On a recent Saturday afternoon in January, volunteers in the Dutch city
of Utrecht were handing out soup and hot chocolate on behalf of the
ruling coalition’s centre-left Labour Party. There was an open air
event, with speeches and music, to mark the beginning of its electoral
campaign.
This does not mean that Dutch voters are already thinking about the May elections to the European Parliament, however.
Labour held the Utrecht event because there are local elections on 19 March: The EU elections are barely on the public's radar.
While over half of respondents to a recent poll knew there will be another election this year, only a quarter knew that it will be for the EU parliament. Just three percent were able to pinpoint the date: 22 May.Interior minister Ronald Plasterk, a Labour member, expects the campaigns for the two elections to be “very distinct” from each other.
“The campaign for the European elections will be about the question 'are you for or against Europe’,” he told this website, referring to the prevailing issue on people's minds.
He added that the question "doesn't make sense."
But at the same time, the “are you in or are you out” of the EU framework, which British Prime Minister David Cameron has put on the agenda in Britain, is popular in the Netherlands too.
Three days after the Labour event, a group of eurosceptics gathered in the Dutch parliament in The Hague.
Some 63,000 people signed a citizens’ initiative to “stop the creeping transfer of powers to the EU” and to demand a referendum if more powers are transferred to Brussels. The spokesperson for the initiative was invited to speak to parliament on the issue.
A majority of MPs (112 to 38) voted No to a proposed referendum for the next potential transfer of powers, however.
A Cameron-style referendum on leaving the EU altogether received even less support. Only the Socialist Party (15 seats), the Party for Freedom (14 seats), and an MP who recently left the Freedom party, voted in favour.
Note EU-Digest: "the eurosceptics are living in a dream world and need to do a reality check - only a United Europe makes any sense in today's world if Europe wants to benefit economically by having a voice in the Global Power structure ", said a Dutch Parliamentarian.
Read more: EUobserver / Dutch EU elections: 'Are you for or against Europe?'
This does not mean that Dutch voters are already thinking about the May elections to the European Parliament, however.
Labour held the Utrecht event because there are local elections on 19 March: The EU elections are barely on the public's radar.
While over half of respondents to a recent poll knew there will be another election this year, only a quarter knew that it will be for the EU parliament. Just three percent were able to pinpoint the date: 22 May.Interior minister Ronald Plasterk, a Labour member, expects the campaigns for the two elections to be “very distinct” from each other.
“The campaign for the European elections will be about the question 'are you for or against Europe’,” he told this website, referring to the prevailing issue on people's minds.
He added that the question "doesn't make sense."
But at the same time, the “are you in or are you out” of the EU framework, which British Prime Minister David Cameron has put on the agenda in Britain, is popular in the Netherlands too.
Three days after the Labour event, a group of eurosceptics gathered in the Dutch parliament in The Hague.
Some 63,000 people signed a citizens’ initiative to “stop the creeping transfer of powers to the EU” and to demand a referendum if more powers are transferred to Brussels. The spokesperson for the initiative was invited to speak to parliament on the issue.
A majority of MPs (112 to 38) voted No to a proposed referendum for the next potential transfer of powers, however.
A Cameron-style referendum on leaving the EU altogether received even less support. Only the Socialist Party (15 seats), the Party for Freedom (14 seats), and an MP who recently left the Freedom party, voted in favour.
Note EU-Digest: "the eurosceptics are living in a dream world and need to do a reality check - only a United Europe makes any sense in today's world if Europe wants to benefit economically by having a voice in the Global Power structure ", said a Dutch Parliamentarian.
Read more: EUobserver / Dutch EU elections: 'Are you for or against Europe?'
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