Cast your vote

“European elections, cast your vote”: it’s one of the slogans adopted in the public-awareness campaign on EU Parliament elections held across the Union June 4 to 7. Citizens will be called to cast their votes with universal suffrage (with electoral systems that vary from one Country to the next) for the election of their representatives in Strasbourg and Brussels, where the two Euro-Chambers are located.Information campaign off the ground. The campaign will be launched through television advertisements, posts on major media channels, posters, slogans, surveys, conferences, visits and gadgets. But the Web is viewed as one of the major tools enabling communication to 500 million Europeans in order to convince potential electors – amounting to some 375 million – to go to the polls. The EU Parliament website posted a space specifically devoted to the forthcoming elections (www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2009) aimed at “supplying basic information regarding the role, responsibilities and outcomes of the Assembly”, explained the EU press office. Legislation, EU budget, political control. Indeed, the website was gradually enriched and updated with treaty dispositions, political responsibilities (representing and voicing citizens’ claims, passing the budget, monitoring Commission activity and so on), stated the secretarial office of the EU27 Assembly. Various data can be accessed such as facts and curiosities regarding the Euro-Chamber parties, fact-sheets on MEPs, Euro-Chamber budget (i.e. taxpayers’ expenditure), and information regarding “multilingualism”. “Grounded to European Treaties, multilingualism reflects the cultural and language diversity of the European Union. Thus increasing EU institutions’ accessibility and transparency for its citizens. This constitutes a guarantee of democratic performance”, is stated online. 23 languages are officially spoken at the EU Parliament thus citizens can consult documents (reports, resolutions, votes) in their mother-tongues, increasing the institution’s transparency.Trans-national Assembly. The Communication office explained that the information posted on the website will increase as the date of the election draws close, while focus is currently placed on transmitting to European citizens a number of “good reasons” to cast their votes. “By voting in EP elections, you choose who influences your future and the daily life of close to 500 million fellow Europeans. If you don’t bother, somebody else will”, is stated on the election web-page, that continues: “In June 2009, You will have a unique opportunity to go to polls” in order “to elect both the world’s only directly elected transnational and multilingual parliament, and the EU’s only directly elected institution”. “Europe concerns all of us”. The European Parliament was elected for the first time with direct suffrage thirty years ago, in 1979. But in the meantime its political and decisional scope increased and developed thanks to a number of treaties: Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice. But unfortunately the new Lisbon Treaty, that envisages additional reforms to improve the democracy and effectiveness of the “Common Home”, further expanding Assembly powers, won’t come into force before the elections: a fact that risks discouraging citizens from their right/duty to vote in June’s election. Nonetheless, Brussels and Strasbourg relentlessly launch encouragements to “let your voice be heard”: “Young or old, student or retired, man or woman, employed or independent, mainstream or alternative, town or countrydweller, Europe concerns all of us, often without us realising! Thanks to Europe, we can easily travel, study and work abroad“, states the communication campaign. Concrete results in favour of citizens. The European Parliament, “works tirelessly for a cleaner environment, safer chemicals, better services and jobs. It is an ardent defender of consumer rights, equal opportunities and human rights both in the EU and abroad”. The Euro-chamber web-page on June’s election includes also a number of news items on Europe conceived for educational purposes and presented with a didactic approach. For instance, a number of pages are devoted to information on the statistic, economic and demographic reality of all member states. An interesting number of surveys and online forums enable debate in the many official languages.