"The events that took place in the Netherlands yesterday seem not to comply with the spirit of the European elections. They're supposed to go beyond the purely national aspects. If we want citizens to understand the European nature of these elections, we think it's absolutely essential that we release the results in all countries at the same time, also in order not to influence the vote in the countries which have not voted yet - and that at the moment is 25 out of the 27 member states," Mr Altafaj added.

If the EU wants to make it European election - pick one day all parties agree upon, and don't weaken yourself by allowing it to spread on several days. I mean, this is exactly what happened during the referendum - have they learned nothing?

And of course politician will have to play these elections largely as national events - because PR of the EU (paging Wallstrom!) hasn't been off the charts to make clear what the EU actually means to the ordinary person. Sorry, but part of the blame also goes to the ineffectualities in the offices in Brussels. And one sometimes wonders if the Commission actually cares much about the EP.

Honestly, the campaign here (as far as it was visible!) was schizophrenic - the MEP candidates who already had experience in Brussels had to entirely re-invent themselves to make themselves understandable. This was done by completing ignoring how the EU and the EP factually operate, and instead embracing the (erroneous) projections of the majority view how it operates!