The American Spectator : Eurocrats' Comeuppance

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Europe has voted. More accurately, the people of Europe have voted. The results suggest that Czech President Vaclav Klaus was right when he argued earlier this year that "There is no European demos -- and no European nation."

Four days of voting for the European Parliament (EP) ended on Sunday. Largely disinterested publics across the continent used their votes to punish faltering governments and failing oppositions for their domestic sins. The result is a more right-leaning but fractured continental legislature.

Non-voters now make up a majority of Europe's electorate. Overall turnout ran 43.1 percent, more than two points lower than in 2004 and the lowest since voting began for the EP three decades ago (when turnout ran nearly two-thirds).

The overall average disguises extraordinary voter lethargy in some countries. Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Italy, and Malta all hit 60 percent or better (so did Belgium and Luxembourg, where voting is mandatory). But only 19.6 percent of Slovaks voted. Lithuania barely broke 20 percent. Turnout in the Czech Republic ran 25 percent and in Slovenia 27.4 percent.

Leading members of the EP expressed understandable concern over the continuing decline. Graham Watson, who heads the parliamentary Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe, said: "I don't know why and we need to study why people don't go out and vote." He surmised that people saw little connection between their votes and the European Union's decisions.

He's almost certainly right, but the problem is going to get worse if the Lisbon Treaty passes. Twenty-six of 27 EU members have ratified the accord; only Ireland, whose voters said no a year ago, stands in the way. The complex and convoluted text would consolidate further power in Brussels. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso is advocating that national politicians bring Europe more into their national policies, but Lisbon would strip more "competencies" -- that is responsibilities, in Eurospeak -- away from national governments.

Already President Klaus worries about the problem of "the democratic deficit, the loss of democratic accountability, the decision-making of the unelected." As more power shifts to a stronger but unelected executive in Brussels, voters will be even less likely to vote. Resulting in ever less democratic politics in practice.

The growing popular frustration with diminished popular control has turned EP elections into little more than a vehicle for expressing anger with national politicians. The EP's socialist bloc leader, Martin Schulz, observed that "the vote doesn't have much to do with European policy." His opinion has an air of special pleading, given the public spanking received by the left. Nevertheless, he is right in observing "a trend towards the re-nationalization of Europe."

National rather than continental politics determined most of the election results. Perhaps the clearest case was Great Britain, in which the Labour Party was pushed into third place, behind the Conservatives and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and barely ahead of the Liberal-Democrats. Europe was occasionally discussed: David Cameron, the Conservative leader in Britain's House of Commons, promised a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. However, the Tories gained more votes from hostility towards the ruling Labour Party. Moreover, anger over expense abuse by members of the three major parties in the House of Commons increased support for UKIP and the xenophobic British National Party (BNP), which won two seats.

The ruling socialists in Spain and Austria also took a beating for domestic political reasons. (The Greens, in contrast, enjoyed small gains.) The right did much better, picking up EP seats in several countries where conservatives are in power. In France, Germany (with a "grand coalition" led by more conservative parties), Poland, and Italy, voters all moved rightward. Even when the conservatives did not do particularly well, falling behind their share of the vote five years ago, the parties of the left did even worse.

Again, national issues triumphed. In France and Germany the so-called right moved left in response to the economic crisis. Complained Jan-Marinus Weirsma, a Dutch member of the EP's socialist bloc: "The conservatives won by stealing our free market-skeptic agenda." Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi effectively focused on crime and immigration (as well as nominating several attractive women as EP candidates!). Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government is seen as a welcome tonic after his more contentious predecessor. Greece was the major center-right government to lose ground.

In Latvia pro-Russian parties won surprising support. The Harmony Party took 20 percent and another pro-Moscow grouping won almost ten percent. Harmony is headed by Alfred Rubiks, the last head of the Latvian Communist Party who spent six years in prison after attempting to overthrow the newly independent Latvian government. Less than one-fifth of Latvians are ethnic Russians; the vote likely reflected anger with the government and its tough economic austerity program.

Other important areas of protest were immigration and Islam. Britain's UKIP has criticized both, as has the BNP, which would send home most immigrants. Austria's Freedom Party, which gained notoriety under the late Jörg Haider, campaigned on an anti-Islam platform, as did the Dutch party headed by Geert Wilders, whose criticism of Islam got him banned from even visiting Great Britain. Both parties made notable gains. So did the Danish People's Party, which also advocates limiting immigration. In Hungary the hard-right Jobbik party, which emphasizes immigration and crime, especially by gypsies, won nearly as many seats as the governing Socialists. Jobbik's slogan of "Hungary belongs to Hungarians" was banned by the national election commission. A nationalist also picked up a seat in Slovakia.

In this case voters were decisively rejecting the values of the Eurocrats while protesting home policy. EU expansion has been based on open migration throughout the continent. Islam has been accepted as Christianity has been abandoned. The governing Eurocratic ethos emphasizes tolerance while disdaining values. If European voters sent one message in the election, it is that a substantial number dislike this vision of Europe.

