Thursday 4 June 2009

Elections for European Parliament starting today

I have been rather quiet over the last weeks - partially due to a lot of work, partially due to something more than a week of vacation. With my family I spent a week at the Lago di Como in Northern Italy. It was fabulous. We had a wonderful holiday home (thanks to my wife who has by now turned into a professional for sorting out excellent places to stay), fantastic weather - and simply a great time in one of the most beautiful areas of the world.

This weekend will be an important one for Europe with the elections to the European Parliament. The election process starts today in some countries - those which by tradition have their voting day on a Thursday, e.g. the UK and the Netherlands. The majority of the countries will have their election day on Sunday.

I recently signed an open petition that people should go and vote. Unfortunately the European Parliament is still not really seen in its full importance by the people of Europe. While it is true that national elections are much more important and national parliaments have the real power, the European parliament does have a lot of competencies regarding legislation on the EU level. But communication and public awareness are rather low.

I will certainly cast my vote on Sunday - and will be curious about the outcome.

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