Despite being enthusiastic Europeans, interest among Luxembourgers for the European Parliament elections, as elsewhere in the European Union, is at an all-time low. According to a Eurobarometer poll published in March, only 55% of Luxembourgers say they are interested in the elections. Although that places Luxembourg top of the table, and 12% above the EU average, it is still disappointingly low. “Even among the political parties there is no real interest in this election, they are totally focused on the national elections,” says LSAP candidate Robert Goebbels. “Even though, as politicians, they should know that the European Parliament now has more power than national parliaments.” Indeed, as Dei Gréng MEP Claude Turmes points out, between 70 and 80% of the law-making decisions in the 27 sovereign national states are consciously delegated to European level. “The problem is that the political elite at national level – consisting of government, parliament and the press – act, whether consciously or not, as though they make 100% of the decisions.” ADR candidate Jacques-Yves Henckes believes that the European Parliament has a communication problem and that because its role is very technical, so it is very difficult for the ordinary citizen to understand what is going on. “Public interest here is on who is going to be the next prime minister and who is going to be in government with Juncker,” says Goebbels with a laugh. “That’s understandable from a Luxembourg point of view, but regrettable from a European point of view.”

Turmes thinks that people in general are also suffering from what he calls “political fatigue” and that because it is the youngest political institution, it is perhaps easier to take out that frustration on the European Parliament. Charles Goerens of the DP, who has twice served in the European Parliament, agrees. “If voters are unhappy with the policies of their national government, they don’t question the form of the state but rather those who are in power. In Europe it is different; they immediately question the integration process and the institutions themselves.” Goerens says that it will require a long-term effort to convince voters that the European Parliament is a valid institution that actually shapes their lives. “We have said it often enough, and one would hope that people would listen. But it is like an advertisement, the first time it doesn’t really stick in the mind. We must systematically keep providing information.” But former MEP and current EU Commissioner Viviane Reding, the CSV’s leading candidate, thinks that Luxembourgers are fully aware of the importance of the elections. “Luxembourgers certainly realise that when casting their vote...they do not only decide about the composition of the next European Parliament, but also about the president and the members of the next European Commission. The European Parliament elections are thus the moment where all European citizens can decide on the way Europe will be governed for the next five years.”

Lisbon Treaty

There is also a feeling among some Luxembourg candidates that national political leaders are not playing their part to promote the European project. “Sarkozy, Brown, Merkel and Zapatero do not think at a European level at all,” says Claude Turmes. “This is in stark contrast to the era of Kohl and Mitterrand, when leaders recognised the importance of a supranational Europe. The current leaders are too focused on national ideas.” Charles Goerens agrees, and is disapproving of the way the so-called G4 – the UK, France, Germany and Italy – seem to be dominating much of the current European political agenda. Which is why he hopes the Treaty of Lisbon will be ratified by all members as soon as possible, because it will provide more visibility on the global stage for the EU and allow its institutions to function more efficiently. “The Lisbon Treaty is important because the crisis and institutional muddle could be used by some to say that the European Union is no longer the reference for preparing legislation.” Turmes emphasises the unified front the Treaty will allow Europe to present, especially as it provides for a foreign minister and permanent president. “This is crucial in a world in which China, India and the USA – and perhaps also Brazil – as well as Europe will define the next century.”

Robert Goebbels says that the Treaty is essential, because Europe must have more depth before it enlarges any further. “We badly need new rules – the constitution treaty would have been better, but Lisbon is still a step forward. It will give more power to the parliament and give majority voting to the Council, which will quicken the decision-making process.” Viviane Reding agrees, believing that the Treaty will transform the EU into a true parliamentary democracy. “The Treaty of Lisbon is the key to unlock the door to the full powers of the European Parliament,” she says. Turmes sees the increased power the parliament will gain under the terms of the Treaty as a positive. “It will lead to more progressive policy decisions – take immigration where national interior ministers adopt totally repressive measures. I mean as a continent we need immigration and need to decide on a European level how we are going to achieve that.”

But Henckes is not convinced and his party is campaigning on a platform that would include compulsory referenda on important changes to European treaties. “We should not allow the elite to decide in dark chambers what is in the best interest of Europe’s citizens,” he says. The ADR is also opposed to Turkey joining the EU, because, says Henckes, it will have too large a voice. “If you look at how the big countries deal with the small member states now, we think no other big country should join. Europe was originally established so that all countries could have a voice. But in this context in Europe I like to quote George Orwell’s Animal Farm: ‘All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.’”

Anticipative action

As a ten-year veteran of the European Parliament, and vice-chairman of the 222-strong socialist grouping, Goebbels says the only way to get your voice heard in the 785-member parliament is to work harder than the others. “If you want to be respected, you need to really know your dossiers and try to bridge differences between the others. In that field, Luxembourgers have always been good at playing the go-between, in both the parliament and the Council. It helps that we don’t have specific interests in many fields. However, when it comes to subjects where we do have an interest – as we noticed with the banking secrecy – then we are isolated.” Charles Goerens is looking to return to the parliament for the third time after a ten-year gap – he was an MEP between 1982 and 1984, and again from 1994 to 1999. “It has become a much more significant decision-making centre,” he says. “If Lisbon is ratified, then 95% of all political decisions will be taken there. That means our national politics will have a dress rehearsal at a European level, and will then be played on the national stage. So saying the EP is not important is like telling a theatre director that the text written by the author of the play he is directing is fit for the rubbish bin.”

Nevertheless, Goerens wants the Luxembourg government and parliament to become more anticipative and try and influence policy before it reaches the decision-making process. Henckes, too, would like to see more communication about what policy decisions are being prepared at European level. He wants ministers to communicate all documents discussed at Council level to parliament, so that it can become more involved before the decision-making process even begins. A similar suggestion – inspired by a Danish model – was made by Goerens in a 1997 report to Jean-Claude Juncker. “It is more interesting to influence a text than to lament the results after it is published,” says Goerens.

As for future policies themselves, Viviane Reding and her CSV party want to help promote small and medium-sized businesses, which she says are the heart of a vibrant economy. “Not Deutsche Telekom or France Télécom, but innovative businesses such as Skype are the future of our economy. This is why I will continue to fight for more effective competition in Europe that also allows smaller players to enter the market; and for less bureaucratic EU research programmes with risk capital to which also start-ups without a legal department with 100 legal experts have easy access.”

Green technologies

Turmes sees crisis management as the big issue at the June elections. The Greens are lobbying for what he calls a “more holistic approach” in which tax-payers’ money is used to solve the financial crisis and to prevent unemployment. “But also to focus investment on a New Green Deal aimed at ensuring that after the crisis we can use our resources more efficiently, with more renewable energy sources and less geo-political dependence on fossil fuels.” He would also like to see Europe achieve its potential in the green and eco-technologies revolution and not lose the advantage it has established. “After all, Europe really slept through the last industrial revolution – the IT sector,” he says. Reding, too, sees Europe as a potential global leader in Green IT – “if we are fast enough” – and also wants a strong Europe to tackle climate change, “which is truly the most pressing need of our younger generation.”

Robert Goebbels says the major issue will be the political orientation of the European Union and the Commission.  “It’s obvious that since the Jacques Delors years the Commission has tended to be totally focused on the market. We need a more careful approach to liberalisation, more focus on real competition and consumer protection,” he says. Goerens, on the other hand, is particularly wary of social and fiscal dumping, and cites China’s undervalued Yuan as an example of an area where the EU needs to take a more unified stance. “Staying competitive means playing by fair rules and taking into account ecological impact, social and human rights. Capitulating to countries that don’t share our common values is not good.”