Why we can show some real interest in Europe

It has been holding a series of briefings with local people, politicians and the media in an attempt to raise the profile of its members.

But while people's minds remain focused on what are traditionally regarded as the big European issues, officials from the European Parliament fear that members of the public will remain unaware how their lives are affected by what goes on in Brussels or Strasbourg.

While we agonise over the possibility of having a new currency with or without the Queen's head on it, vital funding could be removed from Yorkshire without us taking enough interest to discover what is happening.

The Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with special responsibility for Ilkley, Richard Corbett, is campaigning for special regional funding to be maintained to decrease the North/South divide in Britain.

Areas of Yorkshire and the Humber currently enjoy 'Objective 1' Status for EU regional funding, meaning that the region receives among the largest amounts of EU regional development aid.

However, with EU enlargement to take in an additional ten countries next May, there is a strong possibility that the amount will be vastly reduced, a move which will adversely affect the economy of the region.

Mr Corbett is campaigning against the possible reduction and he has welcomed a new report on the UK economic divide.

According to the report - published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) - the UK Government's current policy aims to reduce the rate at which the South is getting richer and the North is getting poorer.

Mr Corbett said: "Firstly, this research adds to the arguments for keeping EU regional funding for Yorkshire and the Humber after 2004. The report proves that this level of funding is not just in the interests of our own region, but it will also benefit the UK as a whole by reducing congestion and 'overheating' in the South East."

The issue of regional development aid is just one of the ways decisions in the European Parliament effect the lives of people in Wharfedale and why, according to the region's MEPs, that voters should turn out in large numbers on June 10, next year.

The European MPs for this region are:

Conservative: Edward McMillan-Scott, Timothy Kirkhope and Robert Goodwill.

Labour: Linda McAvan, David Bowe, and Richard Corbett.

Liberal-Democrat: Diana Wallis.

MEPs across the party divide remain opposed to postal voting or high-tech electronic devices to increase interest in the election. At a meeting in York last Friday, some expressed fears that postal voting could be manipulated by fraudsters, especially in multi-occupancy buildings such as nursing homes or blocks of flats.

Someone could pick up the voting slips of the whole building and send them back with false signatures on. It is also possible to interfere with computer systems to input unauthorised voting figures. The old-fashioned polling booth is still favoured by the sitting MEPs such as Mr Bowe, who lives in Guiseley and has special responsibility for Leeds, including Otley.

Mr Bowe said that the because some parts of the region would be holding other elections at the same time and some wouldn't, postal voting could create all kinds of inequality and confusion.

"We don't have as much experience as other regions and people aren't convinced that postal votes are better," Mr Bowe said.

He said that postal voting created all kinds of problems with verification.

Mr Bowe said: "We want to steer away from that and we want to steer away from gimmicks like electronic voting. People want something that they know and understand."

It is expected that the turnout at next year's elections will be significantly higher than last time when only 24 per cent of the electorate bothered to vote.

On June 10 there will also be local elections so people already attending the polling booth will not have to make a separate effort to vote in the Euro elections as well.

Unlike the British Parliamentary 'first past the post' system, electors will not be able to vote for individual MEPs, they will have to vote for a party. According to how many votes the party gets, the number of MEPs will be chosen from a published list of candidates.

The last election to the European Parliament were held in June 1999. For the first time the MEPs were elected using the system of proportional representation. Under this system England is divided into nine regions. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each form a single electoral region and each of the 12 regions is represented by between three and 11 MEPs depending on the size of its population.

The European Parliament has 626 members and sits in Brussels and Strasbourg. Parliament examines what the other European institutions do and passes the EU's annual budget.

But its main task is deciding on the shape and scope of new European laws, a responsibility it shares with the Council of Ministers which consists of Government Ministers from member countries.

According to officials from the UK office of the European Parliament, there are many issues which affect the lives of people in Wharfedale which MEPs are dealing with at the moment.

These include laws on seat belts for children, genetically modified food labelling, working hours for doctors, herbal medicine labelling and selling regulations and compensation for delayed air passengers.

But despite the bread and butter issues of the European Parliament, the debate in this country still rages on the fundamentals of European Union membership.

The UK Independence Party (UKIP) will also be fielding candidates at the election. Surprisingly for a party which wants to bring the UK out of Europe it already has three members sitting in the European Parliament.

According to their regional organiser Tim Slater, in Yorkshire and Humberside there were 52,824 votes cast at the last Euro election for the UKIP and it is possible this time around that a candidate from that party will be chosen. But the expansion of the European Union will mean that Yorkshire and Humberside looks set to lose one of its MEPs.

UKIP candidate for this region is Godfrey Bloom. Not surprisingly his campaign material concentrates on the main issues such as expansion, the Euro debate and the constitution. Mr Bloom said of the euro: "I think this is one of the most dangerous experiments that the country has ever been involved in since the Entente Cordiale sucked us into the Great War.

"Remember a federal system is not what is on offer. It is a Soviet-style centralist system with compulsory metrication, the 35-hour week, workers' councils and inappropriate common agricultural and fishery policies.

"Know the euro for what it is - a political ideal. One which you might or might not share, one which might be noble or it might not."

Perhaps we should all heed the lesson of the UKIP. Whether we support the European Union or not, or whether we care about the intricate details of European Parliamentary debate or not, European issues will not go away if we ignore them.