European Parliament Elections - May 22nd-25th 2014

I'm English, not European.
I won't be voting for anyone after a seat on that gravy train, but I will make a point of voting "get out" in any future referendum in the UK.

Britain voted to enter an economic community, all about free trade but it's turned into a monster, with the ability to strike down UK law.
No one in the UK voted for that and I will make a point of voting against it as soon as the chance arises.

My first stance is refusing to vote in a European election.

As for "civic duty", it's an English man's civic duty to return full powers to the UK parliament, and negate any chance of this European stupidity to ever happen again.

I have no interest in a group that have never managed to balance their books and have such massive corruption.
For 19 years, that lot have failed to produce books any accountant will sign off - no company in the world would get away with that.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article … r-row.html

Refuse to vote, thus negating their ability to claim they represent you.

As I said earlier in another thread...
"There are increasingly reports on Swiss (and also German and Austrian) tv channels that the coming May elections will see many "EU Skeptics" elected. I know I'll be up to watch the results coming in."

I recommend that voters in the EU express their displeasure in this unnecessary bureaucracy run by unelected Eurokrats by either voting for Euro-Skeptic parties or if that is not possible by not voting at all.

The problem with political topics is, people commonly have strong opinions.
In this case, the OP is pushing the need to vote whilst I, myself, suggest refusing to vote and making it clear, the euro gravy train is an abomination that the UK needs to stop funding.
Personally, I believe British people should refuse to take part, thus telling Europe they do not represent us and, whilst you're at it, write to your MP, telling him to vote for a referendum to get the UK out of that daft club.
It should me made clear, if he/she doesn't, you'll vote for someone that will.
(Moderated: no insulting comment here please)
Time to scrap this failed experiment.

You are right.

The most European have more then enough for this money wasting and self-enriching Institute.
I'm not going to vote. It will do nothing positive for me anyway so why should I ?

But I would thank Julie for posting this so that people who want to vote are aware of it.

People who want to vote are getting less and less every year, that's why the euro gravy train are trying to push their cause.
Without votes, they can't claim to represent Europeans.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparl … 4/Turnout-(1979-2009).html

43% is pathetic at best, the UK's less than 35% shows how disinterested the British are in these corrupt sods.
The Euro grabbing club does not represent the British and probably never will.

Now, I'll get accused of little Britainism but that would be an error.
The idea of a world government is great, (Moderated: no insulting words here please)

Fred, when I look at those figures I see the reason for the drop off in voters being due to the newly added EU countries voting at lower levels compared to the initial EU member states.
If you look at the UK the voting rose a little and then dropped back a bit, but is still higher than in 1979.
That said, I'm pleased to say that the German figure has dropped a good bit. 

Continuing: One thing is fairly certain in the UK I reckon the voting percentage this year will be a good bit higher. Reason the UKIP is making big waves in the British media and Internet, and Farage is a very charismatic and competent politician.
No doubt you won't like that but I think it will happen anyway.
I reckon the main 3 parties will be crapping bricks when the next General Election is due. 

El_Jost wrote:

Continuing: One thing is fairly certain in the UK I reckon the voting percentage this year will be a good bit higher. Reason the UKIP is making big waves in the British media and Internet, and Farage is a very charismatic and competent politician.
No doubt you won't like that but I think it will happen anyway.
I reckon the main 3 parties will be crapping bricks when the next General Election is due. 

UKIP are riding a wave at the moment, getting a lot of support from Tory voters.
I have to admit, I was tempted to join them in their early days but the closer I got, the more I saw them for what they really are; (Moderated: no insulting words here please)
However, as empty as their policy bowl is, the other parties are realising they have a point so are trying to counter.
The Tories, as you're probably aware, have promised a referendum if they win the next election. They have little choice if they want to win one as UKIP will take a good number of their voters if they don't.
I hope they do because Britain get get out of that stupidity.
The downside is serious. If the UK does a runner, it's likely to bankrupt the EU and trouble will probably follow.
The EU is already about (Moderated: no insulting words here please), so a major loss of funding may well finish it off.
I understand there's a lot of rumblings in Germany and France, and it's nothing to do with sausages and garlic snails.

I thought political discussions were not allowed on this website.  But I am curious to see how far this can go.

I think some discussions on politics are possible such as this one if everyone participating is able to state his/her views without attacking other members or denigrating other countries and peoples.

