Cast your vote
May 6, 2014 12:13 PM Subscribe
Not sure who to vote for in this month's European Parliament elections? Find the party that best represents you at MyVote2014.eu. While you're there, play the game and find out how much you really know about EU politics.
I just got told the party I agree with the most is Sinn Féin. Okay then.
(They didn't turn up to vote on a bunch of things I abstained on, which is what I think did it. All the usual suspects were down around 60%.)
posted by hoyland at 12:41 PM on May 6, 2014
(They didn't turn up to vote on a bunch of things I abstained on, which is what I think did it. All the usual suspects were down around 60%.)
posted by hoyland at 12:41 PM on May 6, 2014
I'm surprised the Pirates take a no-nukes approach, unless that's their stance collectively with Greens(?) I put - on that one as I think there *might* be some benefit for new types of reactors, but this should not be abused, etc... Some of these I thought Pirate Party would have no stance or oppose (desiring member nations to fly EU flag at sports games) so I guess, either they're less "Libertarian"/More Collectivist than I expected or again, this is due to alliances.
I'm thankful that my lowest matches are UKIP, Ulster Unionists, BNP, UK Tories, and Front National.
That's for the National Parties.
Interestingly, as for MEPs, I seem to align with Portugal, Romania, Ireland and Italy a lot.
As for EU representation/group, I end up with "Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament"
posted by symbioid at 12:42 PM on May 6, 2014
I'm thankful that my lowest matches are UKIP, Ulster Unionists, BNP, UK Tories, and Front National.
That's for the National Parties.
Interestingly, as for MEPs, I seem to align with Portugal, Romania, Ireland and Italy a lot.
As for EU representation/group, I end up with "Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament"
posted by symbioid at 12:42 PM on May 6, 2014
My closest EP match is the "Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance" which I hope is not as useless as the Green Party in the US.
posted by desjardins at 12:45 PM on May 6, 2014
posted by desjardins at 12:45 PM on May 6, 2014
desjardins, it's my understanding that the Greens have a stronger presence in the EU and more respect in general. I don't know for certain how far off the mainstream the EU Greens are, but it seems the US Greens have kinda jumped the shark into conspiracy land a lot. I *hope* EU greens are a bit more... respectable (I say this as someone who voted for Nader and respect the spirit of Green).
posted by symbioid at 1:11 PM on May 6, 2014
posted by symbioid at 1:11 PM on May 6, 2014
Hurrah! A post about the Euro... oh. Damn. European. Oh well; someone will do a post about this weeks Eurovision song contest soon (I could but mine of last year wasn't very good).
European Parliament: I appear to be some kind of Euro-lefty. Fine by me.
posted by Wordshore at 1:24 PM on May 6, 2014
European Parliament: I appear to be some kind of Euro-lefty. Fine by me.
posted by Wordshore at 1:24 PM on May 6, 2014
The Greens/European Free Alliance are, in fact, currently the 4th largest party in the European parliament - with 58 out of 766 seats. So they are by no means an irrelevance.
posted by rongorongo at 1:35 PM on May 6, 2014
posted by rongorongo at 1:35 PM on May 6, 2014
My best match with a National Party was only 73% and with an EP group, just 67%. Are my views particularly idiosyncratic, or are most people's best matches in that range?
posted by tew at 2:06 PM on May 6, 2014
posted by tew at 2:06 PM on May 6, 2014
SMER-Sociálna demokracia 73%
Piratpartiet 73%
Cool, but I can't vote for either of them!
posted by marienbad at 2:14 PM on May 6, 2014
Piratpartiet 73%
Cool, but I can't vote for either of them!
posted by marienbad at 2:14 PM on May 6, 2014
I'm pro tacking homophobia, increasing maternity leave, the tax on the banksters, protecting fishing stocks, eurobonds, keeping nuclear and anti much of the rest. That apparently makes me best-buds with Nick Griffin of the british national party (fascist racists), along with dansk folkeparti (fascist racists), closely followed by UKIP (swiveleyed anti-science racists), because they all vote no to everything.
I think the best things about the EU is free movement of people amongst states, and improving social rights - we need more immigration to Britain, not less, given the looming demographic timebomb. I'm married to a French woman. If you have the Euro, then it makes sense to share debt creation across the zone as a whole, or you just lock in economic inequality for the weaker countries.
