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18 comments on EuroElections 2009 : EPP-ED
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18 comments on EuroElections 2009 : EPP-ED
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For those of us unfamiliar with European political parties, maybe a summary introduction to the parties that are likely to win at least one seat (or election) would have been helpful.
You say that the platform of the party is pretty much the same as the one put forward for the previous election, so I am wondering what was done or realized or implemented from this platform in the past four or five years? Though there is no guarantee that the future will be like the past, maybe if we knew how they did previously we could assess how they may do in the next five years.
Though the US has 50 ostensibly "independent" states, we are really dominated by one central government and so have at least a legal basis for union-wide policies. I am wondering what progress can be made to achieve union among 27 disparate states with no real centralized government.
The energy platform seems rather scattered, like a shotgun, than focused, like a rifle. Also, there seems to be some dissimulation there, like calling nuclear a clean energy.
The EU is not quite what it appears:
First there are no pan-European political parties (note: I think there is one this election!). The elections are based on each country's parties, hence the "blocks" which are associations of related parties that have agreed to work together. I don't know about other countries, but in the UK the EU elections are seen as a poll on how things are going here with the current government, rather than on what is wanted for the EU. Certainly the party broadcast for the Liberal Democrats that I saw the other day did not mention anything about European policies, it purely focused on the failings of the current (Labour) government and what they would do instead.
Second, the EU is not that democratic. Although the Parliament is slowly gaining (and taking) power, the commision (effectively the EU executive) is appointed. The Council of Ministers is formed by the relevant ministers for each country coming to negotiate for what they want. Only the Parliament is directly elected by us Europeans.
Finally, while the EU is "less" centralised, from what I understand of both the EU and other federalised countries(Eg US, Canada, Australia), the EU has more effective power over member states than the centralised governments of other countries (please let me know if I am wrong on this). Difficult to say why, though the lack of a proper constitution does not help.
Very good and worth reading comment, I would just want to add one thing.
Every EU party is a "federation" of national parties. National parties vary quite a bit. For instance, I would argue that the British PM (Labour party) and Portuguese PM (Socialist party) both members of the European Socialists are right of the German PM (Christian Democrats) though she comes from a conservative party (she comes from the social wing).
I would argue that a good proxy of absolute political positioning would be the Gini coefficient (google for it if you dont know what that is) for each country. More unequal (say Portugal or UK) are normally to the right of more equal countries (say Scandinavia, Germanic countries).
That being said I would put the EPP-ED somewhat with the American Democrats on economic and social issues and with the Republicans on private issues (marriage, drugs, ...). But again, this is a gross observation and varies from country to country.
Tiago
PS - Tiago = Portuguese who lives in the UK and has lived in The Netherlands in the past. Political junkie for all things American (e.g.following Barack Obama since circa 2005). I have had some direct contact with different parties and policies in these three countries in the EU.