Today is the day we elect our MEPs, but how many of us will actually bother to vote? Journalist Daniela Städter, who works in Darlington’s twin town of Mülheim, says there is plenty of apathy in Germany too.

TODAY it’s Britain’s turn. On Sunday, Germans get to vote for our MEPs, though for many of us in Germany they’re only the kick-off to the coming voting marathon in 2009.

In Mülheim, and everywhere else in Germany, the European election is nothing more than a test run. The important campaigns will be launched for the German general election, on September 27, and the local elections in our federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia, on August 30.

Political experts think that only a few people will vote on Sunday, probably fewer than 43 per cent of the population, which would be another negative outcome after the last EU election in 2004, when Mülheim had a turnout of only 40.4 per cent.

The reasons for this Euro apathy are the topic of a fierce public debate. As the only directly- elected European institution, the parliament has significant power and is likely to get more in the future.

The president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, a Christian Democrat from Germany, blames the German media for focusing too much on national issues. His main criticism is that guests on political talk shows are most likely to be members of the national parliament and that MEPs are mostly left out, even though the subjects discussed concern European legislation. But that’s only half the truth.

In Mülheim, local politicians have been making various efforts to underline the importance of the European election. But to German voters, canvassing seems half-hearted and lacklustre.

In fact, the political parties started their campaigns only two weeks before the election.

And their election campaigns are restricted to very few discussions with the European candidates, who are mostly unknown.

As the election is done by proportional representation on party lists, most Germans simply do not know who their candidate for the European Parliament is. Because of this, the established political parties focus on poster advertising, which is mostly unimpressive and unspectacular. Another problem is the ballot card. It is 88 centimetres long, 31 political parties and associations are listed – all in all, a confusing and off-putting piece of paper.

EXPERTS believe that due to the predicted low turn-out, the European election on Sunday will be a chance for the smaller parties. Since 2005, Germany has experienced the rise of a new Left, especially in the eastern parts of the country. For this faction, the European election will be a chance to get about seven per cent of the vote, as recent polls indicate.

In Mülheim, at the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), our editorial team used the so-called Day of Europe, on May 9, as an opportunity to discuss one European topic every day of that week. We talked to the candidates, discussed their poster campaign, informed readers about former results of the European elections and checked in how many stores you can still pay with our former currency, the DMark.

We received a lot of letters and emails from our readers. The determined opinion of one can be regarded as fairly representative: “Europe is a farce. Brussels is, and will be, a parliament just to distribute subsidies, a romping ground for lobbyists and multi-national companies.”

In addition, we asked people on the street which important event occurs on June 7. The results were shocking. Only one out of 30 knew about the election. And when we asked why they weren’t interested in European politics, the answers sounded very familiar: too much bureaucracy, too many laws, too much regulation.

The people we talked to had a feeling of being ignored by politicians. They were disappointed and full of prejudice. Politicians in Brussels exploit all the powers and privileges of an overly-powerful executive in an over-centralised state, they said.

Our readers proved that the European election will be a ballot most Germans face with indifference, while for the parties it serves as a political weather vane. Very much like in Britain, really… ■ Daniela Städter, 28, studied political science, history and education in Germany and in the US. She has worked in print and broadcast journalism. She is currently employed at the School of Journalism Ruhr and works for the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, the leading regional newspaper in Germany.