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Post by Prince Myshkin on Dec 25, 2021 17:39:28 GMT
This is still unclear to me after some cursory googling.
So there are three main parties in the EU Parliament: the European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP–ED); the Party of European Socialists (PES); and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). The EPP is center right. The PES is center left. And the ALDE is more-or-less centrist.
So how does this work? If a German is a Christian Democrat and they go to vote for the EU Parliament, do they vote Christian Democrat, or do they vote for the larger internationalist EPP? Or when Britain was part of the EU, did a Tory vote for the Conservative Party in the EU Parliament, or the EPP?
Are the super EU parties organized on a grass roots level within each member nation? Or are these EU parties more like coalitions?
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Post by mowlick on Dec 25, 2021 19:38:52 GMT
This is still unclear to me after some cursory googling.
So there are three main parties in the EU Parliament: the European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP–ED); the Party of European Socialists (PES); and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). The EPP is center right. The PES is center left. And the ALDE is more-or-less centrist.
So how does this work? If a German is a Christian Democrat and they go to vote for the EU Parliament, do they vote Christian Democrat, or do they vote for the larger internationalist EPP? Or when Britain was part of the EU, did a Tory vote for the Conservative Party in the EU Parliament, or the EPP?
Are the super EU parties organized on a grass roots level within each member nation? Or are these EU parties more like coalitions?
Dunno. Good question. When the UK was part of the EU I usually voted Tory. But most Tory MEPs were Remainers so it was a bit pointless. Then UKIP appeared and they were ok for a bit, but then they turned out to be a bunch of carpet chewing loons best avoided.
Overall I am glad we are out of the EU. Not a bad bunch the Europeans but at the end of the day, they are still foreigners.
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Post by Prince Myshkin on Dec 26, 2021 8:08:13 GMT
This is still unclear to me after some cursory googling.
So there are three main parties in the EU Parliament: the European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP–ED); the Party of European Socialists (PES); and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). The EPP is center right. The PES is center left. And the ALDE is more-or-less centrist.
So how does this work? If a German is a Christian Democrat and they go to vote for the EU Parliament, do they vote Christian Democrat, or do they vote for the larger internationalist EPP? Or when Britain was part of the EU, did a Tory vote for the Conservative Party in the EU Parliament, or the EPP?
Are the super EU parties organized on a grass roots level within each member nation? Or are these EU parties more like coalitions?
Dunno. Good question. When the UK was part of the EU I usually voted Tory. But most Tory MEPs were Remainers so it was a bit pointless. Then UKIP appeared and they were ok for a bit, but then they turned out to be a bunch of carpet chewing loons best avoided.
Overall I am glad we are out of the EU. Not a bad bunch the Europeans but at the end of the day, they are still foreigners.
I'm surprised most the Tory MEPs wanted to remain in the EU. How did that change with Boris Johnson?
I'm sure there was much support for the EU in the Labour Party. If even the Tory leadership was pro-EU, how was Brexit ever accomplished? |
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Post by Flying Monkeys on Dec 26, 2021 9:33:37 GMT
It really just depends who puts themselves forward. UKIP, for example, initially focused solely on elections for the European parliament and then in later years started to go into the UK elections.
I think there are still some parties in the UK who focus solely on the Euros. Some of the majors (Conservative, Labour) also put themselves forward for the European elections, so you quite often end up with a ballot list for the Euros being a mile long.
I don't think any of the pan-European parties ever had representatives here - I had never heard the names you mentioned and don't remember any candidates in those names. It's been a while since we had one so I may be mis-remembering.
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Post by yggdrasil on Dec 26, 2021 12:25:14 GMT
Dunno. Good question. When the UK was part of the EU I usually voted Tory. But most Tory MEPs were Remainers so it was a bit pointless. Then UKIP appeared and they were ok for a bit, but then they turned out to be a bunch of carpet chewing loons best avoided.
Overall I am glad we are out of the EU. Not a bad bunch the Europeans but at the end of the day, they are still foreigners.
I'm surprised most the Tory MEPs wanted to remain in the EU. How did that change with Boris Johnson?
I'm sure there was much support for the EU in the Labour Party. If even the Tory leadership was pro-EU, how was Brexit ever accomplished? Was a huge gravy train for those Tory MEP's, with a pension at the end of it, as you may have seen from news of late, Tory principles tend to be easily bought. |
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Post by mowlick on Dec 26, 2021 14:46:50 GMT
Dunno. Good question. When the UK was part of the EU I usually voted Tory. But most Tory MEPs were Remainers so it was a bit pointless. Then UKIP appeared and they were ok for a bit, but then they turned out to be a bunch of carpet chewing loons best avoided.
Overall I am glad we are out of the EU. Not a bad bunch the Europeans but at the end of the day, they are still foreigners.
I'm surprised most the Tory MEPs wanted to remain in the EU. How did that change with Boris Johnson?
I'm sure there was much support for the EU in the Labour Party. If even the Tory leadership was pro-EU, how was Brexit ever accomplished? The EU parliament is a bit like everywhere else. Once you sign up you tend to go native. Plus, Johnson was one of the few politicians who took notice of not just the Tory grassroots, but that of a lot of the working class as well.
The referendum campaign was terrible. Both Brexiters and remainers were chucking equally outlandish claims at each other via the media and I doubt anyone took much notice. But Boris was the Happy Warrior so picked up support. Cameron was just a smug bastard who seemed to pend most of his time being ticked off by Brussels and lost.
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