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Anastasia Balezdrova

A few hours remain until Sunday when citizens will express their vision for the future of the European Union through their vote. This year’s motto of the European elections, "This time it’s different" reflects the truth. For the first time Europeans will elect, though indirectly, the European Commission President. He will be elected by a vote in the European Parliament and he must obtain the absolute majority of the votes, which is to be supported by 376 of the 751 MEPs.

The big question, namely whether the Europeans will vote or if the voting activity will once again be weak, remains. The GRReporter poll results show that the vast majority of them are not going to miss the opportunity of expressing their position regarding the direction in which they want the European Union to develop, realizing that they are entitled to it once every five years.

The highest confidence in terms of voting, on Sunday, for Europe, which is our common home, is expressed by the readers of the Greek page of our website, 63%, followed by the readers of the English page with 53%. The readers of the Bulgarian page rank third with 41%.

The number of our readers who indicate that they will not vote simply because they believe that the European elections will not affect their daily lives in any way is slightly lower. Here the Bulgarian readers hold the lead with 16%, followed by the readers of the English version, 11%. Only 9% of the readers of the Greek version are of the opinion that voting does not make sense since the "government is high and Brussels is far away," as we might paraphrase a popular Bulgarian proverb.

The highest percentage of Bulgarian readers argue that they will vote for the last time if MEPs once again stick to passing laws that do not help the citizens in their daily lives. This option is the preference of 16% of Bulgarian readers, 11% of Greek readers and 9% of readers of the English page.

Bulgarians again hold the lead among those Europeans who will not vote because they are opposed to their country's membership in the European Union. The percentage of Bulgarian readers who support this response is 20%, followed by 17% of Greek readers and 14% of readers of our English version.

At the same time, 14% of readers of the English page and 7% of those reading the Bulgarian page state they have registered to vote for Greek MEPs.

According to recent data (as of 19 May), it is expected that the European People's Party will win the largest number of seats in the European Parliament. Estimates show that it will have about 217 MEPs, whose number is much lower than the 275 in the current composition of the European Parliament.

The Party of European Socialists is going to be second again, with just a slight increase in the number of seats. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is emerging as a third force again but with a smaller number of MEPs.

The forecasts for the vote in Greece are in favour of the radical left SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras who is the European Left candidate for European Commission President. MEP candidate of the party is Bulgarian trade unionist Kostadinka Kuneva.

"Measures taken by local and European parliaments do not help people cope with life. This is happening because mainly interests of banks and global companies are protected there. For example, besides the about four hundred MEPs in Brussels, there are also more than 1,200 lobbyists who work only for the interests of the company they represent. Who works for us? No one! For so many years, we have not felt that there are at least 2-3 people who are trying to protect the interests of workers and the unemployed in Europe. This means that we have to go and see what is happening there and present and defend our interests, as a majority of the European Community," she said in her interview for GRReporter.

The Greek liberals in turn also recognize that the European model suffers from defects that should be corrected. They are for a Europe in which all citizens would be equal. "The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is the third strongest political party in the European Parliament. It focuses on human rights, diversity, equal opportunities for all and the right of self-determination. I urge GRReporter.info readers to vote with European criteria for small parties which have a vision for Europe," said candidate for MEP of liberal coalition Gefires Areti Georgilis. You can read her interview here.