Friday, May 07, 2004

EURO ELECTIONS - WHY BOTHER VOTING?

I'm getting very concerned about the likely turnout at the European elections on June 10th. The number of people you talk to who have absolutely no idea that an election is about to take place is frightening. With the furore over the European constitution and the implications of joining the euro you might have thought there would be more interest. Not a bit of it. Once you engage people in conversation everyone has a view on these issues, but the European Parliament is such a remote institution that people just don't care. I make the point that if we adopt the constitution we are on the slippery slope to losing our independence and if we adopt the euro we might just as well sign away all our economic sovereignty. We are the only Party to address these issues rationally. Unfortunately at the moment everyone's attention is being diverted in this region by the press stories about one of our euro MP candidates and his expenses. I'll keep my views to myself for the moment on that one, but this situation cannot be allowed to drag on for much longer as it is preventing any discussion of the real issues in this campaign. There's a new Blog aimed at increasing voter turnout at Coralbark. A worthy mission, but will anyone choose to accept it? Let's hope it's not Mission Impossible. Enough puns for tonight...

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