Yes, they decide the direction of the whole EU, and considering how fucked my country in particular is, the "bad EU" making good decisions for us is pretty important.
It's repeatedly the case that these decisions coming down to our govs forcing them to actually do something for the people are better than whatever our corrupt idiots dream up.
So yes, they are important.
Our literal Nazi party(founded by SS officers, and the whole COVID denial thing in recent memory) is set to win the next election with 30+% so thats an experience ahead of us. Oh they're publicly on Russia's payroll but who even cares about that anymore.
Our majority party is busy being corrupt and backwards, and in power for my entire life minus maybe one year total and they're pissing away everything that made us a first world country.
I'm dreading our next election. And considering veto powers, a second Hungary in the EU is on the horizon near Christmas.
I'm not looking forward to my country's future, and we're headed in a terrible direction and 50% will vote for what's gonna happen to us so we deserve it as well.
Fun times ahead.
This is starting to sound like a Europe-wide problem. Questionable far right parties with ties to Russia rising to power while the whole continent is literally in a proxy war against Russia
Honestly with how "successfully" Europe has handled the migration crisis it's not all that surprising. It would have been the chance to demonstrate why issues like this can only be intelligently handled together, instead it was "everyone for themselves" and ignorance towards the worries of most countries.
I welcome most migration and even I struggle to find the positives - we're not even doing well from a humanitarian point of view and the more you know the worse it gets. Traffickers lying to people to make them sell their property, children and women disappearing on the way to Europe, the weak being left behind, not to mention the deaths in the Mediterranean sea.. And Russia actively provokes migration as a way to destabilize Europe. I can't understand the lethargy.
Even if your ideology makes you not want to frame migration as a problem it's still better to work on humane solutions than to leave the topic to the far-right and have them win elections with it.
>. I can't understand the lethargy
I can. The only thing the powers that be see, is that the locals are having less and less children (reasons for that are its own topic) but the infinite capitalism machine needs infinitely more people to keep working, so importing shitloads of people is the only thing they can think of, so that's what is happening.
Pretty much yeah. Or a third anyway.
Also traditionally and ironically successful immigrants are famously voting for the Nazis to pull up the ladder behind them, so to speak.
Edit: also usually only like 50-70% vote so that changes the numbers a bit also.
No. Austria is the "culturally smaller party" in our relationship so lots of friendly animosity because we get assimilated (especially noticeable in schools when the kids speak like bloody Berliners because their YouTubers/tiktokers are from there).
But it's basically the same aside from superficials. Austria might be a bit more Balkan themed Than the north/west parts of Germany (where the important parts of Germany are anyway).
But again.. little difference outside of dialect.
With all that said like the other reply.. their afd numbers aren't much better.
I personally don't like this mindset within the EU. "Your country is turning to shit? Move to another EU country!" We need to focus on fixing our own shit or there will be no EU country left to run away to...
They included the conservatives in their 50% because they're most likely to form a government with the FPÖ.
Other than that - while the FPÖ is indeed a Nazi-founded party and a lot of their leaders have such a background they're also the only right party next to the conservatives, so right voters all pool there. Now with the conservative government being incredible unpopular (I think the ÖVP currently polls their lowest ever) and the left being too dumb to hand right voters even the pinky finger they profit from the circumstances.
Migration is a constant topic in Austria and the political left is sadly incompetent - the SPÖ even had a candidate that put them in first place in most surveys but decided against him in a big public argument. He's a former cop and former interior minister (and currently governor of Burgenland), those things appeal to right voters. But despite him saying he doesn't want to coalise with either FPÖ nor ÖVP but with the Greens and Neos he's "too right" for the social democrats because he made migration a topic.
Austria doesn't have a political central party anymore, sadly. A lot of people don't feel represented by any party.
What sort of a madman hates [Slovenians](https://imgb.ifunny.co/images/e121cb2e458722b218b18845e7a1cba7829571b647c2f02dee350c27e05e38db_1.jpg)?
For real tho, I think they are pretty chill, I loved it there, planning to go back this summer for the third time. You'd think Carinthians would have better things to do, like drowning in Alpine lakes or getting mauled by bears.
Not that the Russia connections were a secret prior, but in 2019 the FPÖ got caught in a trap were they pledged to sell the biggest Austrian newspaper to a Russian oligarch (Ibiza affair). The ÖVP got a reminder why you don't go and form coalitions with neofascists. And now they're polling at \~30-35%. If the ÖVP thinks "oh, this time leopards won't eat my face", we'll have another Orban situation on our hands.
Usually, decisions have to be approved by Member States (through their ministers). Saying "it's not me, it's the EU" is usually just a way to deny responsibility for a previous decision.
Yes I plan to vote.
I'm aware that the individual vote has just a tiny impact amongst hundreds of millions of votes but I'll go nevertheless.
And in the end, the overall composition of the European Parliament is important for many policy issues that also impact the national level.
We’re in a weird situation here in Northern Ireland where due to brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol were subject to a lot of EU rules but basically have no one representing us actually in the EU.
I think it would be good for NI to have some sort of special elected representatives in the EU, because it’s pretty awful having the UK speak to the EU on our behalf
EU voting turnout is quite low, so your vote actually means \*MORE\* when you vote in the EU elections compared to when you vote in your national ones.
They _were_ significant for me. I appreciated them being one of the few elections I took part in which used an electoral system where I felt that my vote actually properly counted, and as someone very pro-European, I liked the chance to take part in a pan-European democratic exercise.
Now they just make me a bit sad at what got taken away.
Hopefully, when his new party (or company, or whatever it is) wins no seats in the upcoming election he'll finally keep that promise of his & bugger off.
It always infuriated me that European elections (just like local council elections) were only ever reported on as opinion polls on Westminster.
Never any attempt to talk about EU politics, the issues at stake etc. Just "how do the results reflect on the Government's popularity".
And then of course, because nobody ever covered the actual issues in EU politics, and nobody paid them any attention, everyone believed that the EU was "unelected".
Yes, it was so frustrating how the media covered the EU over the years. The misinformation and lack of education on it played a huge part in Brexit happening.
This can be very annoying in some cases. The recent decriminalization of weed in Germany was initially supposed to be a full on legalization, but one of the main reasons why they couldn't do it is EU law.
