The first truly European elections

IRISH voters, long used to choosing between political parties that grew out of Civil War politics, are expected to “do it like the Europeans” by casting a vote for right, centre or left-wing candidates in next year’s European elections.

For the first time, they will have a say not just in their local MEP, but also in who becomes the next president of the European Commission as well as of the European Parliament.

This will become the first truly European election, according to Martin Schulz, current president of the European Parliament, and the man most likely to be the candidate of the Socialist group. He expects that Taoiseach Enda Kenny will promote a candidate from the centre-right Christian Democrats, and the European People’s Party, of which Fine Gael is a member, to be the next presidents of the powerful EU institutions. Labour leader Eamon Gilmore will be campaigning for a member of the Socialists, to which his party belongs. Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin will be doing likewise for the Liberals, while Gerry Adams will be pushing for a far-left candidate. In all cases, the candidate is unlikely to be Irish.