COMPARED to the suspense in the Afghan polls, the excitement generated by the elections in India and preparations for a presidential ballot in Indonesia, elections to the European Parliament this weekend are a bit of damp squib.

Voter turn-out is expected to be poor. The candidates put up by Europe’s leading political groups are uninspiring. The disconnect between Europe’s elites and ordinary people is getting wider. And if opinion polls are any indication, the incoming EU assembly will count an alarming number of representatives of Europe’s far-right parties.

It shouldn’t be this way. European Parliament elections are an impressive exercise. An estimated 400 million voters in 28 countries will be voting to send 751 members to the European Parliament.

Over the years, the powers of the EU assembly have grown, with the parliament now having a major say in most EU policies.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) legislate on many crucial issues, including EU foreign policy, Europe’s trade relations and the bloc’s future economic direction.

Foreign diplomats, lobby groups and journalists hover around the parliament’s headquarters in Brussels and attend the monthly plenary sessions in Strasbourg.

Many articulate and charismatic MEPs have assumed the status of super stars, recognised across Europe and beyond and ready to stand up for the issues they believe in.

And yet…the EU assembly continues to suffer from a major credibility gap, with many Europeans unable to name their MEP and many more uninterested in the parliament, its activities and powers.

At the moment, according to surveys, the mood across Europe is one of sullen anger and frustration with a mainstream political class seen as detached and remote, incompetent and often illegitimate.

In discussions with European university students this week, I found that many were very interested in European affairs but felt disconnected, ignored and sidelined by European politicians.

Young men from Portugal and Greece — the EU’s southern countries which have been hardest hit by the Eurozone crisis — complained that richer northern European countries, and especially Germany, had shown a lack of “solidarity” with their poorer cousins.

Mainstream European politicians did not understand or address their problems, said others. The far right was venal and toxic but was winning votes because of the leaders’ ability to simplify complex issues — and tap into Europe’s insecurity about the future.

Sadly, the far right has been able to produce more eloquent and even “charismatic” politicians than the mainstream parties — and it’s people like Marine Le Pen of the French Front National, Nick Farage of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and Geert Wilders of the Dutch Freedom Party who seem to be calling the shots.

European experts say that immigration is essential in a greying Europe. The next generation will be 25 per cent smaller than the current one, with huge holes opening up in the EU labour market.

But while the far right’s anti-foreign message rings loud and clear, those who believe Europe should stay open to immigration speak in whispers.

Many hope that even if they do work together, the coalition of far-right groups will soon fall apart or that they will be too preoccupied with their anti-Europe and xenophobic agenda to pay attention to core EU business.

That may or may not be the case — but their large presence in the European Parliament will reflect badly on a Europe which prides itself on its democratic values, tolerance and human rights.

Europe’s main concern at the moment is to generate growth and jobs — and to tackle social and economic inequality which has been worsened by the economic slowdown.

Five countries — Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Portugal and Ireland — were brought to their knees by the crisis. Doubts hang over the financial and economic direction of France and Italy — the Eurozone’s second and third economies.

Germany, the undisputed EU leader, is hugely unpopular among its partners for its determined pursuit of austerity and spending cuts — and perceived indifference to the suffering of others.

Tensions with Russia following its annexation of Crimea and efforts to destabilise eastern Ukraine have added to Europe’s woes.

Interestingly, while most Europeans condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine and domestic disregard for human rights, the leaders of Europe’s far-right parties admire the Russian leader.

A recent survey found that trust in the EU had fallen steeply to 31pc from 57pc in 2007. But the same poll found that trust in national parliaments and governments was much lower, at 25pc and 23pc, and has been consistently lower than faith in the EU for all of the past decade.

Clearly mainstream European politicians have to work harder to win over voters. Europe likes to give lessons to Asia, but this time around, Europe could learn a trick or two on generating electoral excitement and ensuring strong voter turn-out — from India, Indonesia and even Afghanistan.

—The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Brussels.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2014