REGIONAL OFFICE / ESTONIA
Reaching Higher Citizens' Participation in the Elections for the EU Parliament

In connection with a meeting of the European Liberals (ELDR) in Tallinn with support of the regional office of the Foundation for Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus and Central Asia (MSOE) a seminar about the successful strategies for a stronger participation of the citizens in the elections for the EU Parliament in the year 2009 was hold.

Joe Hansen

In co-operation with the FNF office in Washington the US expert Joe Hansen was involved as an adviser. He advised the elite audience regarding the direct contact with potential voters through „direct mailing“. This kind of communication nakes the voters more attentive and leads to a higher participation in the elections, explained Hansen. This is particularly important, because under the provisions of the new Treaty of Lisbon the legislative power and relevance of the European parliament would be increased noticeably. On the other hand, the citizens in the new EU member countries often have a very limited knowledge about the European institutions. In addition, Joe Hansen made clear that many grass roots strategies, which are used in the USA during the strongly individual orientated election campaigns may not be effective in Europe due to the electoral system where the political parties are in the centre of attention.

Kristina Heuschkel, responsible for electoral campaigns of the Free Democratic Party, presented the last electoral campaign for the EU parliament of the German liberals, while the Estonian journalist Indrek Treufeldt made the public familiar with the view of the media on the discussed topic. The characteristics of the reporting about EU topics was also presented.

After the presentations followed a lively discussion about electoral campaigns, which are near to the citizens and about the electoral information. The discussion ended up into a significant debate over the ELDR strategy for the elections for the EU parliament in 2009.


Elena Dimitrova