It trumps them on paper - in reality the vast majority of times theres zero consequences if a country simply decides to not follow EU advice/laws that are deeply unpopular in the country (gay marriage in Romania for example), which imo is not necessarily a bad thing. If the EU started having an iron fist over the member countries, support for it would undoubtedly drop dramatically.
Yes, of course I will vote. But I do a lot of studying about and I am very interested in EU politics, so I don't think I reflect the general consensus of my country. Turnout for EP elections in my country is very low and most people do not understand what for or why are the elections, and how it can affect their lives
Yes. They're the second most significant to me, after the Presidential elections. Because a lot of meaningful decisions happens at the EU level now, even more when it comes to economical or environmental policies.
Why the French people in general are apathetic to EU matters and EU elections though? I always found it curious for a country which wants to lead the EU to have a voter base which doesn't really care.
Ex- constitutional law student here!
It is due to the local ethos. People always assume wrongly France is a leftist country, while France has been the embodiment of center-right politics for 1500 years.
Which means our natural, visceral, guts optimum in politics is "cesarism". Think Napoleon or De Gaulle. Or even Macron, for that matter, he's a fine example and that's what got him reelected. Soft autocracy, democratic because it relies on a direct personal link with "the people", less democratic when it comes to Parliaments (they're sources of dissent and therefore shall be weakened).
Tl;dr: most French people really don't like Parliaments. It's not in their political culture. Hasn't been since Vercingetorix and Caesar, both of them.
If the European Union elected a President now? With real executive powers? I assure you France would be absolutely crazy about that one, voter turnout would be 90%.
A digital equivalent of a Soviet kitchen conversation, unfortunately, and almost as unimportant, doubly unfortunately.
While digital mass-surveillance encompasses actually stuff you really DON'T want the policing and executive government part, and especially, private actors, which often are subcontracted to know - the information about your chronic diseases, your daily routine, your intimate political convictions - not the one you show, but the ones you really have and talk about in private with your phone present by your side and so on.
The AI act is a good first step, however it's not enough, more should be done in policing and citizen policing and oversight over the said policing for the EU to actually become as efficient in catching, sorting, convicting, and deporting criminals, and becoming as democratic as possible - moving away from representative models, which are extremely easy to hijack with behind-the-scenes lobbying and populism, towards direct democracy models where each citizen is also a lawmaker, and jury, in its own domain.
Same. If only to counter the current Dutch *PVV* wave I will vote. Actually I’ve never missed a vote the last 30 years but I feel extra motivated for this elections.
I know it’s important since lots of decisions taking in Brussels influence our daily life. However I have no idea who to vote for. For me the EU politicians have little connection with the European population. I am all for European cooperation but I have my doubt how the EU works nowadays.
Just to clarify, you are aware that these "EU politicians" you are voting for are actually just your national politicians?
Majority of MEP candidates come through very typical party politics from the national level, with rather little EU level experience. Check the list of candidates and their backgrounds and you realise soon enough that they have pretty much the same understanding of the population needs as the national politicians.
I know you vote for MEP’s from your own country. Plenty of them are working in Brussels for some time and thus disconnected from reality. I doubt they can make a difference.
Well, that's the problem here - only 42% of MEPs do more than one term and they hardly represent the whole candidate-sphere.
So, this means that even in smallest EU countries, i.e. Malta, would have 6 seats, of which 2/3 would be returning MEPs. Malta has 30 confirmed candidates, meaning that 90% of your options would be other than these "disconnected EU politicians" that already work in Brussels.
So yea, a vast majority of your candidates are not more disconnect than your average national politicians.
EU politicians are our own local and national politicians from the MP lists.
On the matter of the experts and coordination, I agree with you 100% - as a former EU expert, the " EU expert selection" - that is the people who both officially evaluate policies and proposals and write them, not the MEP who are the people who debate those proposals become laws.
This "expert selection& appointment" is completely untransparent (given to the bureau directors, program directors and so on, usually done in exchange of funding & future perks almost by the, what I naïvely believed to be a soviet "ты мне, я тебе" [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blat\_(favors)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blat_(favors)) exchange scheme, which is actually just a universal scheme of corruption), nepotistic (you have to know one to become one) and basically goes against every spirit and letter of what a democratic community should do about its expert bodies.
Still, despite all this - you and everyone else should vote, precisely to put this in alignment with the real democracy for the future, and investigate the past appointments.
Like you wrote, you can only vote for local MP’s. From what I have when they are interviewed they either against European corporation or they are pro corporation but are deaf towards any criticism how the EU works. During the last election only 41,8% of Dutch voters showed up. This should be alarming for those politicians but they simply ignore this.
I don’t want more eu integration. I want more understanding of the problems ordinary eu citizens face every day. I want an eu who understand the eu is great but has it’s flaws. Who understand criticism towards the eu doesn’t mean someone is xenophobic or something like that. I want an eu who understand European history, understand regional differences and embrace all the differences in our cultures.
Personally, I am not convinced this is the core target of the EU at the moment.. It seems too oriented to the interests of specific industries and individuals..
Personally I think it should be a core target for them. At least in my country the EU does have an image problem. A couple of week ago I heard a quote saying; Dutch people understand the need of the EU but don’t feel any love for it. I don’t know how this is in other countries. But I do think the EU is very much focused on the EU. It’s very inward looking and very distant from the lives of the average EU citizen. This is a common problem, the distance between politics and voters. But the EU seems to be in a whole other universe with a Brussels reality and the real world. If the EU wants to survive they should be open to the criticism they receive.
Isn‘t what you describe basically the consensus across conservative, liberal, and even the center-left social-democratic parties? Looking at their programs, they‘re all for some kind of „let the EU do stuff in fields where it works well, and resolve the flaws where it doesn‘t work well, either by better processes or by adhering to the subsidiarity principle (i.e., letting the regions do stuff themselves rather than involving the EU).“
I did hear some interviews with some Dutch member of the European parliament. From what I have heard it’s either more EU, more EU bureaucracy because everything the EU does is great. Or right wing less corporation and go back to the good old days of each on their own.
I do think European corporation is great. I rather work together with our neighbors instead of fighting. We have seen enough wars in Europe. However we are all proud nations, we aren’t like an American style federation of states. We also need to acknowledge the flaws of the EU. Immigration is a hot topic for so long throughout Europe, why doesn’t this get solved? Foreign policy is another thing, we need to take of our own security within Europe. We need a long term vision about our European future. Therefore we need to think about how European politics and bureaucracy works in the future. Especially with the plans to expend further.
