all 18 départements of the South-West. I thought I knew my home territory well. I certainly encountered familiar landscapes, colours, fragrances and accents, but I also discovered a new face of that region of rugby, wine, maize and the Occitanian form of the French language, which revealed itself as a splendidly dynamic area, throughout which a young, innovative generation is at work – in the agrifood industry, in aerospace, biomedicine, computers and the service sector. And Europe is omnipresent – appreciated everywhere and needed everywhere. Its financial aid has enabled the development of the ‘Airbus Route’, as well as the extraordinary conversion of the Alès coalfield and the successful efforts to halt the depopulation of the département of Lozère; in Montauban, people are relying on Europe to stand firm in the trade negotiations with the Americans; in Cahors, a top computer scientist needs the EU to create a European software patent; everywhere, local councillors want to see the renewal of ERDF grants, which are funding more than a third of the contracts awarded under the state-regional plan and more than 2 500 projects – yes, two thousand five hundred – in Aquitaine alone.
This is why I am convinced that this strange and frustrating campaign will be the last of its kind. At the next elections in five years’ time, Europe will have its constitution. The European Parliament will no longer come across as a mere debating forum but as the true legislature of the Union, a role that will make it even more important than the National Assembly. The head of the European executive, the President of the Commission, will be appointed by Parliament and will thus be chosen by the people of Europe by virtue of the parliamentary election, in the same way that the British people decide who is to be their Prime Minister by electing the House of Commons. The high stakes will excite the interest of the media and public opinion. It is even likely that this election will be at least as significant in terms of the future of our country as the presidential election of 2007, upon which so many minds are already fixated. Definitely a date for the diary.
Alain Lamassoure, 14 June 2004