Issue 2, 2007   

Civil Society in Brussels. More than a fig leaf excuse?

Gerd Mielke: The Misfit. Angela Merkel’s second attempt to stage a successful campaign for the CDU/CSU, FJ NSB 2/2009, pp. 9-19.

Gerd Mielke analyzes the framework for successfully personalizing Angela Merkel’s political campaign in the upcoming elections. He sees three structural as well as habitus problems for Merkel. First of all, the needed change from being head of the ,Große Koalition‘ in Berlin to becoming the CDU’s leading campaigner will stand in way of a successful personalization. Problematic are also Merkel’s conflicting and not integrating way of leading the CDU as well as her understanding of politics which is oriented towards efficiency.

Max Haller: A Parliament without Citizens? Declining Participation in EU-elections and its Reasons, FJ NSB 2/2009, pp. 20-35.

Does the European Parliament need more electoral participation? This question is the starting point for Max Haller to analyzing the problems with EU-elections. Referring to democratic theory he shows in a first step why participation in elections is important to the European Parliament and the EU as a whole. He refers to some explanations for the low turn-out in past elections, which so far have not been that problematic for the EU. These explanations are confronted with Haller’s theses that the EU and the European Parliament have a serious problem. Comparing the decline in participation to other established democracies with low participation in elections – as Switzerland and the United States – he shows that these countries can compensate the low participation by other mechanisms of political participation. The low participation is due to the size and heterogeneity of the EU, its way of extension and the institutional advantages of powerful societal groups. A solution would be to upgrade the European Parliament to a real representation of the people, a simplification of its working processes, the introduction of a duty to vote, more direct democracy, and crafting a constitution, which limits the European influence.

Dieter Ohr: Long-term Trends and their Impacts on Voters’ Behaviour, FJ NSB 2/2009, pp. 36-47.

In all western democracies the voter’s behaviour has changed in the last years. Dieter Ohr discusses the impacts of these changes on the EU-elections. Individualization with cognitive mobilization is identified as a major change. People’s education has reached a higher level, but there is a lower level of social milieus influencing the vote. Medialization made appearance in media and personalities more important. These tendencies lead to a greater capability and readiness of the voters to decide anew on each occasion. Party affiliation has lost significantly – referring to intensity as well as to frequency. There is greater influence of short-term developments and persons on the voting behaviour. As EU-elections are perceived as less important by the voters, these tendencies are especially strong here. Due to that, it is difficult for the parties to mobilize the voters and bind them.

Helga Trüpel/Kathrin Kummerow: Mobilization-opportunities and Difficulties in the EU-election Campaign, FJ NSB 2/2009, pp. 48-52.

Kathrin Kummerow asks MEP Helga Trüpel about opportunities and difficulties when mobilizing the voters for the EU-elections 2009. Trüpel relies mainly on the principal advantages of the European Union, such as stable peace and growth in economic wealth, and political aims such as solving the economic crisis. Personal conversations and events in the own electoral district offer an opportunity for politicians to mobilize voters and convince them to take part in Europe. It is also important not to take the achievements of the European Union for granted and think it needed no more political support. To give offices to outstanding personalities would important to the EU, as e.g. having Jean-Claude Juncker as the President of ht European Conmmission. Doing this might be an opportunity for instilling a so far missing emotional relation between citizens and the EU.

Carsten Meeners: „Äbbelwoi bleibt Äbbelwoi“. The Relation between Citizens and the EU facing the Elections to the European Parliament, FJ NSB 2/2009, pp. 53-58.

The longtime member of the SPD-staff Carsten Meeners explains specific difficulties to mobilize voters for European elections and proposes solutions. That there is much promotion done by celebrities who themselves do not run for office is a clear sign that European issues and personnel are not a matter of election campaigns. Meeners believes that EU-specific issues and candidates should be more in the focus of the election campaigns in order to point out the differences between the parties. A campaign without European issues which only informs about the EU in general does not mobilize anyone. Furthermore the importance of the EU is not clear to many citizens, since European directives are carried out by the national parliaments. The knowledge about the EU should be improved by schools, media and other educational institutions. There is an opportunity to enhance the citizens’ consciousness for the importance of EU-elections this year, as European elections coincide with the national election in Germany and thus can be linked.

Helmut Röscheisen/Bjela Vossen: Vote for more Environmental Protection. The Importance of Elections to the European Parliament 2009 for Environmental Associations, FJ NSB 2/2009, pp. 59-63.

The secretary general of the Deutscher Naturschutzring and the director of EU-relations of this association present the importance of this election from an environmental association’s perspective. The European Union is very much involved in the implementation of environmental policies and in the past the European Parliament has quite often fought for more environmental protection. Since the European Parliament gained influence its political composition is more important. Environmental problems are essential and need strong-willed policies on the European level. That the EU seems far away to most of its citizens is a basic problem for the mobilization of voters, but also for European democracy as a whole. For this, the introduction of a European referendum as envisioned in the contract of Lisbon would be an important step. Röscheisen and Vossen propose the foundation of a European community for regenerative energies in order to foster sustainable development.