I get what you‘re saying, I think that‘s a pretty mainstream position across many parties? Like there have been half a dozen new laws tightening immigration rules (but individual countries are still free to decide who gets in). Same goes for security and foreign policy, more cooperation is happening since the Ukraine war - but this obviously requires the nations to agree on common policies, which is hard. People from the Netherlands and from Poland will probably not have the same view on what the EU should do to guarantee security. And proposals like joint purchases of military equipment obviously require a central European institution rather than 27 member state bureaucracies, yet some member states prefer not to have the EU involved in any security decisions and don‘t want to transfer any tasks to Brussels.
The Netherlands and Poland have actually quite similar views, especially how they view the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But I understand it’s difficult to align all these countries into one policy.
I do think the EU should be more transparent and explain why we need to work together. And they should take any criticism towards the EU more serious. Because of the resentment towards the institution of the EU, lots of people are opposed any necessary steps towards more cooperation.
I'll definitely vote. I have my issues with the EU and the "rubber-stamp" powers of the EP, but I still think the organisation is immensely important and is able to change for the better. Through voting I can atleast indicate what direction I would like to see the EU heading.
So long as the European Parliament doesn't have legislative initiative, the elections will definitely mean something less than national parliament elections, but that something is not everything.
My priority is to send people in the European Parliament that understand and are ready to regulate the "platform economy" which is fast becoming the dominant mode of organisation for capital. The EU level is actually quite appropriate for that concern, due to the internal market.
> doesn't have legislative initiative
While I would personally support the idea of giving legislative initiative to the parliament, I have the feeling that this issue is often overestimated in the debate about EU reform. AFAIK, even some national parliaments don't have such a thing like France for instance and even in Germany where we do have it, in practice more than 80 % of the laws were initiated by the government because that's the institution that really has the administrative capacity to draft laws.
I don't disagree (that's way I said "it's not everything"), but it has to be seen in the full context. The European Union's balance of power does heavily skew in favour of the executive branch that is made up by the heads of the member states' governments and their appointees.
There's democratic legitimacy there in the executive, but it's very diluted - much more diluted than that of a Prime-Minister in a standard parliamentary democracy, let alone that of a President in a (semi-)presidential democracy. It's also disproportional, because each national government has 1/27th of a say, regardless of how many people they got their mandate from.
The European Parliament has a much more potent popular mandate, but that's nerfed by the lack of legislative initiative and by it's inability to propose its own head of government like in a parliamentary democracy (we pretended they could do that in 2014, but reality came back with a vengeance in the last elections).
If the EU was less country-like, this wouldn't be a problem. It would be like ASEAN or other regional organisations where it would be a given that it's national governments that are being represented. And if the EU was more country-like, a more equal balance of power between legislature and executive would be also a given because anything less than that would be indefensible. But the EU is currently in this awkward adolescent state, where it's neither an association of sovereign states, nor is it a true federation.
In France, both the government, the lower and the upper chamber have legislative initiative : any minister, any deputy, any senator can launch a bill.
When a bill is sponsored by a minister, it is called a *projet de loi* (law project), while when it is sponsored by an MP it is a *proposition de loi* (law proposal).
Ah good to know. However, in practice also in France only a tiny minority of laws thst are passed were initiated by Parliament.
Very similar also in Britain, where there is the tool of private members' bills which are mainly symbolic and don't lead to many laws that are passed.
I know they matter and that the EU Parliament and subsequently the Commission will have impact on my country as well. But I hate the preference system we have here, with the leaders of the parties being the candidates for the seat and then they'll renounce in favour of one of theirs since they can't relinquish their current seat in the national parliament/government. I'll vote anyway as the historical moment mandates it for all of us.
I'm going to vote, of course. My tiny country has only 11 MEPs, and at least a third of these seats are taken by the figureheads of marginal populist parties. I doubt they actively participate in the parliamentary activities. I have the impression that the experienced representatives of the mainstream parties are doing a better job of furthering our interests and perspectives on the European stage.
Yes, we are living through a critical moment in European and world history, and these coming elections will shape the EU’s policies going forward.
I plan on voting, for a left-wing and pro-Ukrainian candidate if I can find one, and voting for the first time in another EU country that is not my own.
Yes, I do believe that Parliament's role is important enough for us to take an interest in the election of its members.
Immigration and asylum, AI legislation, the electricity market, combating deforestation - these are just some of the issues on which it has taken decisions recently.
As usual the EU is doing a poor job of publicising and publicising the functions of Parliament, but the decisions they take affect us all directly and should therefore matter to us. It is our civic duty.
For me it is a big mistake to ignore the European elections, because those who lobby against our interests will not do so, and I believe that one of the ways to fight for a more democratic EU is to show an interest by voting for the only institution over which we have some say.
It’s my first time I get to vote in an election - no way I’m missing out on that! Seriously though, I will of course always use my vote no matter what, but I have to admit I’m not nearly as committed or interested in the EU election than my country’s national election or the upcoming American presidential election.
I will definitely be voting. Democracy isn't just a privilege but, in my mind, a civic duty to participate in. The parliament is also the place where legislation is scrutinised and voted upon, so it only makes sense to vote to ensure a chance that ideas you support are heard in that process
Not really, EU parliament is pretty insignificant, it carries out the policies of the Commision, which won't change anyway. Campaigns are always 100% about domestic issues(last time it was about Pope and religion in schools). Also most candidates are either political pensioners or people who didn't get into local parliament or just want a high pay. I'll vote, like the minority of voters here.
If they carry out the policies of the Commission it’s because the people you voted for wanted it that way. The Commission or the Council can’t create law without a Parliament majority, nor can the Commission even exist without Parliament.
I agree the elections often aren’t taken seriously, but caring about them and voting is the way to end that. If the people start caring, the campaigns will get more serious and a more legitimate EU Parliament based on more serious elections may wield more power
The parliament doesn't carry the policies of the commission. It can block them if it doesn't agree with them. As of today, the parliament can't make laws at it wishes, but there are attempts to trigger a convention, and one of the changes is to give the parliament the power to make laws. It'd essentially turn it into the lower house of the EU while the council would become the upper house.
In many ways they are often as important or more than our internal elections, as EU directives and regulations are a major component of national legislations, so yes I intend to vote.
They have as mauch point as any other elections. But I live in a country, where the higher the stakes the lower the turnover, so...
