It seems the EU believe that Elections can be interesting – that appears to be the message of an EU campaign using the MTV entertainment network to stir interest among young Europeans.
“Can you hear me Europe?” involves a series of TV adverts aimed at getting young people to vote in the European Parliament elections on 4-7 June.
They will be able to express their wishes and ideas on a website called www.caneuhearme.eu.
A new survey suggests 53% of Europeans are not interested in the elections.
The latest Eurobarometer opinion poll, conducted by the European Commission, concluded that “interest in the elections is not increasing”. It surveyed 27,218 Europeans in mid-January to mid-February.
UK
In the UK, 30% of respondents said they would definitely not vote – far more than in other EU member states. The next largest “definitely not” group was in Poland – 19%. The EU average in that category was 15%.
About 1,000 people are polled in each member state in the standard Eurobarometer surveys, conducted twice-yearly.
In the first European elections, in 1979, voter turnout was 63%, but it has declined steadily. In 2004 it was 45.7%.
Flagging Interest
It seems the novelty has worn off. Being a member of the EU back in 1979 was clearly far more exciting than it is nowadays. Teenagers now just don’t seem to care what is happening in Europe. Though who can blame them. There is so much bureaucracy that the EU has become a dull machine, and it will take a lot more than a few MTV adverts to regain real interest in it. The EU is so confusing, few people understand it because they don’t want to. It is too boring. it would take so long to understand its whole structure and goings on no one has the time. If the EU is to truly regain interest in future generations, it needs a huge revamp. But it seems clear that won’t happen for sometime, perhaps for now, we should just get used to adverts on music stations.
