“In Belgium, there are posters everywhere, but the only ones I’ve seen here are the ones on the billboard at the Koningin Emmaplein”, comments a German businessperson who lives in Maastricht about the apparent lack of political campaigning in the Netherlands. Although the posters she saw were mainly for the regional elections in Belgium, she makes a good point. There are only a few days left until the elections for the European Parliament in Brussels and, unlike most other EU member states, the Dutch seem to be rather sheltered from their competing parties’ attempts to win voters over. “Every night, one party has five minutes on national TV to profile itself”, a Dutch political science student explains, “but other than that, you don’t hear that much, really. Maybe that’s why the Dutch turnout during any kind of election is frighteningly low.”
Walking across the markt on Friday morning, less than a week prior to the elections, only three out of ten people that I ask actually remember that the EU elections are coming up on 4 June. “That’s odd”, says a local, somewhat surprised. “It’s so easy for Dutch people to vote. I received my voting card weeks ago by mail.”
Indeed, in a city with a history as significant to the European Union as Maastricht’s (the euro was, after all, practically invented here) one would think that people would be more aware of and interested in the goings-on in Brussels and Strasbourg. “I think it’s still too far away”, ponders the German woman. “But then, how are people in Poland or Malta expected to vote?”
A good question indeed. Do the Maastrichtenaren not feel represented in Brussels? “Well, unless you’re into that kind of stuff, you don’t really see it”, another citizen contemplates, “and honestly, I don’t want to vote without knowing that the party I vote for is the right one. But I just can’t find the time to do all that research.” Her mother adds, “they’re all lying anyway, so why even waste your time reading their made-up promises and taking an afternoon off to vote?”
So do those who are aware of the elections know what the people elected through their votes actually do? “They represent us in the EU”, a young man states, but then adds warily: “But I don’t really know if they can actually decide stuff.”
It seems that everyone I talk to has as many questions about the EU and the elections as I have for them. Most of the locals I meet know and are proud of Maastricht’s significance in European history, yet their knowledge – and interest – seems to end there.
What a shame.