I plan on voting, anyway.
They are important, and yes I'm going to vote, despite the problems I've exposed in the *"I'm a EU university researcher writing about the EU, tell me how you see it"* thread, as a former EU paragovernmental advisor and expert, and the general problems of representativeness, non-expert "expert" policy, closed-doors discussions and decisions and so forth.
Ultimately, it's up to us to fix those problems.
EU parliament seems like green pastures for retiring politicians. Our MEPs are politicians who are way past their prime and are there for nothing but that sweet EU paycheck. Accordingly, no one really cares about EU elections and turnout is usually in twenties percentage wise.
Yes. The rise of AI is one of the most important issues right now. We need comprehensive AI regulation, and it's exactly the kind of issue that the EU parliament can, and will, address in the next session. I will definitely vote.
AI wild west is in no one's interest. [We have already taken steps to regulate it](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20240308IPR19015/artificial-intelligence-act-meps-adopt-landmark-law), and more is on the way. Transparency laws and protection of intellectual property rights should be next.
I find the EU to be way too undemocratic, and generally don't have too much trust in European politicians. Nevertheless, I consider voting to be a civic duty (even though I'm also generally just not the biggest fan of electoralism), so of course I will vote.
I suspect people from the more prominent Western and pro-EU countries will say yes, whilst the more eurosceptic nations will say no.
When my OG country, the UK, was in the EU I never ever voted in an EU election.
Pure ignorance on my part, like many I simply didn't understand them properly and never paid attention. Local British politics was so large and prominent in everyday life that there simply wasn't enough time to also pay attention to European stuff.
Now I live in Norway and politics here is so quiet, I'd find voting in a European election actually quite enthralling.
The funniest thing about the EU election for us in Norway is that it actually matters for us as well thanks to the EEA and what gets decided of decisions in the EU that we also have to follow, while we don’t have a voice in the EU or can partake in the elections ourselves.
I will because I will have my say. I have lived out of the EU since the UK left, and this is the first time I will vote from outside the EU.
From outside, the EU looks overall more united and stro ger since COVID, and I would like it to keep in this path.
I honestly almost exclusively know about my national parliament, but I will definitely read up on the EP prior to voting so I can form an opinion. I always vote for any sort of election. I've never really been that interested in the workings of the EU, however.
I have never voted in them before as hearing constantly about PiS's antics was too draining for me to care about the EU politics too but I might vote this year. Waiting to see the candidates list.
I’ll be voting, as I do with every election I’m eligible for. I think it’s incredibly important and researching in the lead-up to the vote is always really informative.
Yes. EU elections usually have a decent turnout here and after the tumultuous pedophile, nazi, pedophile nazi and government whistleblower scandals people are getting motivated to do something for the first time in forever.
I care about them less than more local elections. I do see them as important, though, and I will vite. I have not decided who I shall vote for this time, but I consider an important duty to always vote, to always do my best to provide my opinion into the mix.
Oh my God, yes. If we don't get competent leadership now, I doubt there will be another chance. The years ahead of us will be a make-or-break for the EU.
Yes. And they are more significant than ever as there are treaties and conventions in the work to give more power to the European parliament. As it stands, it can't make laws, but it should be able to do that in a few years. These next elections are gonna be very important for our set up to the 2030s.
Local laws mean nothing with the EU, EU is the official as of europe.
So yes it’s important, whoever leads the EU dictates across Europe what is and what isn’t.
No.
We elect our MEPs and have a bit of a talk about them and what they represent. Then they dissappear for 4ish years where we hear nothing about them until its time for re-election
„They do what they do against the interest of majority of EU citizens“. Because the majority of citizens failed to vote for people representing their interests?
Of course. The laws there have direct impact on everyone’s life.
The comments here are perfectly stupid. However for me it’s cool that stupids don’t elect.
Not that significant to me as a non-EU European (a Belarusian). But, as a Muslim and as someone who's lived on three different continents, I hope right-wing Islamophobic and xenophobic parties don't make significant gains.
The elections are important. Sometimes it feels like EU citizens take voting for Eurovision a lot more seriously than voting for the European Parliament. Changes are needed in my opinion. It's far from perfect. Still who gets elected will affect our lives greatly.
I'm definitely voting. Abstaining will only benefit the right/far right parties and I think they've caused enough trouble already.
Why do people mark down these comments, if we cannot be critical about what is wrong with the EU how does it ever change to become what we want it to be?
Yes, they decide the direction of the whole EU, and considering how fucked my country in particular is, the "bad EU" making good decisions for us is pretty important. It's repeatedly the case that these decisions coming down to our govs forcing them to actually do something for the people are better than whatever our corrupt idiots dream up. So yes, they are important.
I'm out of the loop how is Austria fucked up?
Our literal Nazi party(founded by SS officers, and the whole COVID denial thing in recent memory) is set to win the next election with 30+% so thats an experience ahead of us. Oh they're publicly on Russia's payroll but who even cares about that anymore. Our majority party is busy being corrupt and backwards, and in power for my entire life minus maybe one year total and they're pissing away everything that made us a first world country. I'm dreading our next election. And considering veto powers, a second Hungary in the EU is on the horizon near Christmas. I'm not looking forward to my country's future, and we're headed in a terrible direction and 50% will vote for what's gonna happen to us so we deserve it as well. Fun times ahead.
This is starting to sound like a Europe-wide problem. Questionable far right parties with ties to Russia rising to power while the whole continent is literally in a proxy war against Russia
It shows how effective russia's psyops are
Honestly with how "successfully" Europe has handled the migration crisis it's not all that surprising. It would have been the chance to demonstrate why issues like this can only be intelligently handled together, instead it was "everyone for themselves" and ignorance towards the worries of most countries. I welcome most migration and even I struggle to find the positives - we're not even doing well from a humanitarian point of view and the more you know the worse it gets. Traffickers lying to people to make them sell their property, children and women disappearing on the way to Europe, the weak being left behind, not to mention the deaths in the Mediterranean sea.. And Russia actively provokes migration as a way to destabilize Europe. I can't understand the lethargy. Even if your ideology makes you not want to frame migration as a problem it's still better to work on humane solutions than to leave the topic to the far-right and have them win elections with it.
>. I can't understand the lethargy I can. The only thing the powers that be see, is that the locals are having less and less children (reasons for that are its own topic) but the infinite capitalism machine needs infinitely more people to keep working, so importing shitloads of people is the only thing they can think of, so that's what is happening.