MiaCulpa wrote:

I thought political discussions were not allowed on this website.  But I am curious to see how far this can go.

A bit odd that a team member should start such a topic; normally they are less than welcome.
This topic is very strong with a lot of people in the UK - There is a lot of disquiet over the whole Europe thing, more so when you consider we were conned into joining it.
Ted Heath lied to get us in and the rest went on from there by stealth. No one in the UK has ever had the chance to vote on the Euro parliament having law making powers over the people of the UK. That is reason enough to hold a referendum on continued membership.
UKIP are doing especially well from this but, as I mentioned earlier, many of their members have a racist agenda and are using the anti European feeling as a way into mainstream politics.
That lot are potentially very dangerous to the United Kingdom as all extremists are dangerous to their own people.
Frankly, the whole European government idea was badly planned, badly set up, is badly run and, in my opinion, the majority of people in the UK don't want anything to do with it.
The idea of a free trade bloc is great but they've taken it to stupidity.

Refuse to vote, show that lot they do not represent anyone.
Then write to your MP, telling him to support a referendum to get the UK out of that stupid club.

mas fred wrote:

I understand there's a lot of rumblings in Germany and France, and it's nothing to do with sausages and garlic snails.

Not so sure about Germany. They have one party that is specifically anti-Euro (the currency) but is otherwise pro EU. Otherwise there are a few nationalist parties but I can't see them getting good results.

The "rumblings" are much more likely to come from France which has Marine Le Pen of the FN who is very charismatic and seems to be on a run. Anyway her party is taking a determined anti-European Union stance which I'm sure many Frenchies will like.  Whether they get the 24% as the Guardian suggested some time ago we will have to wait and see.
Here a recent article about her chances.
French Establishment's Last Ditch Effort to Stop Le Pen's Front National

MiaCulpa wrote:

I thought political discussions were not allowed on this website.  But I am curious to see how far this can go.

Tell us how the results went in SA and if you were pleased with them?
Since we're on political elections I'm sure Julie wouldn't mind a small off-topicism. 

mas fred wrote:

Refuse to vote, show that lot they do not represent anyone.
Then write to your MP, telling him to support a referendum to get the UK out of that stupid club.

Whereas I agree that writing to one's MP and telling him to represent your desire for a referendum is a good idea  , the idea of not voting is clearly misguided. 
If people don't vote for representatives of parties with platforms that promise to work towards a referendum or in other ways to disband the EU then their voice does NOT COUNT.
The remainder who DO vote will be voting FOR maintaining and expanding the EU. In this way the election results will produce much higher result FOR the EU. The politicians would love you for this. 
Clearly NOT VOTING produces the OPPOSITE result of working towards a referendum over EU.
NOT VOTING is tantamount to supporting the EU.

I have to disagree.
They Euro lot quote turnout to claim legitimacy and, as we see from the OP, want as high a turnout as possible in order to claim they represent.
Even a vote for an anti European party is held up as a vote, thus an interest in European politics.
A refusal to vote, with a voice explaining you don't want anything to do with that corrupt mess, is the way to prove they're an unwelcome entity.
I would love to see a zero turnout.

mas fred wrote:

I would love to see a zero turnout.

Well, I can agree with that, but very unlikely. As they say "No way Jose!".

El_Jost wrote:

MiaCulpa wrote:

I thought political discussions were not allowed on this website.  But I am curious to see how far this can go.

Tell us how the results went in SA and if you were pleased with them?
Since we're on political elections I'm sure Julie wouldn't mind a small off-topicism. 

There were no surprises.  I would doubt that anybody was pleased with the results.

Got to keep this thread warm as we are getting closer to the big day(s). 

Let's start with a chart from a long articlein the Economist...


The lower turnout could possibly be due to voters in the newer countries that have joined having little idea about the EU.
However, there can be no doubt about the meaning of the rising level of mistrust of the European Parliament.

One interesting quote out of the article (from Germany of course):
"...the German constitutional court has ruled that it does not consider the European Parliament to be a credible source of democratic legitimacy for the EU, or even a proper parliament at all."
The Germans do tent to be too truthful sometimes LOL 

What do you call a candidate who gets 6 votes when only 10 people vote?  The winner.

MiaCulpa wrote:

What do you call a candidate who gets 6 votes when only 10 people vote?  The winner.

