European Parliamentary Elections: What's at stake?

THE EUROPE QUESTION: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE UK
‘European Parliamentary Elections: What’s at stake?’

With
Sir Menzies Campbell, Member of Parliament for North East Fife
Stuart Wheeler, Treasurer, UKIP
Mark Leonard, Director, ECFR
Prof Maurice Fraser, Head of European Institute, LSE
Dr Sara Hagemann, Co-Founder, VoteWatch Europe and Assistant Professor, LSE
Chaired by John Peet, Europe Editor, The Economist

At the end of May, approximately 390 million Europeans will be invited to go to the polls. They will do so at a time when the EU is going through the worst crisis in its history and its image is at a historic low. Analysts are predicting a surge of forces for strongly Eurosceptic parties. What are the short and long term implications for the EU and Britain’s place within it?

Sir Menzies Campbell is the MP for North East Fife and former leader of the Liberal Democrats. He is currently the Chancellor of the University of St. Andrews.

Stuart Wheeler is the treasurer of UKIP and a former member of the Conservative Party.

Mark Leonard is co-Founder and Director of ECFR. He is the author of several publications including ‘The Eurosceptic surge and how to respond to it’ (with José-Ignacio Torreblanca) published in early April 2014.

Prof Maurice Fraser is Professor of Practice in European Politics and Head of the LSE European Institute. He was previously Special Adviser to Foreign Secretaries Douglas Hurd, John Major and Sir Geoffrey Howe.

Dr Sara Hagemann is Assistant Professor at the LSE European Institute and Co-Founder of VoteWatch Europe.

John Peet is the Europe Editor of The Economist. Before joining The Economist he was a civil servant, working for HM Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

This event is part of ‘The Europe Question: Perspectives from the UK’ initiative which aims to bridge the evident gap in understanding and mutual distrust between the UK, its European partners and the EU institutions in Brussels.