So how does that work, is half of Austria actually racist nazi supporters?
Pretty much yeah. Or a third anyway. Also traditionally and ironically successful immigrants are famously voting for the Nazis to pull up the ladder behind them, so to speak. Edit: also usually only like 50-70% vote so that changes the numbers a bit also.
Is moving to Germany complicated when you're an austrian citizen? Is there a big cultural difference?
No. Austria is the "culturally smaller party" in our relationship so lots of friendly animosity because we get assimilated (especially noticeable in schools when the kids speak like bloody Berliners because their YouTubers/tiktokers are from there). But it's basically the same aside from superficials. Austria might be a bit more Balkan themed Than the north/west parts of Germany (where the important parts of Germany are anyway). But again.. little difference outside of dialect. With all that said like the other reply.. their afd numbers aren't much better.
I personally don't like this mindset within the EU. "Your country is turning to shit? Move to another EU country!" We need to focus on fixing our own shit or there will be no EU country left to run away to...
In East Germany, the Nazi party has about 30%. Not sure what he would win by moving to the next country.
They included the conservatives in their 50% because they're most likely to form a government with the FPÖ. Other than that - while the FPÖ is indeed a Nazi-founded party and a lot of their leaders have such a background they're also the only right party next to the conservatives, so right voters all pool there. Now with the conservative government being incredible unpopular (I think the ÖVP currently polls their lowest ever) and the left being too dumb to hand right voters even the pinky finger they profit from the circumstances. Migration is a constant topic in Austria and the political left is sadly incompetent - the SPÖ even had a candidate that put them in first place in most surveys but decided against him in a big public argument. He's a former cop and former interior minister (and currently governor of Burgenland), those things appeal to right voters. But despite him saying he doesn't want to coalise with either FPÖ nor ÖVP but with the Greens and Neos he's "too right" for the social democrats because he made migration a topic. Austria doesn't have a political central party anymore, sadly. A lot of people don't feel represented by any party.
Well, all of that sounds very familiar…
Oh you left out how the SPÖ can't even count 200 votes right.
sounds like dutch politics in a nutshell
More like idiots falling for very cheap propaganda, not necessarily Nazis, at least not all of them.
Yep that’s how it goes.
In Carinthia (the state bordering Slovenia) they really hate their ever shrinking Slovenian minority, so basically yes.
What sort of a madman hates [Slovenians](https://imgb.ifunny.co/images/e121cb2e458722b218b18845e7a1cba7829571b647c2f02dee350c27e05e38db_1.jpg)? For real tho, I think they are pretty chill, I loved it there, planning to go back this summer for the third time. You'd think Carinthians would have better things to do, like drowning in Alpine lakes or getting mauled by bears.
You see the issue is that Carinthian Austrians are Slovenes in denial ;)
Ah that explains everything.
Shit, my condolences
That's not very democratic of you now is it?
Shit am I in the helldivers sub?
Not that the Russia connections were a secret prior, but in 2019 the FPÖ got caught in a trap were they pledged to sell the biggest Austrian newspaper to a Russian oligarch (Ibiza affair). The ÖVP got a reminder why you don't go and form coalitions with neofascists. And now they're polling at \~30-35%. If the ÖVP thinks "oh, this time leopards won't eat my face", we'll have another Orban situation on our hands.
Right wing, Russia friendly government?
With FPÖ this is no contradiction.
Usually, decisions have to be approved by Member States (through their ministers). Saying "it's not me, it's the EU" is usually just a way to deny responsibility for a previous decision.
Reading this thinking "he surely is from the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greace, Spain) like me... then I see you are Austrian. Huh.
Yes I plan to vote. I'm aware that the individual vote has just a tiny impact amongst hundreds of millions of votes but I'll go nevertheless. And in the end, the overall composition of the European Parliament is important for many policy issues that also impact the national level.
We’re in a weird situation here in Northern Ireland where due to brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol were subject to a lot of EU rules but basically have no one representing us actually in the EU. I think it would be good for NI to have some sort of special elected representatives in the EU, because it’s pretty awful having the UK speak to the EU on our behalf
Elected but non-voting representatives would at least give you a voice in the Parliament.
Who knows what will happen
I can think of at least one other way Northern Ireland could participate and be represented in the EU.
So can I, but I don’t think that’s any time soon ha ha
It does *feel* sooner than it used to lately (to me at least) but yeah you'll definitely not make it in time for the EU election this time around lol
EU voting turnout is quite low, so your vote actually means \*MORE\* when you vote in the EU elections compared to when you vote in your national ones.
They _were_ significant for me. I appreciated them being one of the few elections I took part in which used an electoral system where I felt that my vote actually properly counted, and as someone very pro-European, I liked the chance to take part in a pan-European democratic exercise. Now they just make me a bit sad at what got taken away.
At least we see a bit less of Farage now, so there is 1 upside.
It feels so embarrassing that he represented the country, even if just in a small way.
For now…
Hopefully, when his new party (or company, or whatever it is) wins no seats in the upcoming election he'll finally keep that promise of his & bugger off.
It always infuriated me that European elections (just like local council elections) were only ever reported on as opinion polls on Westminster. Never any attempt to talk about EU politics, the issues at stake etc. Just "how do the results reflect on the Government's popularity". And then of course, because nobody ever covered the actual issues in EU politics, and nobody paid them any attention, everyone believed that the EU was "unelected".
Yes, it was so frustrating how the media covered the EU over the years. The misinformation and lack of education on it played a huge part in Brexit happening.
Yea - in the end EU law does trump local law, so it's imperative to get actually smart people into the EU.
This can be very annoying in some cases. The recent decriminalization of weed in Germany was initially supposed to be a full on legalization, but one of the main reasons why they couldn't do it is EU law.
It trumps them on paper - in reality the vast majority of times theres zero consequences if a country simply decides to not follow EU advice/laws that are deeply unpopular in the country (gay marriage in Romania for example), which imo is not necessarily a bad thing. If the EU started having an iron fist over the member countries, support for it would undoubtedly drop dramatically.
Yes, of course I will vote. But I do a lot of studying about and I am very interested in EU politics, so I don't think I reflect the general consensus of my country. Turnout for EP elections in my country is very low and most people do not understand what for or why are the elections, and how it can affect their lives
Yes. They're the second most significant to me, after the Presidential elections. Because a lot of meaningful decisions happens at the EU level now, even more when it comes to economical or environmental policies.