Yet I oppose the creeping federalisation of Europe (including broad based economic powers ever more delegated to the EU, rather than national parliaments) oppose the democratic deficit of the parliament being virtually powerless against the Commission, and see stupid ephemera such as the EU flag being trotted out at national sporting events as a complete waste of time. I'm not entirely alone either; the French and Dutch voted against the EU constitution; they crossed out constitution, called it the Lisbon treaty, and didn't hold another vote and their governments just ratified it. The Irish voted against the Lisbon Treaty; they were forced to vote again and basically told they'd get to keep voting on it until they said yes. The british didn't even get a vote. Consistently, the majority of the people of the EU are suspicious of the rapid rate of economic integration and they don't think the EU is designed in their interests, and given the clusterfuck of the Euro for every economy except Germany, it's hard to disagree.
Apparently that puts me inline politically with the racists and the little-englanders. FFS. Guess I'm spoiling my ballot this time round.
posted by ArkhanJG at 2:43 PM on May 6, 2014
I think the best things about the EU is free movement of people amongst states, and improving social rights - we need more immigration to Britain, not less, given the looming demographic timebomb. I'm married to a French woman. If you have the Euro, then it makes sense to share debt creation across the zone as a whole, or you just lock in economic inequality for the weaker countries.
Yet I oppose the creeping federalisation of Europe (including broad based economic powers ever more delegated to the EU, rather than national parliaments) oppose the democratic deficit of the parliament being virtually powerless against the Commission, and see stupid ephemera such as the EU flag being trotted out at national sporting events as a complete waste of time. I'm not entirely alone either; the French and Dutch voted against the EU constitution; they crossed out constitution, called it the Lisbon treaty, and didn't hold another vote and their governments just ratified it. The Irish voted against the Lisbon Treaty; they were forced to vote again and basically told they'd get to keep voting on it until they said yes. The british didn't even get a vote. Consistently, the majority of the people of the EU are suspicious of the rapid rate of economic integration and they don't think the EU is designed in their interests, and given the clusterfuck of the Euro for every economy except Germany, it's hard to disagree.
Apparently that puts me inline politically with the racists and the little-englanders. FFS. Guess I'm spoiling my ballot this time round.
posted by ArkhanJG at 2:43 PM on May 6, 2014
My uneducated gut reactions to these short questions about issues that I don't know the context of put me 100% with Emer Costello for MEP, 100% with Partidul România Mare for national party, and 93% with Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament for EU political group. I have never heard of any of these three before. I assume they're awesome.
posted by Flunkie at 3:44 PM on May 6, 2014
posted by Flunkie at 3:44 PM on May 6, 2014
Wait a minute here, brief and possibly misinterpreted investigation seems to show that Partidul România Mare is some sort of nationalist right-wing group? How'd I get 93% with them, but 100% with Emer Costello and the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, who both (seem to be?) leftist?
Is this because I said "Sure, Romanians should be able to work, why not" in response to one of the questions?
posted by Flunkie at 3:55 PM on May 6, 2014
Is this because I said "Sure, Romanians should be able to work, why not" in response to one of the questions?
posted by Flunkie at 3:55 PM on May 6, 2014
I am mildly disturbed by this. Are they not right-wing nationalists? Am I a right-wing nationalist? What did I do to make me a right-wing nationalist? I don't want to be a right-wing nationalist!
Without looking into the issues behind the short blurb questions, I answered:
(1) Harmonize those academic standards!
(2) Invest in jobs for young people! Blow those budget deficits!
(3) Screw ACTA!
(4) Raise those taxes!
(5) Support the poor!
(6) Tackle homophobia!
(7) I really don't care one way or the other about flags at sports events.
(8) Extend that maternity leave!
(9) Tax those financial transactions!
(10) Pool those public debts!
(11) Phase out that nuclear energy!
(12) Protect those fish stocks!
(13) Increase the cost of those CO2-emitting economic activities!
(14) Let those Romanians and Bulgarians access the EU labor market!
(15) Aid development of those poor countries!
I guess maybe Romania is relatively poor, and so they vote along many of these lines out of self-interest, regardless of whether they're right-wing nationalists or not?
posted by Flunkie at 4:30 PM on May 6, 2014
Without looking into the issues behind the short blurb questions, I answered:
(1) Harmonize those academic standards!
