Debates

EU-ELECTIONS 2014: DEBATING WITH THE CANDIDATES FROM SOUTH TYROL

The 8th direct elections for the European Parliament are ante portas: they are going to take place on 25 May 2014. Time to invite again for a palaistalks. Guests were the candidates from South Tyrol, namely Herbert Dorfmann (SVP), Oktavia Brugger (Tsipras list) and Pius Leitner (Südtiroler Freiheitlichen). We were not short of burning questions. Will the turnout be even lower than in 2009 reducing the elections more and more to real second order elections unable to raise any interest in Europe's populations? Or, to the contrary, are we witnessing a true European debate where the parties have finally nominated Europe-wide candidates for the office of the president of the European Commission? Where do we need more European Union and where less? Seventy guests discussed these and many other interesting points with the prominent guests. At the end we all knew more. But it remained open what the end of May 2014 will do to the future of the EU.

LINKS

• Herbert Dorfmann is a member of the European Parliament. Only some months ago he was discussing in the park of the Palais the challenges for the EU - together with the Vice-President of the European Parliament.
• Pius Leitner is a member of the regional parliament with the ambition to become a parliamentarian at European level. Oktavia Brugger is a journalist ready to become a politician at a time when politics in South Tyrol are not the easiest environment. 
• The discussion was reported in the local newspaper and co-moderated by university professor DDr. Günther Pallaver who just published the book "Kommunikation, Kooperation, Integration in der Europaregion Tirol-Südtirol-Trentino" (2014).
• The Programm offered an interesting multimedia presentation as a starter: Dr.MMag. Markus Warasin who was responsible for the EP's 2014 campaign was already in 2004 a guest in the Palais to inform about the election. A TV-MIDAS-interview with him can be found here.