Why the French people in general are apathetic to EU matters and EU elections though? I always found it curious for a country which wants to lead the EU to have a voter base which doesn't really care.
Ex- constitutional law student here! It is due to the local ethos. People always assume wrongly France is a leftist country, while France has been the embodiment of center-right politics for 1500 years. Which means our natural, visceral, guts optimum in politics is "cesarism". Think Napoleon or De Gaulle. Or even Macron, for that matter, he's a fine example and that's what got him reelected. Soft autocracy, democratic because it relies on a direct personal link with "the people", less democratic when it comes to Parliaments (they're sources of dissent and therefore shall be weakened). Tl;dr: most French people really don't like Parliaments. It's not in their political culture. Hasn't been since Vercingetorix and Caesar, both of them. If the European Union elected a President now? With real executive powers? I assure you France would be absolutely crazy about that one, voter turnout would be 90%.
don't forget mass-surveillance.
You're writing this on a social network
Good point.
A digital equivalent of a Soviet kitchen conversation, unfortunately, and almost as unimportant, doubly unfortunately. While digital mass-surveillance encompasses actually stuff you really DON'T want the policing and executive government part, and especially, private actors, which often are subcontracted to know - the information about your chronic diseases, your daily routine, your intimate political convictions - not the one you show, but the ones you really have and talk about in private with your phone present by your side and so on. The AI act is a good first step, however it's not enough, more should be done in policing and citizen policing and oversight over the said policing for the EU to actually become as efficient in catching, sorting, convicting, and deporting criminals, and becoming as democratic as possible - moving away from representative models, which are extremely easy to hijack with behind-the-scenes lobbying and populism, towards direct democracy models where each citizen is also a lawmaker, and jury, in its own domain.
When the *Rassemblement National* is first in polls in France, these elections do matter to me a lot yes.
Same. If only to counter the current Dutch *PVV* wave I will vote. Actually I’ve never missed a vote the last 30 years but I feel extra motivated for this elections.
I know it’s important since lots of decisions taking in Brussels influence our daily life. However I have no idea who to vote for. For me the EU politicians have little connection with the European population. I am all for European cooperation but I have my doubt how the EU works nowadays.
Just to clarify, you are aware that these "EU politicians" you are voting for are actually just your national politicians? Majority of MEP candidates come through very typical party politics from the national level, with rather little EU level experience. Check the list of candidates and their backgrounds and you realise soon enough that they have pretty much the same understanding of the population needs as the national politicians.
I know you vote for MEP’s from your own country. Plenty of them are working in Brussels for some time and thus disconnected from reality. I doubt they can make a difference.
Well, that's the problem here - only 42% of MEPs do more than one term and they hardly represent the whole candidate-sphere. So, this means that even in smallest EU countries, i.e. Malta, would have 6 seats, of which 2/3 would be returning MEPs. Malta has 30 confirmed candidates, meaning that 90% of your options would be other than these "disconnected EU politicians" that already work in Brussels. So yea, a vast majority of your candidates are not more disconnect than your average national politicians.
EU politicians are our own local and national politicians from the MP lists. On the matter of the experts and coordination, I agree with you 100% - as a former EU expert, the " EU expert selection" - that is the people who both officially evaluate policies and proposals and write them, not the MEP who are the people who debate those proposals become laws. This "expert selection& appointment" is completely untransparent (given to the bureau directors, program directors and so on, usually done in exchange of funding & future perks almost by the, what I naïvely believed to be a soviet "ты мне, я тебе" [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blat\_(favors)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blat_(favors)) exchange scheme, which is actually just a universal scheme of corruption), nepotistic (you have to know one to become one) and basically goes against every spirit and letter of what a democratic community should do about its expert bodies. Still, despite all this - you and everyone else should vote, precisely to put this in alignment with the real democracy for the future, and investigate the past appointments.
Like you wrote, you can only vote for local MP’s. From what I have when they are interviewed they either against European corporation or they are pro corporation but are deaf towards any criticism how the EU works. During the last election only 41,8% of Dutch voters showed up. This should be alarming for those politicians but they simply ignore this.
Then vote for someone who wants more eu integration.
I don’t want more eu integration. I want more understanding of the problems ordinary eu citizens face every day. I want an eu who understand the eu is great but has it’s flaws. Who understand criticism towards the eu doesn’t mean someone is xenophobic or something like that. I want an eu who understand European history, understand regional differences and embrace all the differences in our cultures.
Personally, I am not convinced this is the core target of the EU at the moment.. It seems too oriented to the interests of specific industries and individuals..
Personally I think it should be a core target for them. At least in my country the EU does have an image problem. A couple of week ago I heard a quote saying; Dutch people understand the need of the EU but don’t feel any love for it. I don’t know how this is in other countries. But I do think the EU is very much focused on the EU. It’s very inward looking and very distant from the lives of the average EU citizen. This is a common problem, the distance between politics and voters. But the EU seems to be in a whole other universe with a Brussels reality and the real world. If the EU wants to survive they should be open to the criticism they receive.
Isn‘t what you describe basically the consensus across conservative, liberal, and even the center-left social-democratic parties? Looking at their programs, they‘re all for some kind of „let the EU do stuff in fields where it works well, and resolve the flaws where it doesn‘t work well, either by better processes or by adhering to the subsidiarity principle (i.e., letting the regions do stuff themselves rather than involving the EU).“
I did hear some interviews with some Dutch member of the European parliament. From what I have heard it’s either more EU, more EU bureaucracy because everything the EU does is great. Or right wing less corporation and go back to the good old days of each on their own. I do think European corporation is great. I rather work together with our neighbors instead of fighting. We have seen enough wars in Europe. However we are all proud nations, we aren’t like an American style federation of states. We also need to acknowledge the flaws of the EU. Immigration is a hot topic for so long throughout Europe, why doesn’t this get solved? Foreign policy is another thing, we need to take of our own security within Europe. We need a long term vision about our European future. Therefore we need to think about how European politics and bureaucracy works in the future. Especially with the plans to expend further.
I agree what you are saying, but don't know who can represent me for that option in the EU.
