Job Alert – Elections and Votes: be careful what you wish for

Elections remain in the focus in Brussels these weeks – not only the European ones, but also Brussels communal elections. On 14 October, Belgian and non-Belgian citizens get to elect their local representatives – after weeks of promotion to register for the mandatory voting. Quite a few EU expats even run for elections this time, which may have triggered more interest in the truly confusing Belgian political system.

For the European level, parties still have to crown their candidates, especially the Social Democrats: whilst Austrian ex-chancellor Christian Kern has already dropped out of the race again, European Commissioner Frans Timmermans has now announced his candidacy. 

Once European voters are invited to the voting booth, let’s hope they actually go – although sometimes it is a good thing if they do not: a controversial referendum on the definition of family just failed due to a severely low turnout. Same problem however in Macedonia: after eternal and finally successful debates on a name change that would satisfy Greece – and thereby soften Macedonia’s way into the EU –, Macedonian citizens could not be bothered to go to the polls.

The voters who left Italy with a governing far-right/far-left coalition now leave Europe with a hugely concerning Italian budget: the announcement of a 2.4 % planned budget deficit on top oft he already existing debt, even got the International Monetary Fund to make a statement in support of Europe’s strict rules – markets will tell us on 15 October (the deadline for the budget submission to Brussels) whether the reaction was sufficiently convincing.

Another vote now leads to second thoughts: whilst an EU referendum on abolishing summer and winter time changes was overwhelmingly positive, Commission President Juncker received strong criticism for his proposal to scrap the time change already ahead of the European Parliament elections in May 2019 – and with each country to decide individually by 31 March which time to adopt. What could have become a relief especially to all parents of small children may well end up in utter chaos.

Many other issues over these past two weeks are worth mentioning but there is just not enough space – the rape and murder of a Bulgarian TV journalist, bats saving an apparently very important small piece of German forest, and Facebook not only sells our data, but also loses them: if you want to stay on top of everything worth noting at EU level, find some jobs and as usual more on politjobs.eu!

Irina Michalowitz

Featured Job

NXP Semiconductors seeks Political Affairs & Public Co-Creation Specialist (m/f)
Hamburg | Apply by: ongoing | Start: instantly | Full Time

NXP Semiconductors enables secure connections and infrastructure for a smarter world, advancing solutions that make lives easier, better and safer. As the world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, NXP is driving innovation in the secure connected vehicle, end-to-end security & privacy and smart connected solutions markets. They are looking for a Political Affairs & Public Co-Creation Specialist. ➡️ See full job ad

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12. October 2018