The fact that the EP elections have become a routine target of protestors of all stripes has helped further fracture the continental body. Germany's small Free Democrats, a frequent coalition partner in Berlin, nearly doubled its vote to 11 percent. Welsh and Scottish nationalist candidates won seats in the EP. Some protest votes went to extreme groups, such as Britain's BNP, a whites-only party. In Sweden the Pirate Party -- which supports stealing intellectual property, not merchant ships -- won a seat.

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Letter to the Editor

Appleby| 6.9.09 @ 6:40AM

Here in Kanukistan the trend is the same -- fewer people voting in every election -- because in a socialist economy the only people who get ahead, besides the apparatchiks, are the beggars. We have turned Canada into Queen For A Day, where he or she who can tell the most pitiful story is rewarded with a ladle full of cash from the pockets of unwilling contributors. Our unemployment rate is the highest in 15 years, and this month the socialist party (the NDP) is ladling out huge sums of money to an arts festival. We also have another huge financial scandal in the liberal government including a woman who made a six figure salary last year (plus a six figure bonus) and put in an expense account for a cup of tea and a scone.

And the proletariat toiling to uphold this tottering fiefdom know that there is not a darned thing they can do about it. *What can you dooooooooo?* is the popular whine.

Nobody pays any attention toKanukistan; but if the Europeans begin to express this attitude, perhaps things will begin to change.

Stuart Koehl| 6.9.09 @ 7:08AM

Doug,

A smart guy like you should know the difference between disinterested and uninterested. The former means objective, the latter means indifferent. Just because you're a libertarian doesn't give you the right to take liberties with the English language.

Kenneth Allen| 6.9.09 @ 9:35AM

Mr. Bandow: I think you have missed an important point. The British Conservative Party EP members are leaving the EP conservative coalition because this coalition is committed to a federal Europe. They plan to associate with a different coalition (grouping) that reflects their anti-federalist position.

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MEP NAZI ELECTED| 6.9.09 @ 12:40PM

White working-class families feel so neglected by the Government and angered by immigration that they are deserting Labour and flocking to the British National Party, a minister admitted yesterday.

In a sensational claim, Margaret Hodge, one of Tony Blair's closest allies, said that eight out of 10 white people in her east London constituency of Barking are threatening to vote for the far-Right party in next month's local elections. Once traditional Labour supporters are angry at a lack of affordable housing - and blame immigration, and Labour, for the changes.

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"They can't get a home for their children, they see black and ethnic minority communities moving in and they are angry," said Mrs Hodge, the employment minister. "When I knock on doors I say to people, 'are you tempted to vote BNP?' and many, many, many - eight out of 10 of the white families - say 'yes'. That's something we have never seen before, in all my years. Even when people voted BNP, they used to be ashamed to vote BNP. Now they are not." Mrs Hodge said the pace of ethnic change in her area had frightened people. "What has happened in Barking and Dagenham is the most rapid transformation of a community we have ever witnessed.

The world is changing, Globalization, not in ordinary peoples interest. Multi-National Industrial Companies are the only benifitors.

The late 70's saw the sale of all assets going to major Multi-National Companies, jobs moved to China for higher profits.

As a result today Europe has high Un-Employment, America has high Un-Employment and growing. Domestic GDP is crashing in the Western world as the levels of Un-Employment continues to grow.

Much the same as it did during the 1920's in Germany. It eventually lead to the Nazis gaining power.

I can't stress enough how important for people to read History. Because what we are seeing now is the repeat of Nazi Germany, but the most alarming thing is it's across the whole of the Developed world.

Fascism is on the Rise across the Western world, it started with Bush WAR on TERROR, but what people failed to notice is that The Bush Family made it's money on promoting Fascism. Bush War on Terror was to create the high Oil prices to destroy the American economy, and make money with his Saudi Royal Family, and to hell with ordinary American people.

Tony Blair made his pile, and recked his economy.
And like America people can see the casualties, in the level of Un-Employment, and all those who were with Bush in his speech, is you are not with me you are against me. They are now reaping the breakdown of society, and economic destruction.

Stuart Koehl| 6.9.09 @ 3:37PM

"Tony Blair made his pile, and recked his economy."

First egregious grammatical errors, now jeremiads from the functionally illiterate. It has been a good day.

Daisy| 6.9.09 @ 6:23PM

Mr. Koehl, your first post made me laugh--I caught Bandow's error, too. It's important to protect the integrity of our English language. Of course, you already know that--you used to write for AmSpec, right?

Stuart Koehl| 6.9.09 @ 6:51PM

"Of course, you already know that--you used to write for AmSpec, right?"

Many moons ago, when I was but a young punk, and AmSpec was a tabloid with a chip on its shoulder.

