ELECTION MANIFESTOS: CAVEAT EMPTOR !

The European Movement International (EMI) asks the European Political Parties to publish in due time Election Manifestos for the European Elections in May 2014. The nomination of top-candidates for President of the Commission must go hand-in-hand with the agreement on Europe-wide election Manifestos by each political family. Each candidate must stand for a political programme, facilitating a broad public debate on European politics and the future of European integration during the upcoming election campaigns. Candidates and programmes offering clear alternatives for the future of Europe are essential to spur voters' interest in the decisive European Elections 2014.

European political parties are increasingly homogenous in ideological and policy terms; they are coherent as regards the behaviour of their members, and if they then at the national level recruit candidates to their parties and produce platforms which can be shown to fit quite well with the common European party's 'umbrella message', then the whole thing is a very democratic endeavour. National party platforms must fit well together. There must be a high degree of compatibility between the message that is produced in the European manifesto and the one that emerges on the national level.

Election manifestos must not represent lowest common denominator efforts. European political parties are sometimes their worst enemy when it comes to translating what is done in Brussels into language which can be used outside Brussels. Europe does highly politically sensitive things, and yet it often comes across in a very technocratic kind of way.

The effectiveness of the manifestos depends on how member parties present them in concrete terms at the national level. European parties must present genuine policy alternatives to voters.  The problem is that structurally it's difficult to do so at the European level, compared to the national level. The success or failure of the manifestos depends on how credibly they are presented. They must be developed beyond slogans, hence the need to underpin them with something concrete at the national level.

Any manifesto should provide the basis for an honest discussion about what Europe should and should not do. It should give voters an option that is compelling, credible and relevant to their lives.

Manifestos are meant to provide a roadmap highlighting the unique vision of the different European political parties for tackling major challenges facing the EU. Political manifestos can thus provide a tangible means for voters to assess and reward political parties on the basis of their performance. While focusing on manifestos is important, it is not uncommon for these documents to contain rather grandiose aspirations aiming to attract as many voters as they can. It is, however, important to separate rhetorical statements from assertions with more substantive policy implications.

There is a need for major European political parties to develop internal evaluation systems, so that they may themselves regularly begin to assess successes and failures in terms of what was proposed in their manifesto, and what they have actually been able to deliver. Recurrent analysis of their own performance vis-a-vis their stated manifestos would certainly help European political parties become more self-reflexive, accountable, and in turn, help them espouse more truthful and realistic political visions.