The five-year European Parliament elections will be held from Thursday (23rd) to Sunday (26th).
Different from the past, mixed with the British Brexit pending, the rise of the European right-wing populism wave in recent years, the situation of the European Parliament elections is more concerned about the outside world.
However, fewer and fewer Europeans voted, but it became the biggest problem in the European Parliament election.
In the past years, the voter turnout in the European Parliament elections has been declining year after year, and this year’s popular participation is not optimistic. Euronews has randomly visited a number of Europeans on the street in response to the voting participation in the European Parliament elections. The answers are very varied, but they are all similar: What is the European Parliament? What can I do?
The voting rate has been declining year after year, the EU continues to question
The election of qualified voters of about 370 million people on this occasion faces the embarrassing situation that voters do not care about. In 1979, the voter turnout rate in the European Parliament elections was 61.99%; by 2014, the turnout rate was only 42.61%, while in Eastern Europe, such as Slovakia, the turnout rate was even lower, only about 13%. The reason is that most European voters believe that the European Parliament is not democratic enough to think that its votes are useless, which is the biggest reason.
In addition, in recent years, as the European economic situation is not optimistic, coupled with the social differences caused by the refugee problem, whenever European people are dissatisfied with the increasingly emerging social problems, many politicians in European countries will often take responsibility. The blame for the “EU” inaction has also led to the “suspicion of Europe”. In particular, the recent “Russian-Russian” scandal of Austrian far-right Deputy Prime Minister Heinz-Christian Strache has ignited the confrontation between traditional politicians and the ultra-right forces, and the mixed public opinion among the multi-party, which has made the European public It is difficult to have a clear understanding of the mechanism and the upcoming European Parliament elections.
However, what is the truth? What is the role of the various complex institutions in the EU? How does this largest multilateral multinational organization since the United Nations operate?
EU’s three-power design
Simply put, the European Union is also composed of three main branches: the judiciary, the administration, and the legislature.
In which the European Court of Justice (European Court of Justice) is equivalent to “Supreme Court” by 28 judges and 11 trial Junior Officer (Advocates-General) composition, chosen jointly by governments out of six-year term, can either continue. The European Court of Justice is responsible for reviewing whether EU law is in conformity with the spirit of EU treaties, ensuring that Member States comply with EU treaties and interpreting EU law at the request of national courts; their decisions are also binding.
The European Commission is equivalent to the administrative body of the European Union . It is composed of 28 members and each member is appointed to carry out the various legal documents of the European Union. The chairman of the European Commission, which is equivalent to the “European Prime Minister”, was first elected by the European Council and then passed by the European Parliament for a term of five years.
As for the EU’s legislature , it is set up in a “two-institutional system” like many countries. The “House of Lords” European Council is composed of heads of state. Its main function is to define the European integration policy and to set the EU’s common foreign and security policy. Its preparation related work, and with co-written decision, it is a national ministerial officials of the European Council (Council of the European Union, also known as the EU Council of Ministers).
The “House of Commons” European Parliament is the only directly elected parliamentary body of the European Union. It is responsible for monitoring the human rights situation of EU member states, determining the EU’s budgets such as research, energy, industrial policies, etc., and accepting any EU citizenship on the EU. The complaint filed by the question. According to Article 14 of the Lisbon Treaty, there are no more than 750 seats in the European Parliament. The seats are allocated according to the population of the country, with a minimum of 6 seats and a maximum of 96 seats.
However, the European Parliament did not have the right to submit a bill compared to the House of Commons set by the national parliaments . This is also the core reason why the EU has frequently called for “the power of the European Parliament should be increased” in recent years.
Under the current design, the EU bill is submitted by the European Commission of theexecutive body , and then the members of the European Parliament , in the name of the relevant European Parliament committee to investigate and vote on the bill , indicating the position of the European Parliament. It will eventually be voted on, rejected or revised by the European Parliament and the European Council .
Therefore, even if the European Parliament does not have the right to submit a draft, it still plays a decisive role, complements other departments, and can directly reflect the opinions of every citizen of the EU.
European Union trials concerning countries
What people should realize is that the people themselves are based on their own interests. The different situations faced by each person have also created many differences. Therefore, the establishment of a democratic system is through the restriction and balance, so that differences can be effectively coordinated and resolved.
However, the essence of international politics is undemocratic. No central government has the authority to set up laws and supervise their effective implementation. The goals and interests of different countries are also different. This is also the strait of the former League of Nations and the United Nations today. Therefore, for many years, big countries have been using oppression and violence to encroach on the interests of other countries.
Therefore, in Europe after the Second World War, after war and divergence, we tried to build a multinational organization with supervisory functions and execution.
Looking at the framework of global multilateral organizations, there are two options: First, the people of each country choose their own leaders, and then the leaders discuss and coordinate; Second, the people of each country directly select the representative. The essence of the EU is the combination of these two options. The EU’s attempts are also related to the prospects of countries around the world.
No one can stay out of the way
To a large extent, today’s EU is still mature, even though the EU is more optimized, efficient and representative than the United Nations, in reality, the differences between countries due to different demands are still pulling. The structure and design of the EU.
However, this should not be the reason why the meaning of the European Parliament and even the European Union has been questioned. Most of the complaints such as “the European Parliament is not democratic” and “the European Commission violates the sovereignty of various countries” are mostly based on misunderstandings, deliberate speculation, or doubts about the “trend of integration.”
However, the reason why the EU can come today is not only because of the subjective ideas of some people, but also because the challenges of the world are becoming more complex and increasingly involved in countries. When New Zealand’s “the last piece of pure land in the world” is hard to escape from the terrorist attacks, when Papua New Guinea, “the neighboring countries are facing each other, the sounds of chickens and dogs are heard, and the people are not old and die.” Isolated state, in the end, can only stay in people’s imagination.
At this time, people should think about how to adapt to the trend of “integration” and actively cooperate with countries to optimize these multilateralism mechanisms. Because no one can stay out of the way, the abstention of one person will only make the “hearted person” enter the room, even the monkey and crown, and make decisions for you that you may not want to see.
And put it all over the world, apart from the EU, isn’t this the politics of other regions?