What do you call a candidate who gets 6 votes when only 5 people vote?

The winner and ideal for the Euro parliament ...  if you take averages and trends into account in order to explain the inability to balance the books.

El_Jost wrote:

Got to keep this thread warm as we are getting closer to the big day(s). 

It seems cold indeed.  You are the only person participating who actually lives in Europe.

MiaCulpa wrote:

El_Jost wrote:

Got to keep this thread warm as we are getting closer to the big day(s). 

It seems cold indeed.  You are the only person participating who actually lives in Europe.

In Europe yes, but not in the EU. 
This is the (first) big day. lol

As expected the Eurosceptic parties made big gains. Here are provisional results from the BBC.

Eurosceptic 'earthquake' rocks EU elections

Hardy a shock.
The daft Euro ideal has been forced upon the people, removing powers from the elected governments, giving it to unelected officials.
There was always going to be a backlash and the far right parties knew this was their big chance.
They took it to gain power and political street cred.

Thanks to the idiot eurostupidity, many far right parties look like real parties and, time to get scared, some will end up with a measure of real political power.

Thanks Europarliament - NOT.

mas fred wrote:

Thanks to the idiot eurostupidity, many far right parties look like real parties and, time to get scared, some will end up with a measure of real political power.

Fred. The votes for the far-right parties - and in Greece the far-left party - were merely protest votes, mainly against unrestricted immigration from the poorer members of the EU. I don't think there's much risk that they (the parties) will ever gain power over the EU. Indeed, their aim is to abolish the EU, so the stronger they get, the less danger they will be - except to the Euroshambles that is the EU Parliament.

Protest votes - maybe.
However, it's the richer countries as well.
France's far right and the semi hidden racism of UKIP is there and having an effect on mainstream parties.
If the Tories want a chance in the next general election, they have to talk to UKIP and adopt some of their policies, especially regarding a referendum on EU membership.
Anything else will see them out on their ears.

From where I am UKIP has many of the qualities of the Conservatives of old - indeed much more so that the Tories of today. The party which includes race in its manifesto is the BNP and from what I hear they lost all their EU election deposits so no great worries there. I am continuously hearing that UKIP are taking measures against ex-BNP members, for example, and expelling anyone with racist views so no problem for left-wing worriers there. 

I personally think it a pity that right now Germany's right is so disorganised. It would have been a great help to the Eurosceptics if Germany's right wing party the NPD was not in such a shambles. That might have wiped some of that stupid grin off elitist Angela's silly dial.

I've met far too many of their people to believe there isn't a nasty sub agenda in UKIP.
I'm very anti European as the whole idea is nothing short of a corruption club, run by the corrupt and staffed by the useless.
I'm a natural Tory (I cried when Maggie left this world) but I took a serious look at joining UKIP, perhaps getting more seriously involved.
That didn't last long because I found out what many of that lot were really up to, and it's not nice.
In private, many of their senior people were openly racist, making it very clear they wanted all non whites out of the UK.
Much as I think the European ideal, especially Britain's interests, were better served by Hitler than the European parliament (Hitler destroying much of Europe), I won't have anything to do with that lot.

All said and done these elections will not change anything much. If anything the only change will probably be that the European Parliament will change the rules and regulations for the next round of elections in 4 years time making tighter entry conditions for "Eurosceptic" parties or groups.
If the EU does come to an end it is more likely it will be for other reasons, like an economic downturn or one or two of the larger countries breaking away. One possibility I have seen voiced is with the rise of the BRICS led by the Russia/China alliance that Germany, for instance, might choose to loosen its ties to the West and tend towards closer ties with the newly forming Eastern Alliance. There are already signs that other countries are contemplating doing this: Saudi Arabia for instance looks like it is about to drop the petro-dollar agreement and accept Yuan, Rubles, Euros, etc. as well as dollars. This alone would be a major sea change for world politics, especially for the US:

The above post deserves a real answer, more than I can manage on a pad, so I'll get to it when I have a computer in front of me.

El_Jost wrote:

All said and done these elections will not change anything much. If anything the only change will probably be that the European Parliament will change the rules and regulations for the next round of elections in 4 years time making tighter entry conditions for "Eurosceptic" parties or groups.

