IMO your question on poor information and mention of abysmal PR is the crux of the matter. There cannot be representation without dialogue. And transparent systems for EU dialogue do not exist. There is some level of contact at election time - and then all is forgotten for another 4 years.

I had a long discussion tonight concerning one of the Finnish political parties contending the 13 MEP seats allotted to Finland, in July. Most of this party's candidates will focus on particular regional or national issues in the hope of garnering votes - i.e. not very much concerned with the central issues of the EU.

The other major question I have noted before is the cost of a national campaign - perhaps 3 times that of a more localized parliamentary campaign. This will lead to increasing wooing of celebrities (who come with in-built national recognition) and thus a corresponding increase in amateurishness and a failure of hard-edged representation.

I fear that the EP will remain amateur ofr full of fails (and thus subservient to the EU bureaucracy) until the EP is given a greater say in the structure and conduct of the EU institutions. Until then it is faux-democracy.

You can't be me, I'm taken