The Precious Right to Vote--But for Brussels-Strasbourg?

It will be my first opportunity to participate in an election since returning to the Netherlands last summer: tomorrow's elections for the European Parliament. It's easy to point out the preposterous aspects of this weak body: they have to travel from their regular meeting place in Brussels to Strasbourg (you guessed it, that's in France) because the French won't give up on this ... what is it really? An embarassment mostly. Of all the cynical remarks you can hear about "Europe" these days, the expensive monthly move to Strasbourg (200 million taxpayer Euros a year) comes up the most. Then there are all the little rules they manage to come up with for all walks of life, things that should either be left to national or local authorities, or just be subject to market forces. In fact, if you look at the way the whole EU edifice works (or doesn't)--the bureaucracy, the rules, the perks, the waste, the self-importance--it's very easy to turn your back. However, stepping back a little (still keeping in mind that eventually, annoying bureaucatic excesses can threaten the viability of the vision they're supposed to serve) you have to recognize the other side of "Europe," that of the historical vision and accomplishment. The single market and currency, but especially the underlying determination to go about the continent's business in a peaceful, collaborative way--all this may now seem routine, but in light of Europe's history it's quite a feat. And as with everything human-made: it can't be taken for granted. So rather than worrying about how much more cumbersome, arrogant, and wasteful "Brussels" may get, I'm going to emphasize how much worse off we'd probably be without it, and how there could be backsliding if it turned out that there was no constituency any more for the kind of collaboration we've seen in Europe since World War II. And I'm trying to remember that there remain millions and millions of people around the world today who would very much like to have the opportunity to vote--even if it's for an imperfect body like the European Parliament. Which doesn't mean I've figured out yet whom to vote for. But I'll come up with something, I still have more than 24 hours.