European Elections

05/15/2014 - 08h22

The European parliamentary elections will be held next week. Not that the European parliament has much power. It cannot raise taxes and cannot initiate legislation which is the job of the unelected European Commission.

It has stood on the sidelines during the euro-crisis when "the troika" of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, imposed austerity on bailed out and indebted member states.

Not surprisingly, the anti-EU, populist, and far-right parties, are expected to finish first or second in the UK, Denmark, Austria, Greece and Finland.

Yet a new survey of seven EU nations by the Pew Research Centre points to a fragile rebound in support for the European Union.The median favourability across the seven counties surveyed is now 52%, up from 46% in 2013.

Faith that European economic integration is good for their own country is also up in the UK, Poland, and Germany. The median measure is now 38% up from 26% a year ago.

But the European public may be less impressed on election day. The European electorate now covers 28 countries, but 71% of EU citizens under the age of 25 did not vote at the last European elections.

A recent Financial Times/Harris poll found that while in Germany 58% intended to vote for parties that supported continued membership in the EU, in France the percentage falls to 43%, and in Britain only 29.6% intend to do so.

In Britain 36% say they will vote for parties that support an exit from the EU, while 35% said they were unsure.

There is an irony to all this. Europe's "democratic deficit" has never been so exposed and the European vote has become the prime vehical for angry protest. Nigel Farage's United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) has already pulled British politics towards the exit door.

In France Marine Le Pen of the Front National plans to form an alliance to wreck what she calls the "monster of Brussels." In Italy, Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment Five-Star movement is second in the opinion polls, and could take 25% of the votes.

In Denmark the Danish People Party has 25% of potential voters and is campaigning against the EU, anti-multiculturalism and anti-immigration. The picture is the same in the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, and much of eastern Europe.

In fact, Eurosceptic parties, could well gain as much a third of the votes, and win as many as 200 seats of the 751 seats in the next European parliament.

Le Pen and Farage hotly dispute who is (or who is not) more (or less) racist. But the reason for the sour mood among the European electorate is clear. Just 22% are satisfied with the way things are going in their country.

The least pleased are the Greeks (5%) Spanish (8%) and Italians (9%). Only in Germany do 59% say their country is headed in the right direction. A median of 52% across the seven countries say immigrants are a burden because they take jobs and benefits.

A median of 55% across the seven countries want fewer immigrants admitted to their countries, including majorities in Italy, Greece, France and the UK.