Gosh, it will be hard getting motivated to vote, even as a staunch supporter of the concept of a United Europe. After the austerity fiasco of the last six years and the total disregard of those in Brussels for what the majority wants their elected officials to do, it is no wonder our respective uber nationalist parties are projected to do well.
To think France could elect many Front Nationale politicians to the European Parliament is quite embarrassing, it is like electing Tea Party candidates to Washington, they hate the place. Both have no intention of trying to change the way it works, they just want to burn it down.
The UK and their home grown loonies in UKIP are not any better. Right across Europe there is the same feeling of this rise of the extreme right, the only one happy about this sits in the Kremlin since they love him so [strong leader and all that drivel].
They all think that hiding behind our borders will make things better in a truly globalized world, what a crock of shit. By keeping out johnny foreigner a new nationalist nirvana will arise, but everyone seems to forget why they are extreme right wing parties in the first place. Bigotry, sexism, homophobia and a tendency to want to crush dissent with a jackboot. We all must conform to their view of what being French/English/Dutch/Greek/Belgian etc means, and they have some very antiquated views on what that actually signifies.
So we could be welcoming into the heart of Europe so many who just want to cut the heart out and stomp on the body. It is an embarrassment and I'm afraid the current leaders in Brussels and many national leaders and governments are to blame. The vision of Europe has just come to mean Austerity and dysfunction as everyone squabbles over minutiae without even paying attention to the glaring problem of dissatisfaction shown by the populous.
My opinion still remains that the only way out of this is a federal Europe since I come from a federal Republic myself and to be honest the US works pretty well as such no matter how much we moan about the details, the whole works quite well with one exception; when we elect extreme right wing politicians who hate the system. You would think some in Europe would be watching the right wing show in the US to understand the consequences of electing clowns to run the circus.
Perhaps it is because I have my feet in the water on both sides of the pond that I just find this so absurd.
Hence I will vote, EELV [Europe Écologie Les Verts] who want to reform and not destroy.