Campaigning and Parties

The 2009 elections to the European Parliament–-the only directly elected multinational assembly in the world–-embraced an electorate of 375 million people, making them the biggest transnational elections in history. The electorate will be further enlarged in 2014 after the accession of Croatia.

Even though the last European elections took place nearly six decades after the signing of the Treaty of Rome and the establishment of the European Economic Community, debates throughout the EU continued to be conducted largely by national actors in national forums–-and with a view to national interests. To make genuine progress, we have to promote the EU in the upcoming 2014 European elections and define the common European interest, thus contributing to the development and the evolution of the European project.

The EU has a long track record as a global beacon of peace, prosperity and success in fields ranging from agriculture, economic cooperation, a common currency and the Erasmus project to free movement across borders, having managed to conciliate diversities and differences among its Member States. However, the overall economic and social situation will have an effect on the electoral attitude of European citizens in the coming elections. One characteristic of political campaigning in Europe is the existence of convergence and diversity points, but we must be aware that the fears of EU citizens regarding their future in Europe will need to be addressed so that divergence does not overwhelm us.

Another challenge which is connected to the crisis in Europe is the rise of populism in many of our Member States. EU citizens will come across populist parties and movements during the campaign for the European elections. Parties ranging from new right radicalism to anti-system populism will try to gain ground and to influence the citizens of the EU, especially young voters, in order to gain seats in the European Parliament. The European People's Party has played a determined role in the development of the EU by promoting the values of freedom, solidarity and human dignity, which have contributed to European integration. It is our responsibility as the largest political family in Europe to face up to these challenges in order to build upon our common values.

The communication strategy as well as the campaign environment for the 2014 European Parliament elections will differ greatly from those of the 2009 elections. The essential difference lies in the fact that the upcoming elections will be the first European elections organised under the Treaty of Lisbon, which encourages pan-European election campaigning led by the presidential candidates of the Europarties. For the first time since the first EU elections in 1979, the president of the European Commission will be elected by the European people, albeit indirectly, via their vote for a given political party.

On top of this, the 2014 elections campaign will be linked with the modern development of the social media. Today social media are considered to be key communication channels since they offer the possibility of targeting specific audiences. This is why traditional campaign practices co-exist with mainstream social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

The penetration of the Internet into people's daily lives has brought about changes in the practices of political leaders all over the world, and the EU is no exception. In addition to affecting the electorate and the process of electoral campaigning, the new methods of media communication have affected politicians, in the sense that their communication and information habits and behaviours have changed.

Social media could play a big role in the 2014 campaign since they will strengthen the involvement of EU citizens in EU affairs. For the citizens, a European political party with an EU legal personality will become a strong representative body of EU citizens’ interests, making them more actively involved in political life. There is a need to engage people through the social media in order to build a grassroots campaign for the 2014 European elections. This will only happen if politicians can be ‘very social and very personal at the same time’ and can show people that their opinions count by interacting with them.

If we want Europe to have a future, we need to engage with the people and listen to their concerns. We need to transform the EU from a top-down to a bottom-up project.

I wish you an enjoyable and inspiring read!