By Martin Banks - 18th June 2009
The budget was relatively small and the campaign was launched just weeks before the election
Michèle Sabban, president of the Strasbourg-based Assembly of European Regions (AER)
Parliament's €18m campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the European elections has been branded "too little, too late."
The initiative, launched in the run-up to the 4-7 June election, involved road shows, TV and radio coverage and EU-wide advertising campaigns.
But turnout in the pan-European poll fell to an all-time low of just over 43 per cent, down on the just over 45 per cent figure in the last elections in 2004.
Michèle Sabban, president of the Strasbourg-based Assembly of European Regions (AER), said that while the campaign deserved credit for trying to "clarify major issues" for voters, it was "too little, too late."
She said, "The budget was relatively small and the campaign was launched just weeks before the election."
"For the next elections in five years, such a campaign should amount to the final leg of a clear, extensive, long-term information campaign that is decentralised not only to state but also to regional level.
"This is the only way our voters will begin to treat the elections with the seriousness they deserve."
Turnout might also be improved, she suggests, by "making it easier" for citizens to cast their votes next time.
The campaign was also criticised following a glitzy launch by several MEPs, including Northern Irish deputy Jim Nicholson who said he was "far from convinced" it represented value for money.
The disappointing turnout has sparked a fresh debate in parliament and elsewhere about a possible reform of voting methods, including the possibility in future of pan-European lists in some countries.
Sabban said, "The current system would turn even the most engaged European off voting. In some countries, for example, EU nationals living in another EU country had to register to vote in December 2008, a full six months before the elections.
"The division of electoral lists in some countries are so bizarre that voters cannot possibly be expected to form a connection with their 'local' MEPs.
"A sensible alternative would be to link voter lists to regional boundaries."
Her remarks are echoed by Conny Reuter, secretary general of the NGO Solidar, who said, "The low-level of participation in the election once again highlights that voters do not understand the link between what goes on in parliament and in their lives.
"We have to face this challenge of making Europe more relevant at different levels, including encouraging reflection on how best to organise future European elections."
Meanwhile, the Federation of Young European Greens described the turnout figures as "disturbing" saying they "once again show the democratic deficit the EU institutions suffer from.
"It is sad that both media, member states and most of the political parties do not seem to take their responsibility and properly explain the EU to citizens," said is spokesman Gordan Isabegovic.
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