ABSTRACT
Elections in a democracy are supposed to perform the functions of holding governments accountable and representing voters’ interests, thus legitimising the exercise of power. Elections to the European Parliament fail to perform these functions. Since the Treaty of Union (often known as the Maastricht Treaty after the town where it was signed) came into force in November 1993, the European Parliament has had a role to play in selecting the President (and, more recently, the members) of the European Commission. Nevertheless, European elections do not set in motion a process of government formation in the same way as do national elections in the member states. Moreover, policies proposed by parties and candidates in European elections rarely have much European content. Instead they relate to the national political arena and are generally specific to particular countries. Parties use these elections as opportunities to test their standing with the public in terms of their domestic political agendas. But national governments do not stand or fall by European election results either, so the choices of voters have no immediately obvious repercussions on policy at either level. In the circumstances it is perhaps not surprising that many citizens of the European Union fail to take these elections seriously, and turnout is generally low – often even lower than at regional and local elections, which in all EU countries are less important than national elections. The low level of public participation in European elections in turn raises questions in some minds about the legitimacy of the European Union.
