Why vote in the European Elections?

Cari, your Students' Union President writes about the EU Elections on the 22nd of May and why you should vote.

The Basics

The European Parliament is made up of elected representatives (MEPs) from the 28 member countries of the European Union, it is the only directly elected institution in the EU.

It has the power to shape the way member countries do things and legislates on a number of areas including:

• Animal rights
• Consumer rights
• The environment
• International trade
• Regional economic development
• Workers’ rights

Because the UK is a member of the European Union it is bound by the rules laid out by the European Parliament.

There is a debate about whether or not the UK should be a member of the EU, this could potentially be decided by an in/out referendum. Despite much of the build up to these elections being focussed on the issue, the vote on Thursday 22^nd is NOT a referendum and the MEPs we elect do not have the power to withdraw the UK from the EU nor to call a referendum. At the moment the UK is IN and that won’t change as a result of these elections, that being fact, wouldn’t you like to have a say on who is representing you?

MEPs (Members of European Parliament) therefore vote on whether to approve, amend or reject new European laws, approve the EU budget and approve new members of the European Commission.

The UK is represented by 73 MEPs, over 12 electoral regions (each region having between 3 and 10 MEPs).  MEPs split their time between their regional constituencies in the UK and meetings in Brussels, for one week a month they go to Strasbourg where new EU laws are debated and voted on. 

Why Should I Vote?

These elections come at a turbulent time, there has been widespread political and economic crisis throughout Europe and there are many important questions that new MEPs will have to begin to answer.

The next European Parliament (amongst many other things) will have the powers to change the way the single market is regulated, alter policies on the free movement of persons and to ratify/reject an EU-US free trade policy.

The new European Parliament will also be appointing the next President of the European Commission (the executive branch that shapes laws and enforces compliance with treaties), therefore shaping the EU for longer than the 5 year term between MEP elections.

You don’t have to have a specific interest in politics to vote in elections, the results of these elections could have an impact on your general life experience. Being able to study abroad in Europe without much complication, being able to use your phone on holiday in Europe without roaming charges and having all the nutritional information on the labels of food you eat are things that can be changed by the European Parliament.

Unfortunately, many of the big issues that would have made for interesting and engaging debate have been overshadowed by parties who have used the current climate of anxiety around unemployment and austerity to flog their frankly terrifying racist, bigoted ideologies. Don’t be fooled by the likes of UKIP who try to hide their xenophobic views behind “tighter immigration policy” if you want proof of how offensive Nigel Farages’ views are just watch his recent interview on LBC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pyYoL9ngtE

It’s not only important to vote on Thursday but important to vote for those who advocate an inclusive and tolerant society where difference is celebrated not ousted.

Young people don’t vote. If young people don’t vote then politicians can ignore them when coming up with policy. Unless young people start turning out in higher numbers at the polling stations this attitude won’t change, we need to break the cycle! This is particularly pertinent a year before the general election, if we want to see parties campaigning on the issues that affect young people over the next year, now is the perfect opportunity to prove 18-25 is a demographic whose opinion counts.