(2) Invest in jobs for young people! Blow those budget deficits!
(3) Screw ACTA!
(4) Raise those taxes!
(5) Support the poor!
(6) Tackle homophobia!
(7) I really don't care one way or the other about flags at sports events.
(8) Extend that maternity leave!
(9) Tax those financial transactions!
(10) Pool those public debts!
(11) Phase out that nuclear energy!
(12) Protect those fish stocks!
(13) Increase the cost of those CO2-emitting economic activities!
(14) Let those Romanians and Bulgarians access the EU labor market!
(15) Aid development of those poor countries!
I guess maybe Romania is relatively poor, and so they vote along many of these lines out of self-interest, regardless of whether they're right-wing nationalists or not?
posted by Flunkie at 4:30 PM on May 6, 2014
My uneducated gut reactions to these short questions about issues that I don't know the context of put me 100% with Emer Costello for MEP, 100% with Partidul România Mare for national party, and 93% with Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament for EU political group. I have never heard of any of these three before. I assume they're awesome.I got exactly the same results as you, even though I'm pro-nuclear (or at least anti-phasing it out while the only realistic alternative is coal). I think the PRM shows up for us because we answered pro-help the poor EU states, and the PRM's European policies are that Romania should get a fuckton of support from the EU. It doesn't say anything about their internal political stance.
posted by brokkr at 2:18 AM on May 7, 2014
It's not obvious a priori, but a lot of the policy preferences of racist/nationalist parties align pretty well with left wing interventionism, which is why you can get surprising results on these things, despite the respective parties feeling so different in culture and tone.
posted by dhoe at 2:31 AM on May 7, 2014
posted by dhoe at 2:31 AM on May 7, 2014
Thanks for posting this. The upcoming election is the first EU election I've ever been eligible to vote in, and I've been a bit overwhelmed in trying to make my decision. This is a great starting point. (I got told I'm most in line with the Green party, which I hadn't even really been seriously considering. Now I'll definitely consider them.)
At the risk of derailing this-- if anybody has any other resources they'd recommend for making an informed choice, I would love to know about them.
posted by yankeefog at 4:36 AM on May 7, 2014
At the risk of derailing this-- if anybody has any other resources they'd recommend for making an informed choice, I would love to know about them.
posted by yankeefog at 4:36 AM on May 7, 2014
Socialdemokratiet: 80%
(Denmark Social Democrats)
Disillusioned with my poor choices of political parties here in the States, I've described myself a Social Democrat when asked, usually confusing the asker. It's good to know that I'm pretty closely aligned with the real ones in Europe.
I was worried about playing in the big leagues.
posted by double block and bleed at 4:35 PM on May 7, 2014
(Denmark Social Democrats)
Disillusioned with my poor choices of political parties here in the States, I've described myself a Social Democrat when asked, usually confusing the asker. It's good to know that I'm pretty closely aligned with the real ones in Europe.
I was worried about playing in the big leagues.
posted by double block and bleed at 4:35 PM on May 7, 2014
Sadly, the Danish Social Democrats are a carbon copy of the British New Labour, so not real social democrats. More like pseudo-authoritarian centrists.
posted by brokkr at 12:45 AM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by brokkr at 12:45 AM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'd be surprised if any of the SD national parties are still actually social-democratic, my impression is that they're all No-Alternative neoliberal-lite nowadays.
Don't be fooled by these results and think the EU is some commie hippie paradise, the fact that many are getting a high match with nationalist groups should tell you how reliable this test is. Nothing like reading each party's detailed campaign materials, with a pinch of read-between-the-lines salt, to find out what they'll really stand for in practice.
posted by Bangaioh at 3:37 AM on May 8, 2014
Don't be fooled by these results and think the EU is some commie hippie paradise, the fact that many are getting a high match with nationalist groups should tell you how reliable this test is. Nothing like reading each party's detailed campaign materials, with a pinch of read-between-the-lines salt, to find out what they'll really stand for in practice.
posted by Bangaioh at 3:37 AM on May 8, 2014
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My EP political group match was Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, which sounds about right even if I don't know anything about them. My national party match was Ireland Labour, which sounds like it would make my grandmother happy.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:41 PM on May 6, 2014