BP Holdings Tax Management - Back in what now feels like another era, the European Union was a vessel of aspiration whose aims were largely supported by political leaders across the continent. Here was a super-nation constructed out of a collective yearning for shared security, prosperity and modernity.
In the contemporary conversation, talk of the European Union engenders suspicion and even contempt. The union sometimes seems to have devolved into a totem of discontents -- over the continued inflow of migrants from poorer countries, the expanding powers of bureaucrats in Brussels, and the very notion of tying one's national fortunes to the perceived dysfunction of broader Europe.
Against this backdrop, Europeans will head to the polls in May to determine who claims the seats in the European parliament, the legislature that convenes in Strasbourg and Brussels. Given abundant signs of Euroscepticism from London to Berlin, this once-every-five years electoral exercise appears to be shaping up as no less than a referendum on the merits of continuing on with the European Union itself.
The WorldPost has deployed its correspondents across Europe (via international editions of The Huffington Post) to produce a country-by-country report examining what is at stake in the European elections, and what issues are foremost in the political debate.
Distrust about the treaties and conventions that hold together modern Europe appear at an all-time high. Bruising battles over the terms of financial bailouts for Greece and Spain, the rules that ought to apply to banking going forward, the merits of economic austerity policies championed by Brussels, and disagreements over immigration have sown ill feelings and discord, while fueling a drive to reclaim national identities.
At a time in which much of Europe still confronts relatively weak economic prospects -- with unemployment stuck at depression levels in Spain and joblessness among young people a scourge nearly everywhere -- the conversation centers more on hanging on and digging out than forging a closer union.
In recent years, record numbers of eligible European voters have opted to skip the polls for parliament, in what analysts construe as an expression of ambivalence for the European Union -- if not outright rejection.
In the telling of some experts, the elections that will determine who occupies the European parliament tend to be more of a pageant than an exercise in real power. The consequential decision-making generally emanates from the European Council, which is comprised of heads of state and governing ministers from member nations.
That said, this year's European elections are shaping up as a significant gauge of the political mood across the continent. In France, Great Britain and elsewhere, the elections will be used as a platform by parties seeking to drum up support for pulling away from Europe's orbit while returning to parochial concerns.
Here is a central venue for the showdown between growing populist sentiments versus the historic campaign for enhanced European integration. The results are likely to shape national-level politics, which in turn will influence the future of Europe.
GREAT BRITAIN: A Test Of Euroscepticism
In Britain, all eyes will be on how the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) performs. The anti-immigration insurgent party that advocates Britain's withdrawal from the EU has had an extraordinary year. Led by Nigel Farage, it has seen its support rise from about 4 percent in 2012 to about 11 percent in 2013 -- despite having no members of the British parliament. At the last European elections in 2009, Ukip came second behind David Cameron's Conservative Party. This time it intends to win.
Rhetoric aside, the party's goal is not getting more of its people into the seats of the legislature in Strasbourg. Its real objective is using the European elections as a springboard for domestic electoral gain and securing its first Westminster parliament members. It hopes to use the elections as a lever to ramp up pressure for a referendum on Britain's membership in the European Union.