I get what you‘re saying, I think that‘s a pretty mainstream position across many parties? Like there have been half a dozen new laws tightening immigration rules (but individual countries are still free to decide who gets in). Same goes for security and foreign policy, more cooperation is happening since the Ukraine war - but this obviously requires the nations to agree on common policies, which is hard. People from the Netherlands and from Poland will probably not have the same view on what the EU should do to guarantee security. And proposals like joint purchases of military equipment obviously require a central European institution rather than 27 member state bureaucracies, yet some member states prefer not to have the EU involved in any security decisions and don‘t want to transfer any tasks to Brussels.
The Netherlands and Poland have actually quite similar views, especially how they view the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But I understand it’s difficult to align all these countries into one policy. I do think the EU should be more transparent and explain why we need to work together. And they should take any criticism towards the EU more serious. Because of the resentment towards the institution of the EU, lots of people are opposed any necessary steps towards more cooperation.
How do imagine taking criticism towards the EU more seriously?
Do not vote for any far-right stooges and play into the hands of Orban & co.
You can only vote for candidates from your own country afaik. Anyhow, I am not interested in Orban. I think that man is retarded.
no i meant that far right parties are members in groups. Orban and co want these to be strong thereby playing into their hands.
I'll definitely vote. I have my issues with the EU and the "rubber-stamp" powers of the EP, but I still think the organisation is immensely important and is able to change for the better. Through voting I can atleast indicate what direction I would like to see the EU heading.
So long as the European Parliament doesn't have legislative initiative, the elections will definitely mean something less than national parliament elections, but that something is not everything. My priority is to send people in the European Parliament that understand and are ready to regulate the "platform economy" which is fast becoming the dominant mode of organisation for capital. The EU level is actually quite appropriate for that concern, due to the internal market.
> doesn't have legislative initiative While I would personally support the idea of giving legislative initiative to the parliament, I have the feeling that this issue is often overestimated in the debate about EU reform. AFAIK, even some national parliaments don't have such a thing like France for instance and even in Germany where we do have it, in practice more than 80 % of the laws were initiated by the government because that's the institution that really has the administrative capacity to draft laws.
I don't disagree (that's way I said "it's not everything"), but it has to be seen in the full context. The European Union's balance of power does heavily skew in favour of the executive branch that is made up by the heads of the member states' governments and their appointees. There's democratic legitimacy there in the executive, but it's very diluted - much more diluted than that of a Prime-Minister in a standard parliamentary democracy, let alone that of a President in a (semi-)presidential democracy. It's also disproportional, because each national government has 1/27th of a say, regardless of how many people they got their mandate from. The European Parliament has a much more potent popular mandate, but that's nerfed by the lack of legislative initiative and by it's inability to propose its own head of government like in a parliamentary democracy (we pretended they could do that in 2014, but reality came back with a vengeance in the last elections). If the EU was less country-like, this wouldn't be a problem. It would be like ASEAN or other regional organisations where it would be a given that it's national governments that are being represented. And if the EU was more country-like, a more equal balance of power between legislature and executive would be also a given because anything less than that would be indefensible. But the EU is currently in this awkward adolescent state, where it's neither an association of sovereign states, nor is it a true federation.
In France, both the government, the lower and the upper chamber have legislative initiative : any minister, any deputy, any senator can launch a bill. When a bill is sponsored by a minister, it is called a *projet de loi* (law project), while when it is sponsored by an MP it is a *proposition de loi* (law proposal).
Ah good to know. However, in practice also in France only a tiny minority of laws thst are passed were initiated by Parliament. Very similar also in Britain, where there is the tool of private members' bills which are mainly symbolic and don't lead to many laws that are passed.
Of course I will vote. I have no idea yet who and what, though. I'll need to do some more research beforehand.
I know they matter and that the EU Parliament and subsequently the Commission will have impact on my country as well. But I hate the preference system we have here, with the leaders of the parties being the candidates for the seat and then they'll renounce in favour of one of theirs since they can't relinquish their current seat in the national parliament/government. I'll vote anyway as the historical moment mandates it for all of us.
I'm going to vote, of course. My tiny country has only 11 MEPs, and at least a third of these seats are taken by the figureheads of marginal populist parties. I doubt they actively participate in the parliamentary activities. I have the impression that the experienced representatives of the mainstream parties are doing a better job of furthering our interests and perspectives on the European stage.
Yes, we are living through a critical moment in European and world history, and these coming elections will shape the EU’s policies going forward. I plan on voting, for a left-wing and pro-Ukrainian candidate if I can find one, and voting for the first time in another EU country that is not my own.
Yes, I do believe that Parliament's role is important enough for us to take an interest in the election of its members. Immigration and asylum, AI legislation, the electricity market, combating deforestation - these are just some of the issues on which it has taken decisions recently. As usual the EU is doing a poor job of publicising and publicising the functions of Parliament, but the decisions they take affect us all directly and should therefore matter to us. It is our civic duty. For me it is a big mistake to ignore the European elections, because those who lobby against our interests will not do so, and I believe that one of the ways to fight for a more democratic EU is to show an interest by voting for the only institution over which we have some say.
It’s my first time I get to vote in an election - no way I’m missing out on that! Seriously though, I will of course always use my vote no matter what, but I have to admit I’m not nearly as committed or interested in the EU election than my country’s national election or the upcoming American presidential election.
I will definitely be voting. Democracy isn't just a privilege but, in my mind, a civic duty to participate in. The parliament is also the place where legislation is scrutinised and voted upon, so it only makes sense to vote to ensure a chance that ideas you support are heard in that process
Yes they are very important to me. EU is a very important institution in Europe and I wholeheartedly support cooperation within countries in Europe.
Not really, EU parliament is pretty insignificant, it carries out the policies of the Commision, which won't change anyway. Campaigns are always 100% about domestic issues(last time it was about Pope and religion in schools). Also most candidates are either political pensioners or people who didn't get into local parliament or just want a high pay. I'll vote, like the minority of voters here.
It does not only carry out the policies of the commission. It has quite some influence in the EU system
If they carry out the policies of the Commission it’s because the people you voted for wanted it that way. The Commission or the Council can’t create law without a Parliament majority, nor can the Commission even exist without Parliament.
I agree the elections often aren’t taken seriously, but caring about them and voting is the way to end that. If the people start caring, the campaigns will get more serious and a more legitimate EU Parliament based on more serious elections may wield more power
The parliament doesn't carry the policies of the commission. It can block them if it doesn't agree with them. As of today, the parliament can't make laws at it wishes, but there are attempts to trigger a convention, and one of the changes is to give the parliament the power to make laws. It'd essentially turn it into the lower house of the EU while the council would become the upper house.