Daisy| 6.9.09 @ 8:55PM

I liked them when they had a chip on their shoulder.

You're funny.

Dave Lincoln| 6.9.09 @ 11:00PM

Here's more grammar instruction for you, Doug (just piling on; it's what I do ;-) This is not a sentence, OK: "Resulting in ever less democratic politics in practice. " Where it the subject? Is none. (see, same there). I see a lot of this, BTW, in the Spectator, in particular. Resulting in a loss of respect by yours truly.

Interesting article nontheless (see I can do this as well as the next guy). Also, I voice my support for the BNP. A bit more xenophobia would help Europe remain European. Unfortunately, most of them are weenies, just like bloggers in America who feel that have to add the word xenophobia to describe people who want to keep their land. Hmmmm.

Dave Lincoln| 6.9.09 @ 11:06PM

Daisy| 6.9.09 @ 11:37PM

Geez, Mr. Lincoln; I was hanging on your every word and then you had to screw it up by double posting it. I hate it when I do that. :)

I like your attitude toward illegal immigration, though.

Dave Lincoln| 6.9.09 @ 11:47PM

Thank you, Daisy. This time, the website did not show my post with a "waiting for moderation" indication. So, I waited for about 10 minutes, and since it was not on the website, I mashed "submit" again.

Something I learned from our Great Teacher:

"Bad grammar makes the baby Obama cry."

Roy| 6.10.09 @ 3:52PM

Re:Lincoln: You are right, that is not a sentence, but if you read aloud you know the kind of verbal construction that Mr. Bandow was trying to represent.

Less formal articles seem to aim to be "sounded out", and I am not sure how to create this construct using the printed word. It's where you say something is bad, and after the listener absorbs how bad it is you continue your prior sentence. A comma doesn't quite convey it. Neither does an ellipsis. Interesting..

Dave Lincoln| 6.10.09 @ 4:36PM

Joy, I've got a pair already. They suck., OK? Leave us alone....

Anyway, Roy, I know that people talk this way, but I don't think that this is supposed to be an informal article or editorial. Now, in an internet chat conversation (i.e. yahoo messenger), text message, and even comments here in the feedback section I could see that type of grammatical short cut. Take a comment by one Dave Matthews, for example, please!! haha, scared ya.

Anyway, I personally think most of these writers think there is nothing grammatically wrong with that non-sentence construction. Nothing wrong at all (see, it's catching ;-) Maybe Doug was sick that day they went over subject/verb etc. in English class. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Thanks for your comment. I know what you're saying.

Oh, BTW, I can't say for sure who started this type of thing, but I remember on the Rachel Lucas website, Rachel would write with a period after each word to really emphasize something:

Like, THAT. IS. WRONG. (That didn't really work out, but you get the idea.)

Alan Healy| 6.10.09 @ 4:51PM

I'm not too sure where you got the idea that the European Union was not an election issue .
As you point out UKIP came second in the UK . Their major policy is to remove Britain from the EU .
Can't get much more involved in EU issues than that .
Also , the fact that their vote was virtually identical to the last election seems to show that it was not merely a protest against the domestic political establishment .

jr| 6.10.09 @ 6:06PM

From the article (excellent one): "Graham Watson.. parliamentary Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe..: "I don't know why and we need to study why people don't go out and vote." After 2,000 or more years, and obviously one of the smartest people in Europe, and needs another study to find why people do not like people like him. Zounds and Holy Dumb Batman!

Pingback| 6.12.09 @ 11:41PM

Doug Bandow » Blog Archive » What Those Cuddly Europeans are Up To links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…But they largely avoided voting on European issues. Instead, they used the continental wide elections as a means to punish national parties for national failures. I discuss the issue on American Spectator online (and the Korea Times has used a shorter version). Post a Comment Name (required) E-mail (will not be published) (required) Website Doug Bandow is Vice President of Policy for Citizen Outreach, a…

Michael Follon| 6.19.09 @ 4:57PM

There is no doubt that the low turnout at the European elections is a matter of concern. The article gives a brief overview of the outcome, particularly in the United Kingdom (UK) with its mention of the far right BNP. A closer examination of the result in the UK would reveal interesting variances. In Scotland and Wales they would show that the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru respectively campaigned only in those countries of the UK whereas the BNP campaigned throughout it with the exception of Northern Ireland. The share of the vote received is very illuminating -

UNITED KINGDOM

SNP - 2.04%
BNP - 6.00%
PC - 0.81%

ENGLAND

SNP - 0.00%
BNP - 6.54%
PC - 0.00%

SCOTLAND

SNP - 29.06%
BNP - 2.46%
PC - 0.00%

WALES

SNP - 0.00%
BNP - 5.42%
PC - 18.51%

The SNP won 2 seats and PC won 1 seat. What both of these Nationalist parties stand for is the very opposite of the BNP.

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