European voters vs. European bureaucracy

Abstract

The low voter turnout during the European parliamentary elections of 2014 demonstrated the attitude of Europe's citizens towards the common European idea. Eastern Europe especially virtually ignored the elections by its very low electoral participation, despite the fact that these countries were Europe's main beneficiaries after joining the EU in receiving tremendous subsidies. The article focuses on the phenomenon of “euro-fatigue” and euroskepticism. The authors' goal is to analyze the results of the European elections and to show the correlation between voter passivity and a growing centralization and bureaucratization in Brussels' processes of economic and political decision-making. Special attention is paid on the main results of the 2014 European elections, which garnered unprecedented support for right-wing populist and Eurosceptic parties in countries like France, Germany, Belgium and Denmark. The authors emphasize the possible consequences of the ongoing economic crisis that may result in a division of the eurozone into two parts: a strong northern euro and a weak southern euro. They also concentrate on the lack of transparency and efficiency in the work of such European Union institutions such as the European parliament (an institution represented by more than 160 European participating parties) and the European commission (which is still formed by appointments from all 28 EU member states). The authors conclude that Europe is unlikely to move towards further integration if its citizens are no longer living on the ideal of further European association and in fact are becoming increasingly demanding a return almost by all, without exception, of competency of governance to national governments.