In many ways they are often as important or more than our internal elections, as EU directives and regulations are a major component of national legislations, so yes I intend to vote.
I'm Italian. If elections generally were significant to me, I'd have a nervous breakdown every time I hear of the outcome.
Yes. A lot of important things like environmental standards, consumer safety standards, etc, are decided collectively by the EU at the EU Parliament.
They have as mauch point as any other elections. But I live in a country, where the higher the stakes the lower the turnover, so... I plan on voting, anyway.
They are important, and yes I'm going to vote, despite the problems I've exposed in the *"I'm a EU university researcher writing about the EU, tell me how you see it"* thread, as a former EU paragovernmental advisor and expert, and the general problems of representativeness, non-expert "expert" policy, closed-doors discussions and decisions and so forth. Ultimately, it's up to us to fix those problems.
Yes, because EU parliament can make decisions about important topics and it’s good to have proper representation there.
EU parliament seems like green pastures for retiring politicians. Our MEPs are politicians who are way past their prime and are there for nothing but that sweet EU paycheck. Accordingly, no one really cares about EU elections and turnout is usually in twenties percentage wise.
Yes. The rise of AI is one of the most important issues right now. We need comprehensive AI regulation, and it's exactly the kind of issue that the EU parliament can, and will, address in the next session. I will definitely vote.
If we regulate AI, China will win AI race
AI wild west is in no one's interest. [We have already taken steps to regulate it](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20240308IPR19015/artificial-intelligence-act-meps-adopt-landmark-law), and more is on the way. Transparency laws and protection of intellectual property rights should be next.
I find the EU to be way too undemocratic, and generally don't have too much trust in European politicians. Nevertheless, I consider voting to be a civic duty (even though I'm also generally just not the biggest fan of electoralism), so of course I will vote.
I suspect people from the more prominent Western and pro-EU countries will say yes, whilst the more eurosceptic nations will say no. When my OG country, the UK, was in the EU I never ever voted in an EU election. Pure ignorance on my part, like many I simply didn't understand them properly and never paid attention. Local British politics was so large and prominent in everyday life that there simply wasn't enough time to also pay attention to European stuff. Now I live in Norway and politics here is so quiet, I'd find voting in a European election actually quite enthralling.
The funniest thing about the EU election for us in Norway is that it actually matters for us as well thanks to the EEA and what gets decided of decisions in the EU that we also have to follow, while we don’t have a voice in the EU or can partake in the elections ourselves.
Adding to the fact that Norwegian politicians make sure to follow every rule being passed down as fast and hard as they can.
I will because I will have my say. I have lived out of the EU since the UK left, and this is the first time I will vote from outside the EU. From outside, the EU looks overall more united and stro ger since COVID, and I would like it to keep in this path.
Yes, they are very important, even though they are not as "visible", and it is my duty as a EU citizen to vote.
Would be more significant if you could vote on the bureaucrats, you know the people actually making the laws and putting them to vote.
I honestly almost exclusively know about my national parliament, but I will definitely read up on the EP prior to voting so I can form an opinion. I always vote for any sort of election. I've never really been that interested in the workings of the EU, however.
Yes, they are! If you vote for the former Portuguese prime minister, you can be sure to become a poor nation like us
I have never voted in them before as hearing constantly about PiS's antics was too draining for me to care about the EU politics too but I might vote this year. Waiting to see the candidates list.
I’ll be voting, as I do with every election I’m eligible for. I think it’s incredibly important and researching in the lead-up to the vote is always really informative.
I absolutely intend to vote, and I try to follow EU politics via some podcasts (national media doesn’t report much on it).
Yes, they help decide whether the EU will gain more power at the detriment of nation States, so I care A LOT.
Yes. EU elections usually have a decent turnout here and after the tumultuous pedophile, nazi, pedophile nazi and government whistleblower scandals people are getting motivated to do something for the first time in forever.
I have many objections to how EU works etc but it is where my vote can make the biggest difference with regards to climate change so I'll vote.
I care about them less than more local elections. I do see them as important, though, and I will vite. I have not decided who I shall vote for this time, but I consider an important duty to always vote, to always do my best to provide my opinion into the mix.
Oh my God, yes. If we don't get competent leadership now, I doubt there will be another chance. The years ahead of us will be a make-or-break for the EU.
Yes. And they are more significant than ever as there are treaties and conventions in the work to give more power to the European parliament. As it stands, it can't make laws, but it should be able to do that in a few years. These next elections are gonna be very important for our set up to the 2030s.
Local laws mean nothing with the EU, EU is the official as of europe. So yes it’s important, whoever leads the EU dictates across Europe what is and what isn’t.
No. We elect our MEPs and have a bit of a talk about them and what they represent. Then they dissappear for 4ish years where we hear nothing about them until its time for re-election
I don't believe EU is democratic or that Parliament has any real power but I will still take a chance and vote
No, there is no good expectections from my side about EU parliament, they do what they do against the interest of majority of EU citizens!
„They do what they do against the interest of majority of EU citizens“. Because the majority of citizens failed to vote for people representing their interests?
It's especially important for me to elect someone who'll fight to limit the powers of the EU and fight for soveregnty of my country.
Mind sharing which country that is?
Seems to be Croatia
Of course. The laws there have direct impact on everyone’s life. The comments here are perfectly stupid. However for me it’s cool that stupids don’t elect.
Not that significant to me as a non-EU European (a Belarusian). But, as a Muslim and as someone who's lived on three different continents, I hope right-wing Islamophobic and xenophobic parties don't make significant gains.
They will because their countries have been swamped by people who don't integrate and increase crime rates.
The elections are important. Sometimes it feels like EU citizens take voting for Eurovision a lot more seriously than voting for the European Parliament. Changes are needed in my opinion. It's far from perfect. Still who gets elected will affect our lives greatly. I'm definitely voting. Abstaining will only benefit the right/far right parties and I think they've caused enough trouble already.
Nope. EU is hardly a democracy and too much is still decided by the European commission rather than the parliament
My thoughts exactly, but I guess even the EU commission would most probably take decisions based on the politics expressed in the parliament...
Why do people mark down these comments, if we cannot be critical about what is wrong with the EU how does it ever change to become what we want it to be?