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Again a turnout under 50 percent at the European Elections? EU Parliament President Pöttering: "We must reverse this tendency!"
High time for strengthening democracy in the European Union! European elections in June 2009 are the chance for everyone of us as EU citizens to shape the Union's future. But the signs are not so hopeful so far: Less than 50 percent of the EU citizens participated in the 2004 European Elections. The Eurobarometer and other surveys don't estimate any higher turnout for this year. Hans-Gert Pöttering, as President the current face of the European Parliament, came to Perugia to urge the media to take part in raising the awareness for the Elections.
Orangelog asked him a few questions right after on the Elections, the Lisbon Treaty, freedom of press and his idea of European journalism.
# President Pöttering, today you meet with citizens in Assisi and Perugia, on Sunday with United States President Barack Obama and the European leaders at the EU-US Summit: How hard is it to bridge this gap between the citizen expectations and deal with the world’s leaders?
Also politicians are normal people, and politicians have to defend the interests of the people. Thus it is normal to have those both sides of the political spectrum. And this makes politics so interesting.
# The summit this weekend will be in Prague. The Lisbon treaty is highly endangered not to be ratified by the Czech senate. What happens if the project fails?
This should not be our consideration now. We have to concentrate all our energy on the ratification of the Lisbon treaty. So alternatives should not consume our energy now.
# Is there a plan B?
No, there is no plan B.
# The Eurobarometer published in October 2008 stated: 51 percent of the EU citizens are not interested in participating in the European elections. What is your approach to change this?
We have to reverse this tendency and we should launch the election campaign now, to make the European citizens aware of the importance of the European Parliament. We need the support of the media to bring Europe and the European Parliament closer to our citizens.
# Do you expect a minimal turnout?
We must work for a bigger turnout than last time.
# Freedom of press is one of the major issues of this conference. What does freedom of press mean to you? How do you promote it as President of the European Parliament?
Freedom of press is part of the freedom of speech. I consider it to be one of the most important principles of democracy, it is the basis. So we always have to do the utmost to defend the freedom of the press and the press should also always defend the principles of democracy.
# The Global Freedom of press survey that investigates freedom of press lists the Italian press not as “Free” but only as “Partly free”, because a major part of the media landscape is owned by the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Is this freedom of press in your eyes?
I do not see that in Italy freedom of speech or the freedom of press is in danger. When I speak to Italians whether they are from the media or from the society or normal people, they express their opinion like everybody else in the European Union.
# Media in Europe are still mainly national, we still have 27 different national public spheres. Can you imagine a European journalism?
I would be in favour of European journalism in the sense that all journalists in the European Union give each other the possibility to better understand the European development. Information about European politics and European institutions should be part of the education of any journalist.
Posted in | 04.04.09
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