Is Europe on a right track?

Like any other contest, the latest MEP election results supplied enough fodder for analysts to comment and ponder about their outcome. Attempts at understanding the meaning of these election results have been the main drift of the many articles penned in the past few days. In most of the opinions, penned or voiced, the main focus was how the message the electorate sent should be interpreted by the political parties, the ministers and the government.

Overall, the analysis made was strictly local, a reflection that, despite being an election to select the representatives for a European Parliament, at the end, local issues prevailed during the campaign. I believe that an analysis of the vote, and not just the Maltese vote, should also lead to an analysis of the message the European electorate sent to Europe.

Once again, Malta excelled by registering the highest voter turnout. In contrast, at a European level there was a broad popular abstention. When one considers that almost 60 per cent of those eligible to vote did not express their choice is in itself of one of the messages that Europeans sent. I have seen analyses claiming that this abstention confirms a crisis of legitimacy of the European Union and of the governing parties that implement their policies within this framework.

While, on one hand, one can argue that the "localisation" of the issues in this campaign could have alienated part of the electorate, at the same time it could have been one of the contributors not to have a lower turnout. Others may claim that the Europeans sent a message that there is a weak sense of belonging and understanding of the role of the EU institutions. One other plausible reasoning could be that the result is due to the distrust in the institutions.

I will allow myself to be auto-critical as I believe that one of the principle messages sent is that the European Commission and its institutions need to step up their relevance in the people's life. It is not just a matter of communications. It is a matter where the people might feel detached from the EU institutions because their feeling is that the EU institutions are detached from them.

I believe it is our duty to retain our role of making the voice of the citizens where we are representing the EU heard and explicit. The European institutions should be more accessible and should focus on what the needs of the Europeans are. By being popular, one does not necessarily need to be seen often. We have to act in those areas the people deem important for their life so that we match and satisfy their expectations. We need to act local and engage more our local partners, again not only by communicating but also by acting. The message is clear for those who want to understand it. It is not just an issue of packaging but of content. We have to beef up our resources and skills to increase the relevance of Europe in people's life.

One must admit that this abstention can give only a deformed vision of the real relationship of the various political forces in Europe.

An interesting element was the impact of the principal factor that made up the backdrop of this election, the economic crisis. One would have thought that the derivatives of the economic crisis would have translated themselves in the creation of any strong radical political movements on the left, or in an anti-capitalist sense. This did not materialise. On the left side of the spectrum, apart from some exceptions, the Social Democrats suffered everywhere. This was highly evident in the countries where they govern. In Malta, the Social Democrats registered a record victory of 55 per cent of the popular support. Other gains were registered elsewhere too.

One of the results of this high abstention vote is the increase of the extreme right. The support these parties gained in a number of countries sent a clear message of ultra-nationalistic support. This is manifested in anti-immigration platforms that will be represented at the EP.

At the same time, there was also an increase in the number of parties that explicitly declared their anti-Islamic traits.

This is another clear message. Europe needs to step up its efforts to make the issue of immigration a trans-national European issue. The more countries will be left on their own, the more fertile their ground will become for anti-Semitism and for xenophobic sympathisers.

Even though the movement towards the far-right was by no means universal, the indications of this result are that Europe is going right, but too far is not necessarily in the right way.

I also found it, to say the least, surprising that in a country embracing Christian values with profound fervour, such as Malta, so many thousands identified with the propositions expounded by parties with unmistakable far right "leanings". The message is clear and we are in duty bound to address it.

Dr Drake is Head of Representation of the European Commission in Malta.