Dr Alan Deidun | Wednesday, 15 April 2009

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The renowned polling outfit Gallup recently held a pan-European assessment of the key issues and concerns of EU citizens on the eve of the 2009 European Parliament elections. The assessment consisted of interviews conducted out mostly during the February 2009, with sample sizes ranging from 1,000 people interviewed in Germany, France, the UK, Spain and Poland to 500 in the remaining 21 EU countries. Interviews conducted in the various countires sought to evaluate the issues that are ‘owned’ by the political left and the right, on voting priorities for Europeans and on differences from the overall picture in the largest political markets, whilst also focusing on ‘uncommitted’/middle voters.
Salient conclusions from such a comprehensive study include the sobering statistic that 20% of those who claim to have participated in the previous election are not planning to vote this time, with the drop being even more drastic in the traditionally low participation countries which also happen to be in the economic doldrums at the moment. Although intended participation in the upcoming elections is plummeting in every political camp, more respondents with centre-right leanings claim past participation in European elections, than those with left-wing ones.
Other conclusions which can be drawn from this gauging of the European pulse include the fact that the European public is demanding better performance from European instutions, specifically for the European Parliament to make a tangible diffeence in their lives. 53% of all respondents identify themselves as being ‘unaffiliated’, or not inclined towards the political right or left, whilst 19% of all voters claim that Christian-Democrats and the centre-right in general contribute most towards the improvement of the EU right now, as compared to 15%, 12% and 7% whose pick are the Socialists, Liberals and the Greens respectively. In general respondents with centre-right sympathies were more issue-conscious than the unaffiliated or those with left-wing sympathies, with climate change being the only issue to be more important to the left camp.
What raises eyebrows, however, is that in the south part of the continent, green/climate issues are resonating more amongst centre-right voters – this has implications for our country, in that attempts by the PN to embrace green issues and causes could not entirely be that far-fetched.
Referring specifically to our shores, Maltese respondents showed the highest rates of concern over climate change, with 82% of respondents listing climate change as very important; similarly high scores were also registered for the other key issues – 79% claimed that the future of the EU is very important to them, 78% claimed that European values matter to them, and 86% and 84% claimed that security and economic considerations, respectively, were very important. A heartening statistic which emerges is the percentage who value environmental issues (73%) compare well with those who cherish economic issues (59%), somewhat debunking the myth being bandied around in some local media that environmental issues will be lower down the list of priorities for voters this time round. In addition, 42% of Maltese respondents think that the EU is doing a fair job, with 29% and 19% believing that a good and a poor job, respectively, is being carried out by the EU.
A recurring trend across many European countries is the fact that experience on European issues is the most important asset which would induce people to choose a particular candidate. The quality in fact ranked first for European women (39% stated that this is the single most important factor when choosing their candidate) and joint first for European men (34%), along with political orientation. When dissecting such statistics further, the numbers become even more staggering – in nine member states, 70% of more of women gave preference to candidates with European experience, being led by Cyprus (81%), Ireland, Finland and Malta (all 74%). Other motivations for choosing candidates which were listed by European respondents included political orientation (29-34%), visibility/familiarity (7-8%), regional origin (5-6%), belonging to civil society (5-6%), age (2-3%) and gender (1-2%).
Bottom line is: in the current scenario of economic turbulence and upheaval, European institutions must rise up to the occasion to instil confidence in European citizens – the yardstick of such confidence will be the electoral turnout come 6 June. In addition, European voters, including Maltese ones, feel more comfortable trusting their country’s future in the EU to knowledgable and competent individuals, inadvertently embracing the principles of meritocracy. One augurs that meritocracy does indeed triumph on the 6th of June.

alan.deidun@gmail.com

Dr Alan Deidun is an MEP candidate for the Nationalist Party

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