That would be very naughty and may even promote violence on a very large scale.
Europe is already deeply unpopular and any move to stop any given group from gaining seats would be seen as a major example of the EU's growing dictatorship, a commonly perceived view in many countries without such a move.
Strength through joy, sorry, ode to joy was a lousy choice of anthem, so easily used by anti European forces - not that I would draw any such parallels

El_Jost wrote:

One possibility I have seen voiced is with the rise of the BRICS led by the Russia/China alliance that Germany, ......:

...Saudi Arabia for instance looks like it is about to drop the petro-dollar agreement and accept Yuan, Rubles, Euros, etc. as well as dollars. This alone would be a major sea change for world politics, especially for the US:

BRICS, mainly China's influence, would be a disaster for Europe, but only if they fight against it. Adopting it would help them out no end.
Why would you want to covert to Dollars when you can just use your own cash?

Ever since Bretton Woods, the U.S. dollar has enjoyed unparalleled power, even after Nixon finally destroyed the 1944 agreement, the petrodollar, starting with Saudi, kept American power.
Now, as we see more and more nations being alienated by he states, Iran because it will have a nuke next year (As always has been almost ready to have for over 20 years), Syria (Evil, nasty dictator), Venezuela (Nasty communists), North Korea (More evil commies) and of course China and Russia.
Both the latter being aggressive, war mongering nations that have hardly ever invaded anyone, something some governments have a far worse record on.
Oddly, the ones that complain about the evil, power mad Chinese and Russians.

However, they all have something in common - they've all at least partially abandoned the US dollar in oil sales, and other goods.
I wonder how much this 'axis of evil', is actually evil and how many of the stories are lies. I noticed Kim's ex girlfriend was executed in front of her family last year, going on to make a miraculous TV appearance on live TV about two weeks ago.
A new messiah is among us - Handel will have to write a new piece of music.
Handel commonly wore a wig; perhaps Kim should consider one - it would be a great help to his PR people.

Saudi has, so I'm informed, already sold oil to China, using the Chinese currency, something the U.S. government will be extremely displeased with.
China, the terrible, nasty, imperialist power, has built the Yanbu refinary, now taking far more Saudi oil than the U.S. does - it no longer makes any sense to price those deals in Dollars.
In fact, imperialism is not really China's cup of tea, it trades it's way to influence.

Regarding Iran / USA -- A couple of short comments:
- Iran has not invaded another country for over two centuries. (Iran attacked "Basra" Iraq in 1798 which was the last Persian invasion.)
- The USA has not been invaded for almost two centuries. (New Orleans, 1815 - The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces prevented an invading British Army from seizing New Orleans.)

One could possibly wonder why the US nation is so incredibly paranoid regarding "defense".

By the way, Bin Laden has just been granted a licence to conduct flights in the United States of America.
True story, just not exactly publicized.

Hi everybody,

It would be great if we can just stick to the initial subject of this topic here please, it is European Parliament Elections- May 22nd- 25th.

Thank you,

Priscilla 

Here is a fair evaluation of the EU election results by the nationalist periodical The Occidental Observer.

Look Whos Coming to Brussels: Analysis of the Nationalist Victories in the EU Elections

And here's the viewpoint from the other side of the spectrum (but in their own way also very nationalist) The Jerusalem Post. 

Far-rights election success worries European Jewry

The moment you take away voting rights and sovereign powers without asking the peoples of those countries, as the EU has done, you'll get groups that object.
As is normal, those with nasty agendas tend to speak up, usually disguising their racism with nationalism.
This applies to UKIP, but the French far right are just open about their nasty stupidity.
These people use fear and lack of education to promote their nasty little agenda.
Sadly, in their hunt for power, the Eurofools have allowed these people to gain a foothold.
The failed experiment we know as the EU is the cause of most of Europe's problems, more so in Greece and Ireland where their silly ideas of boosting the economies of those countries led to massive unemployment and misery when the artificial cash ran out.
Once you create discontent, in whatever form, you tend to open the gates for extremists.
One thing we see from history - any country that ends up with an extremist government always sees mass murder of its own people and the destruction of the offending state.
Eurostupidity is allowing this to happen on several countries at once.

The leader of Britain's Independents UKIP (euroskeptics) Nigel Farage sounding off about his success.
I found this mp3 interview with Nigel in jubilant mood on a US pro-gold & silver site, King World News I occasionally listen to.

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/ … arage.html