The Netherlands: "if we don't watch out, we might all soon be working for the Chinese

In an interview, during the European parliamentary elections, with the Dutch daily Volkskrant, Anette Nijs, a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) who also was the State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science in the Dutch Government of  Balkenende I and II  from 22 July 2002 until 9 June 2004, and also Member of the Dutch House of Representatives from 30 January 2003 until 27 May 2003 and again from 7 June 2005 until 30 November 2006, expressed her concern about weakening of EU and US economic power as opposed to that of China.

"I'm not afraid of China, but emerging countries, with China in the lead, have two engines: the market and the state. We can not compete with that. If China is a large contract in India close to the electrical infrastructure, then the command to Chinese companies. I'd rather not see that happen in Europe. We must therefore ensure that Europe remains at the economic summit. I travel a lot and see what the Chinese do. They build new ports, which will hit Rotterdam directly. They build huge airports that goes Schiphol brands. Their technology is very advanced, which Philips will notice. "
 
" At the Shanghai Asia Summit, and I suggested to the Chinese PM that China include research questions to combat air pollution put on the Internet. China needs to develop the best proposals and solutions available to the rest of the world. 

China is still not soing the right things as a developing country. But in the Netherlands and the US, they are already talking about the 'new poor'. Labor costs in the auto industry in Detroit are lower than those in China. As the Netherlands and the other countries in the EU are not careful we will soon be the new low-wage countries and probably working for Chinese companies " 

She also stressed the fact that the political elite within the EU member states should abandon their focus on just their own national interests but instead  focus on broadening and strengthening the unity among EU member states.

EU-Digest

European Parliamentary Elections: More Controversy Or More Democracy With Eurosceptics As Part Of Equation? - by RM

The number of people voting in the EU elections this year was around 43.09% - a small increase from the turnout 5 years ago.

In comparison with other countries; at the last US 2010 Congressional elections, which you can compare to the EU Parliamentary elections, the turnout based on US government statistics was 37.8%.

As for what the radical conservatives and their supporters in the press call the BIG win of the EU "Radical Nationalist Conservatives" like Le Pen and Nigel Farage, that should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

Obviously this must be raising concerns with the ruling centrist pro-EU parties, but the success of those fringe party's should also be put into a realistic context of comparing numbers and percentages.

No doubt, when one party goes from having 3 seats in the EU parliament to 6 seats that statistically is a 100% gain for the party, but in the actual number of seats they gained versus the number of seats controlled by the ruling majority, it only represents a drop in the bucket.

Nevertheless, moderate European politicians have had their wake-up call. Europe now has its own equivalent to the US Tea party.

The EU-Commission, the EU-Parliament and the EU member state Parliaments have to start doing a far vbetter job at informing their close to half a billion EU constituents about the benefits of the European Union.

It certainly won't hurt, at least in this case, to copy some of the "Proud to be an American" campaign techniques from the US, so eventually we can also say without any doubt - "Proud to be a European".

EU-Digest

Opinion: We must value the EU once again - by Christoph Hasselbach

No one can say it was inevitable, but it was expected. The next European Parliament will be even more fragmented than the last. Representatives from both far-left and far-right parties will be moving to Strasbourg in greater numbers than before. As for turnout, the picture is mixed: in some countries more people voted than before, but those votes often went to Euro-skeptic parties.

All in all, the general public's interest in the EU is shockingly low - even though all the parties tried their best to motivate the electorate. For the first time, they chose leading candidates to tour the continent and debate each other. They tried hard to personalize and enliven the election, and make it more relevant. It did little good.

The only reassuring thing is that the parliament will remain functional, despite all the enemies in its own ranks. The representatives from UKIP, the Front National, the Danish People's Party will deliver angry speeches, but they won't really be able to block anything - because they differ from one another too much - they're too focused on their own nationalism.

By the same token, their rhetoric is always directed at their own voters in their respective home countries. They prefer to be the voice of the dissatisfied, rather than develop a major common project. This will cause the centrist, Europe-friendly parties to stick closer together. No, the Euro-skeptic extremists don't present a threat, at least not in the European Parliament.

The debt crisis of a few years ago showed how quickly an old order could be overthrown. The EU itself was peering into the abyss. That crisis has been overcome, more or less, but only thanks to common effort, mutual aid, and discipline. If each country had tried to find its way out of its crisis on its own, they would all have lost - even the stronger among them. Is that too long ago to still be a lesson?

How high the stakes are in Europe can also be seen from the Ukraine crisis: 25 years after the end of the Cold War, we're in danger of entering a new long-term European conflict. Astonishingly, the Ukraine crisis barely played a role in the election campaign, even though the EU is perhaps the best example of what balance and cooperation can achieve.

