The article was created as part of the Voices of Europe 2024 project, carried out with 27 editorial offices from the European Union. task coordinates Voxeurop.
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The European Parliament elections are held this year on 9 June. Lithuania elects eleven Euro-Parliamentarians. Of the current MEPs only Aušra Seibutytė (formerly Maldeikienė), elected from the Train Committee Aušra Maldeikienė, who later joined the Conservative Union of Homeland, retires politically.
Some candidates, specified as Aurelijus Veryga (Agricultural and Green Unions) and Dainius Žalimas (Liberal of the organization of Freedom) run simultaneously in the presidential elections and the European Parliament.
Several candidates for the Europarliament are well-known Members from the Lithuanian Sejm. Among them is Eugenius Gentvilas, who will lead the conservative-liberal list of the Liberal Movement; Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, now a elder associate of the Union of Homeland, and Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Paulius Saudargas.
However, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, a Euro-Parliamentarian and leader of the Social Democrats, enjoys the top public interest. Until the last minute, her decision to retreat from the race for the presidential seat was pending. She yet decided to apply for another word in the European Parliament.
On the outskirts of interest
In 3 Lithuanian campaigns, it is the elections to the European Parliament that pay the least attention. Vladas Gaidys, sociologist and head of the public opinion investigation centre Vilmors, comments with difficulty: "To be honest, I did not peculiarly address the issue of the Europarliamentary elections. Everyone's focused on the presidential election. I don't think people truly see any difference between campaigns.
Of this year's 3 campaigns besides for him races to the Europarliament are the least interesting.
– It is apparent that presidential elections are the most interesting. You can look the candidate or candidate in the eye like during athletics or horse racing. It is harder to look into the eyes of parties, but even here there is simply a certain excitement. The same cannot be said about elections to the European Parliament. True, it is an organ in which our interests are represented, but you should be rather a professional to get caught up in it.
Gaidys admits that it is vain to look in Lithuania for any manifestations of a run focusing specifically on elections to the European Parliament: "We must truly effort to find something. Those who have already joined the Euro-Parliament most likely would have stayed there. It takes 5 years to realize how it works. The leader of the social democrats Vilija Blinkevičiūtė is simply a typical example here. Clearly, she was slow to return to a country where she was sentenced to media mercy. And there it is dealing with heads of state and government.
European salary
Vytautas Dumbliauskas, a political scientist from the University of Michał Römer (MRU), half a joke, semi-seriously states that Euro-elections are the most interesting candidates on electoral lists and points out: "The European Parliament does not peculiarly affect the lives of average people. He's a small powerless here. The European Commission, which does not come from the general elections, has more power than the parliament elected by citizens.
According to Dumbliauskas, voters instinctively sense that politicians are pushing themselves well in Brussels: – any year ago Maldeikienė made public how much she earns as a Euro-Parliamentarian, including work travel allowances, etc. It was about EUR 14-15 thousand. It is an amount unimaginable for a common Lithuanian.
Dumbliauskas notes that the parties delegate to the Europarliament primarily political veterans: – Liberals erstwhile sent Leonidas Donskis [Jewish philosopher]. The fact that specified a individual represented Lithuania was an honor and a reason to be proud. But there are also Euro-Parliamentarians, specified as [an entrepreneur of Russian origin] Viktor Uspaski, who makes me ashamed of being Lithuanian.
Dumbliauskas sadly states that sending to warm Brussels jobs of the strongest politicians frequently does not pay for parties: – For example, Blinkevičiūtė. I do not think she is peculiarly working in the European Parliament. It is clear that Blinkevičiūtė wants to stay in Brussels, does not want to be president or prime minister. And for social democrats, it's a real tragedy. I think he's hurting his own party. due to the fact that who's the another leader who's just lying?
As for the motivation of voters in the EU elections, the analyst does not think they are wise. “They usually see if individual is photogenic, they are guided by their attitude towards the candidate or candidate, whether they like the person,” Dumbliauskas convinces. At the same time, it considers that at least 7 or 8 of the eleven Euro-Parliamentary Members should take up their duties actively.
“Europe is facing a major shuffle. The planet is falling in front of us. As if we were playing basketball without any rules – so the analyst describes hard circumstances in which Euro-Parliamentarians will come looking for solutions.
Appearance Game
Matas Baltrukevičius, a political scientist from the Vilnius Institute of Political Analysis, agrees that elections to the European Parliament are not an chance for ideological disputes.
– It is clear that many parties are not peculiarly afraid about the EU elections," she notes. – The parties issuing presidential candidates will invest more in the presidential election, even knowing that their candidate or candidate do not have much chance. due to the fact that it is the presidential elections, not the EU elections, that represent a better promotion for the upcoming run for parliamentary elections [which will be held before October].
Baltrukevičius points out that the elections to the Europarliament do not coincide with the presidential elections this year, so attendance will be alternatively weak: – The parties simply gotta show up in any dignified way.
Atypical case of Veryga
Against the background of the general situation Baltrukevičius is impressed by the efforts of the Freedom Party, which tries to present its own program: – This is 1 of the more energetic parties. Of course you gotta remember that [her presidential candidate, Dalnius] Žalimas had already competed in elections to the European Parliament and will be a presidential candidate, adding importance to organization action.
The analyst does not regulation out that elected Euro-Parliamentarians may subsequently renounce their position.
– Nothing defends the recently elected Euro-Parliamentarians to resign immediately or to stay at the office only a fewer months, until the parliamentary elections," Baltrukevičius suggests. “For me, the case of Aurelijus Veryga [former Minister of the Union of Farmers and Greens] is interesting. It is known that Karbauskis [leader of the Association of Farmers and Greens] has no 1 to fill the electoral letters to the Sejm. He only has Vera. So much depends on him. Unless Karbauskis changes his head and decides to head the list.
Looking at the past of the elections to the Europarliament, Baltrukevičius notes that for old political eaters they are a way to escape where you can work little for more.
– any actually treat it like an early retirement. But any try. all Euro-Parliamentary is simply a different story. There are people who do things, and there are people who don't work besides hard.
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Dalia Fileūnė – Lithuanian political writer working for Delfi Lithuania and the ELTA press agency.
From English she translated Dorota Blabolil-Obrębska.
