Go Vote!

Today the citizens of the European Union member states are electing their representatives to the Parliament for the next five years to come.

In previous years the participation has not been very high, with the turnout in 2009 being 43%. I personally find it quite interesting that Slovakia had the lowest turnout - a mere 19,6%.

Swedish media have given the elections much attention, and central Stockholm has been filled with political speeches and that special, jolly campaign atmosphere.

Some campaign posters in central Stockholm, May 2014

There are some hot topics that have dominated the discussion here in Sweden. Maybe a bit unexpectedly, a lot of attention has been given to pigs. Numbers show that Sweden is the EU-country that uses the least antibiotics in pig farming. The current debate revolves around banning the importation of pork from Denmark. Other issues include the rise of the extreme right in Europe and the free movement of people within the EU. The current issue with an increased number of beggars from Romania that are filling the streets of Stockholm and other Swedish cities.

I have heard people say that they will not vote because they don't believe in the European Union, because they do not want to be a part of it. Others feel that they don't have anything to say anyway, there is no way to influence EU politics. It is - excuse me for this - a lousy excuse. The moment we decide not to vote, we also lose our chance to influence who gets elected and who will make the decisions. 

Read more about....

...election statistics: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/eurobarometre/28_07/FR_EN.pdf

...pigs: http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=5867412

...immigration and the Nordic countries: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/05/14/uk-europe-immigration-nordics-idUKKBN0DU0EE20140514

...Sweden, Romania & the Roma Issue: http://www.thelocal.se/20140408/we-have-more-empathy-for-beggars-than-romania

EU Parliamentary Elections: Whom Should I Vote For?

The EU member countries will be electing their representatives to the European Parliament on 22-25 May. Whom to vote for - that's the question. In the past few days several tools have been starting to pop up, offering their help in finding a suitable candidate to vote for. I decided to try some of them out and here are my findings. 

http://www.myvote2014.eu/ (European)

15 questions concerning general EU-issues such as energy, Bulgaria & Romania, and taxes. Three different options for answering the questions as per below: green (agree), yellow (no opinion), red (disagree).


Pros

• Easy to follow with clear instructions and background information on the issues at hand
• Includes information on parties, party groups in Parliament and candidates from the entire Union

Cons

• Very simplified - no room for elaboration of opinions or ideas
• Very specific questions, so values and a wider context are not taken into account

http://www.mtv.fi/uutiset/vaalikone (Finnish)

Questions concerning Finland in the EU; Finland, Russia & EU; identity (European or Finnish); financial issues; environmental issues; the role of the EU in the world; the future of the EU. Answers can be chosen on a sliding scale between "I agree (completely)" and "I disagree (completely)".

Pros

• Many questions on an extensive range of topics
• More alternatives when answering the questions, not so black and white
• Possibility to decide on the importance of an issue, there are also several options between "I agree" and "I disagree" when replying to the questions

Cons

• No background information on the questions
• Heavy influence on the relationship between Finland and the EU
• Only Finnish candidates, no info on the wider context

http://www.vaalikone.fi/suomi (Finnish)

Questions related to: the Union, finance, laws, foreign policy and values

Pros

• Very extensive questions and a wide range of topics
• Pleasant and interactive layout
• Information about Finnish parties and candidates

Cons

• Only Finland is covered, so no European context as far as parties and candidates are concerned

Summary

These tools are an interesting and useful option if one wants to spend some time thinking on political and societal issues before casting a vote. Knowledge is important for creating an educated opinion and in my opinion it's very positive to educate oneself before an election. In general it's a good idea to have an idea about what's going on in society. This might be quite difficult in terms of the European Union because the decisions are made far away in Brussels and the quantity of rules and regulations is enormous. How is a citizen supposed to keep track of things? Furthermore, there are so many candidates out there, so these tools might actually help to find a good alternative to vote for.  

However, the results very much depend on the questions and the information provided in the surveys. I got very differing results in each tool. This should obviously not be the case if the tools aim to be as extensive as possible. My favourite was the third one because it actually included "values". Values and norms are more important than we think. They are always present in the background when decisions are made and implemented. 

aktuálne čítanie [SK: current reading]

Prague was pretty back in 2013. 

Now that I spend some of my time (not enough, it feels) reading articles for my thesis, I have come across a lot of interesting texts. There are two academics/writers that I would like to mention here.

Firstly, Jürgen Habermas. Anyone having anything to do with social sciences will have heard about this man, he's one of the most known scholars in Europe today. His theories on the public sphere, democracy and communicative action are fascinating. He also has a great deal to say about the European Union.

Habermas on post-democratic Europe ->
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/nov/10/jurgen-habermas-europe-post-democratic

A comment on Habermas ->  http://www.thenation.com/article/168819/good-european-juergen-habermas

The second person, whose work I have been reading with great interest, is a Czech academic (hence the lovely photo from Prague) called Jiří Přibáň. His work includes topics such as the EU, the constitutional state, rule of law and post-communist Europe. 

An interview with Jiří Přibáň on the state of Europe -> http://www.radio.cz/en/section/books/jiri-priban-europe-needs-more-conflict

Getting the Essentials: Myslím, že potrebujem kávu. Veľa kávy. Dobré ránko!

 

It’s always positive if one knows how to express one’s need for coffee in foreign languages.

And then to a completely different topic. I’m writing an interesting essay for my advanced sociology class. The other day I bumped into a very fascinating story about Democracy in Latvia. There is a website called Manabalss, where citizens may propose and sign proposals for legislation to the Latvian parliament. 10,000 signatures are needed before the parliament will take the issue on their agenda. How cool isn’t that?

The European Union actually has something similar in the European Citizens’ Initiative.  However, gathering 1 000 000  signatures from 7 countries might be require more effort and mobilisation. I believe that the Lativan version of this idea might be more effective.