I met an African election observer at the last European election in 2009. When he saw the turnout figures - of 43 percent, the same as this time around - he shook his head and said, "In a lot of African states we'd be glad to have any free elections at all. And you Europeans throw away your rights!" It was a humbling meeting.
If we in the EU have no bigger problems than a few over-bureaucratic directives, then we really do have it good. Maybe we have it too good to appreciate the miracle of peace and common prosperity that we gained 70 years ago.

Read more: Opinion: We must value the EU once again | Europe | DW.DE | 26.05.2014

European parliamentary elections: better together

Divided we fall - United we win

This week's European parliament elections are the most important of their kind for years. Since the last vote in 2009, Europe has been buffeted by banking failures and sovereign debt crisis, while Europeans in and out of the eurozone have been compelled to undergo prolonged austerity programmes.

The social damage of these measures, however necessary some may argue they were in economic terms, has been profound, lowering living standards and calling into question the long-term sustainability of European welfare and employment models. Hostility to the European Union has increased to new levels in many nations, fuelled by tensions over migration, and often matched by a wider domestic disillusionment with the national political classes of the member states, whose authority has rarely seemed more compromised.

Meanwhile, the EU is confronted with a foreign policy crisis in Ukraine which exposes the limits of Europe's influence in its own near-abroad. This is resetting relations with Russia into a more confrontational form at the same time as a relatively weakened United States redirects its principal focus towards Asia, and hopes of greater stability in Turkey and the Arab world recede. Europe's defence response is in disarray, with a poll this week showing four Germans in five opposed to future military missions. In such circumstances, elections to a parliament which has just acquired new powers might logically seem a moment of importance, and the way we cast our votes this week a matter of consequence, not least because the parliament can shape the next European commission, which must wrestle with these issues, one of which may include Britain's future in the EU.

In some respects, Europe's politicians have tried to rise to the occasion, although their efforts have been ignored in Britain. Elsewhere, the main European parliamentary blocs have attempted a pan-European debate, in which differing approaches to austerity and its legacies have been clearcut. But the elites' worthy attempts to connect with the public in Europe founder on the reality that the elites are widely and in some ways rightly perceived (the ludicrous Strasbourg-Brussels shuttle, for instance) as part of the problem.

Most of the main party blocs favour shifting more authority to the centre, to the Brussels institutions, the parliament prominent among them. The problem is that the elite debate excludes growing numbers who want far less power at the centre (or none at all), and overlooks the 70% or so of the population in many countries, including Germany and France (where a poll this week found only 39% support for the EU), who do not want more power at the centre and who favour significant reform of the EU.

Read more: European parliament elections: better together | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian

The 2014 European Elections - May 22-25 :This Time It Is Different

The countdown to EU Elections has begun

The countdown to the European Parliamentary elections have started. There are not too many weeks left to go to May 22 until the first polling stations open for the 2014 European elections.

It will be the second biggest democratic exercise in the world, 400 million people can cast their vote for a new European Parliament.

The 751 MEPs taking up their seats in July will not only set the course of European policies for the next five years but also elect the leader of the EU's executive body, the European Commission President.

This upcoming election is different because the increase in the European Parliament’s powers since 2009 has started to make itself felt as the European Union sought to pull through the economic crisis and MEPs drew up legislation, inter alia on effective budgetary discipline, the winding down of failing banks and caps on bankers' bonuses.

The May European elections therefore will allow voters to contribute to strengthening or changing the direction that Europe takes in tackling the economic crisis and in many other issues affecting people’s daily lives.

For the first time, the composition of the new European Parliament will determine who will lead the next European Commission, the EU's executive body, which initiates legislation and supervises its implementation. Under the new rules, EU government leaders, who will propose a candidate for the post of the future Commission President, must do so on the basis of the election results.

The European Parliament will elect the new Commission President by a majority of the component members, i.e. at least half of the 751 MEPs to be elected (376). European political parties will therefore, or have already, put forward their candidates for this leading position in the EU before the European elections, thus allowing citizens to have a say over next Commission President.

The new political majority emerging from the elections will also shape European legislation over the next five years in areas from the single market to civil liberties. The Parliament - the only directly elected EU institution - is now a linchpin of the European decision-making system and has an equal say with national governments on virtually all EU laws. Voters will be more influential than ever.

To see how the political cards are falling in place click on our  poll -  and to make your voice be heard don't forget to go out and vote 22 - 25  May. 2014.  

EU-Digest

Economy: Poll shows 57.14 % of people polled don't feel better off today than a year ago

EU-Digest latest poll shows 57.14% who participated in poll feel worse off than they did a year ago while 42.86 say they are better off.

This month poll which runs from February 10 through March 10 focuses on the upcoming European Union parliamentary elections. The poll will also be featured in Almere-Digest.

Which political parties do you believe would be best qualified to lead Europe into the future?

A: Right-Wing Nationalistic Eurosceptic Parties
B: Traditional Middle Of The Road Conservative Parties
C: Traditional Left Wing Parties
E: Coalition of Conservative and Left Wing Parties

EU-Digest