Candidates answering the question? Surely not!

By Orla Walsh

QUESTIONS for Europe is an initiative which has been set up to help bridge the gap between the European election candidates and the voting citizens.

The project, which is the result of a collaboration between the European Movement and Euronews, is being hosted on the YouTube website. Citizens can upload videos with questions onto the channel which will then be answered by the European candidates as well as experts and journalists.

John Davis, a Euronews journalist said: “Global economic crisis, indifference to the elections themselves, European citizenship, they're all issues which count... We want to hear what you think.

“How close do you feel to the European Parliament and the MEPs who sit there? Do you know who's there to answer your questions, do you actually know what MEPs do?”

These are just some of the topics that will be addressed via the site along with opinion polls which are also a feature.

According to these polls, 61% of those questioned do not know who their MEP is and 69% do not think the European Parliament does enough for the environment.

Seventy percent feel that the Parliament can help in repairing the economic damage that has occurred and 80% of those polled intend to use their vote.

Dermott Penny, a second year software development student from Limerick said: “I think that it's a good measure to try and increase interest... I could possibly see it as an interesting development for future elections.”

Questions for Europe has been a YouTube member since April and has received more than 8000 page views with 152 subscribers so far.

For more information you can visit www.youtube.com/questionsforeurope