EU Profiler finds congenial candidates in European Union member-states (Updated 4.6.)

Three hundred parties from 34 countries represented

print this

If anyone is getting bored with the Finnish political parties, it is possible to search for kindred spirits among the candidates in other European Union countries by using the so-called EU Profiler.
     
The EU Profiler is a Europe-wide voting advice application or a party profiling website for the European Parliament elections in June 2009.
      It has been developed by the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence.
      The EU Profiler, located on the Net at www.euprofiler.eu, is available in all EU member-states in all their respective national languages, including Finnish.
      The arrangement offers the users an online questionnaire with 30 political statements on which they can indicate their opinions. Once the set of questions has been completed, the programme states which European party is closest in the political landscape to the preferences expressed by the user. This party may actually be nearer in its views than the closest one among the Finnish parties.
     
It is possible to compare one’s own opinions with the preferences of Germany’s Christian Democrats led by Angela Merkel or with the ideology of Silvio Berlusconi’s Il Popolo della Libertà , or even with that of the candidates of the new pan-European party Libertas founded by an anti-EU Irish businessman.
      A congenial candidate might be found for example among the Canarian Coalition (in Spanish Coalición Canaria), a nationalist and liberal party in the Canary Isles of Spain that advocates Canarian independence from the mainland.
     
The EU Profiler also helps voters to make their own preferences explicit in order to position themselves in the European political landscape on the left-right axis, while also revealing to which extent the respondent supports or opposes the European Union.
      This is the first time this kind of voting advice application is being used at European elections. The alternatives offered by the EU profiler include 300 political parties from 34 countries.
      In addition, the EU elections will also be simulated in a number of non-EU member countries.
      So far, more than 500,000 people have visited the party profiling website.
     
Among the 30 questions, each country’s national questionnaire includes a pair of presumed hot-button topics.
      In the Finnish example, the two burning issues are the voters’ opinions about Finland’s NATO membership and about the national subsidies to agriculture.
     
For the most part, the other questions are predictable enough. They cover the standard social and economic issues such as immigration and cultural assimilation, energy, the financial crisis (and bailing out the banks), welfare policies, global warming, security, unemployment, and EU integration.
      In the non-euro countries, there are "hot" questions relating to the importance of joining the Eurozone, while in Ireland and in the Czech Republic the approval of the Treaty of Lisbon is among the topics highly charged emotionally and politically.
      In Poland, the local hot potato is the so-called two-plate policy over who should be representing the country at EU summits.
      Apparently, not all questions are directly linked to the exercise of power within the EU.
      For example, the EU has no say in the issue of Finland’s NATO membership.
     
The EU Profiler does not offer an opportunity to make comparisons between the individual European Parliament candidates in various countries.
      Even if a kindred party could be found outside Finland, a Finnish citizen would naturally not be allowed to vote for the candidates of that party.
      In the European Parliament elections, each voter can select only among the candidates of his or her own country of residence.
      The extension of the European citizens' right to vote even in other EU countries has been proposed every now and then, but according to critics, that would be a step towards a federal Europe.
     
Even if one cannot vote for these other parties, there is something to be had from seeing how they all line up on the political landscape, and how one's own views - say on Turkish membership of the Union, on European integration, on one's willingness to make sacrifices for the environment, or simply where one lies on the left-right, pro/anti-EU axes - compare with those of different European political parties.
     
Finland's political parties, even those ostensibly of the right, tend to occupy a position closer to the left-hand side of the compass, and in one stark example (see picture), the populist True Finns form a relatively good match with the governing Il Popolo della Libertà in Italy.
      Only in terms of the True Finns' much greater willingness to expand the social safety net do the two disagree to any significant extent.
      In respect of law and order questions, restricting immigration, liberalisation of the economy, and a sceptical view of greater environmental protection, the two parties mesh almost perfectly.
     
The results already gathered have indicated to researchers that only a minority of Europe's political parties - 43% - support Turkish entry into the EU.
      Equally, there are differences between countries on such matters as the degree to which immigrants should adopt the culture and values of their new home.
      Some 80% of German respondents feel this way, while in France the picture is considerably more tolerant of difference: only 40% feel that new arrivals should adhere firmly to the French way of doing things.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Good MEPs expected to form networks and have social skills (1.6.2009)
  Lobby groups and NGOs stress economy and workers´ rights in upcoming EU elections (1.6.2009)
  European Parliament elections: Advance voting begins (27.5.2009)
  Poll: Nearly half of voters find it hard to choose candidate for European elections (22.5.2009)

Links:
  Ministry of Justice Elections Portal
  EU Profiler - Discover your position in the political landscape for the 2009 European Parliament Elections

Helsingin Sanomat