quote:

Originally posted by trancaholic I would suspect that the status of the election for the EU-parlament is somewhat like those for the Senate and Congress in the US?

In the past, yes there was generally a low voter turnout for senate and congressional seats compared to the presidential election (at least with younger voters). However with the current political polarization in the U.S., senate and congressional seat are now fiercely fought over by candidates and the public (in my area at least) has become much more aware of the power of those seats.

the vast amount of people dont care or dont understand the politics thus there is a tiny turnout.

i think the EU should just be a free-trade area with some common policies (the environment is one obvious one) but it should not be a superstate. I dont think any country would want to be run from Brussels

quote:

Originally posted by imokruok Which as I'm sure you know makes very little difference. Because the figureheads rotate so much, those positions come with very little power - 6 months is not enough time to expand the power of the office. The true power comes from all of the permanent staff and the Commission, who are overwhelmingly pro-integrationist.

Well, France and Germany really can't do anything alone, they need support of at least 2-3 members. And really, you could make the same argument about the US how it is governed by, say, New York and California, while North Dakota doesn't have anything to say about it. Some regions are bigger than others and it's normal for them to have more say in common affairs.

Besides, it's not like a country can't leave the EU if its population desires it.

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1+1=10

Do you guys have a constitution yet?

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Retro ...

quote:

Originally posted by occrider Do you guys have a constitution yet?

Now, Now Occ be nice You know it must stipulate that French is the official lingua franca of the European Union, after all we can't have English as it can we mes amis. Sorry had to say that. In all seriousness however how many citizens of Europe have actually read that document, I heard it is a behemoth of beastly proportions that a bookworm would get tired of reading.

They'll eventually approve it but when is another subject. Spain has quit standing up for themselves after Zapatero took over and says Spain will relax some demands so that leaves Poland pretty much holding out albeit faintingly, they have no chance against France and Germany who had another meeting yesterday between Schroeder and Chirac, seems like everyday they meet no wonder the domestic situation is so shitty as the recent electoral polls indicated.

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Trance = Heart, Mind, Body and Soul all in 1

Current fav. Global Experience = Madras

Well just wait, European Union is a new system (Maastricht 1992) ppl don't know many things about all the E.U. institutions. We have achieved a good economic union the next step is the politician union and the things will be easier with the constitution.

I'm sure in a few years ppl will be more involved with the Union and next elections will be a success, just wait. E.U. is a new thing and in the beginning was created for economic reasons, just now we are debating the politician union so we can't pretend have a good results since majority of ppl don't know many things about the functions of the E.U's Parliament. For me these results show the ignorance of ppl about this institution, they don't know the advantages/disadvantages of a Politician Union and so they haven't voted.

E.U.

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IBIZA INFO THREAD

Personally, I think EU overly concerns itself with rediculous minor issues and that's what alienates some of the common folk and gives juice to the anti-EU radical parties. Personally, I'd be for integration of the economy, foreign policy, judicial system, and labor/scientific community while leaving stuff like the maximum allowed size of a banana to member countries. Hopefully, the constitution will regulate more important things and will lessen the power of vetoing decisions. And yeah, there will be one soon...maybe even within this month.

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1+1=10

http://www.elections2004.eu.int/ep-.../graphical.html

the actual results of the elections

and agrees with booth UnBracKo and drug tito here

I forgot to mention that one of the reasons for the low turnout is the fact that there are 100 million people from the new member countries who really don't know anything about the functioning of the EU and have therefore largely abstained from voting.

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1+1=10

Sorry to burst the bubble guys but the E.U. is going to be one big bloated political body where nations attempt to look out for their own interests and every policy seems to stagnate. What does that remind you of (U.N. anyone). Now they are talking about Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 or 2008, and even Turkey after that, nothing like more cooks to spoil the pot. Ireland is already complaining about eastward expansion because it affects their nice little economic packages that they received for so many years. I hope the E.U. succeeds, but as of right now unless Eastern European standards rise quickly economically that is like Ireland did then look for those nations populations to wonder what the E.U. means for them personally.

It is not the E.U. parliamentarians who drive around in their BMW's and Mercedes but the citizens of the respective E.U. member countries that will have the last say as to whether the E.U. will succeed or fail, if the elections were of any significance its off to a bad start. Domestic issues outweighed any interests about European politics and even Iraq where Herr Schroeder attempted to use it to his advantage with the phrase to Germans about thinking internationally for the Euro elections. Good luck Europe, while I continue my campaign against the Shrub here in America to deny four more years to him, I will eagerly watch from across the Atlantic to see the direction of the E.U.

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Trance = Heart, Mind, Body and Soul all in 1

Current fav. Global Experience = Madras

quote:

Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0 Personally, I'd be for integration of the economy, foreign policy, judicial system, and labor/scientific community while leaving stuff like the maximum allowed size of a banana to member countries.

We've always had bigger bananas in the USA.

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FLUSHED THE JOHNS!

quote:

Originally posted by imokruok We've always had bigger bananas in the USA.

I think you'll find that the biggest banana is located right here in Australia.

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