European Elections 2009 Thread

[CardiMuscles]

Starting on Tuesday, campaigning starts for the 2009 European Parliamentary Elections to be held between June 4th and June 7th (dependent on the nation of elector). These elections will cover 27 nations, some 500 million electors (bigger than the US) and result in a parliament that will decide on whether places like Turkey should be admitted to the European Union.

In the UK, we will be electing 69 MEP's from regional party lists elected by d'Hondt PR from the following parties: Consevatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP, BNP, Greens, Plaid, SNP, Libertas, No2EU and several Independent candidates. At the moment the top issue is MEP's expenses.

I would be very interested to know what other nations in the EU think of the Parliament and the EU in general. I am in favour of the EU as an organisation but do think that it needs to take a look at it's navels.

[potatoe]

How much sovereignty do EU members still have compared to pre EU? Are their plans to completely unify Europe into one country? I'm a little ignorant on the subject matter.

[Bluerain]

What if a country wanted to opt out of the Eu after being a member ...how hard would this be and what is the process ?

[CardiMuscles]

Originally Posted by potatoe

How much sovereignty do EU members still have compared to pre EU? Are their plans to completely unify Europe into one country? I'm a little ignorant on the subject matter.

This is the pimary arguement offered by UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) and the BNP (British National Party) for withdrawing from the EU completely. This political advert from UKIP in 2004 explains their feelings on the issues:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrV3wCBhGMo

My personal feelings are that the UK is still able to be an independent nation (as our rules are made by the Westminster Parliament).

[CardiMuscles]

Originally Posted by Bluerain

What if a country wanted to opt out of the Eu after being a member ...how hard would this be and what is the process ?

Data from Wikipedia

There is at present (as of 2009) no provision in the treaties or law of the European Union outlining the ability of a state to voluntary withdraw from EU. The European Constitution did propose such a provision and, following the failure of the constitution, that provision has been carried over to the Treaty of Lisbon (it could come into force in 2009 or 2010 if a second referendum is passed in Ireland after the first one was rejected in the Irish referendum).

The only nation ever to formally withdraw from the EU is Greenland which withdrew in 1984 following a referendum on independence from Denmark (an EU nation).

[CardiMuscles]

The nominations in the United Kingdom have closed and the candidates duly nominated are as follows:

Labour (left of centre, PES aligned, current government) 69 candidates
Conservatives (right of centre, unaligned, current opposition) 69 candidates
Liberal Democrats (centre, ALDE aligned, third party) 69 candidates
United Kingdom Independence Party (right wing, ID aligned) 69 candidates
Green Party (left of centre, AFE aligned) 69 candidates
British National Party (right wing) 69 candidates
Plaid Cymru (left wing nationalists, AFE aligned) 4 candidates (only contest Wales)
Scottish National Party (left wing nationalists, AFE aligned) 6 candidates (only contest Scotland)
Libertas (pro European Democracy) 59 candidates
United Kingdom First (unknown) 59 candidates
English Democrats (right wing seeking English independence) 59 candidates

The full list can be found at the BBC news website under Europe 2009