European elections: MEPs allow themselves to be restricted

There is a low level of interest in the European elections, journalist Michael Zeeman writes in the left-liberal daily De Volkskrant. Indifference and ignorance are the reasons for this, he concludes, and writes that the MEPs are also to blame: "The past six months marked by the financial crisis have shown that European politics works only at a governmental level when there is a real problem to be tackled. The European Parliament is pushed to one side; it isn't even asked to give its approval. The strange thing is that the [Dutch] leading candidates apparently think this is wonderful. They make no mention of it. The removal of borders between the states of the EU has created a new space. … The resulting supra-national space is used too little rather than too much. But the politicians who should be making sure it is exploited, the Euro-MPs, allow their national party leaders to restrict their actions."

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