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Post by patricklondon on May 7, 2009 14:44:27 GMT
India may have the biggest democratic elections on at the moment, but the EU Parliament elections at the beginning of June will be open to I don't know how many hundred millions of voters in the different member countries. The profile allows you to place yourself in relation to all the different parties in all the different countries. So if you want to know which party in Estonia most suits your prejudices deeply felt and seriously considered opinions, here's your chance to find out: www.euprofiler.eu
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2009 14:49:37 GMT
Welcome, Patricklondon. I am really pleased that you have made this post, because I have been planning on bringing up this subject (the European elections) but was worried about being too long-winded about it (the importance of the parliament, the lack of public interest, etc.).
This is a good and succinct way to get us started, even if I already know that I'll be voting for Daniel Cohn-Bendit as I did 10 years ago (he stands for office in Germany or France every other election -- a real European!).
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Post by patricklondon on May 7, 2009 14:55:03 GMT
I may be an odd sort of wonk, but I rather like trying to work out how the parties fit together (or not).
In the profiler, you can either pretend to be in each of the different countries or (more easily) set out your opinions in any one country, and then at the end you have a set of drop-down options to display the parties' positions in each member state relative to your own. In Bulgaria, it looks as though I should be considered far too left-wing for any of the parties; but in Estonia, Eesti Rohelised and I appear to be a perfect match.
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Post by bjd on May 7, 2009 15:53:06 GMT
I just did the survey. I couldn't recognize many of the initials of the French political parties!
It's all quite interesting -- I came out mostly interested in the Green parties too. How is Cohn-Bendit allowed to run in both Germany and France?
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2009 16:53:49 GMT
EU citizens may register to vote -- and to be elected -- in other EU countries. On the same list as Cohn-Bendit on the Paris area list is Eva Joly, one of France's top magistrates (she put the president of the SNCF and former president of Elf, Loïk Le Floch-Prigent in jail and convicted Mitterrand's former Justice Minister Roland Dumas for corruption!). She is Norwegian (not even a member country of the EU) but French by marriage. Even though she had gone back to Norway in 2002 to escape revenge from the French business community, she has now returned and will be #2 on the Europe Ecologie list. You go, girl!
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Post by bjd on May 7, 2009 17:05:26 GMT
I read Eva Joly's book just after she returned to Norway. She wasn't only getting away from the French business community -- she was getting a lot of crap from political and judicial sources.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2009 17:12:16 GMT
They're pretty all much one and the same.
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Post by lola on May 8, 2009 0:06:45 GMT
Hi, Patrick. Nice to see you in this neck of the woods.
Over at fodors I posted my invalid results that show me to be English Conservative with greenish leanings.
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Post by hwinpp on May 8, 2009 4:24:05 GMT
Doesn't seem to be working for me. The menus don't load and when I click 'continue' nothing happens. I won't be voting, not registered at the the embassy and don't intend to.
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Post by auntieannie on May 8, 2009 18:13:06 GMT
oh! I won't vote as I am still voting in Switzerland... but I took the test and I am a centre-leftie, definite pro-EU, with some green tendencies.
I always define myself as a centre-right, pro-EU, greenie... oops!
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