The European elections are being held on June 4, with
375 million people across 27 countries able to vote for the 736 members of the
European Parliament who will represent their interests for the next
five years.

In the south east, six million
voters have the chance to say who will share the EU spoils.

And whether you like it or not, the
European Parliament has an increasingly important influence on our
lives.

While many may choose to use the
Euro election to deliver their verdict on national issues, a great
deal more is at stake - not least how Euros130billion are
spent.

Political
editor Paul Francis looks at some of the key questions and
assesses the prospects for the parties vying for your vote.

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Question: Who am I voting
for in the election?

Your interests in the European
Parliament are represented by MEPs. In the UK, there are 72 MEPs,
who represent 12 different regions - unlike our MPs, who represent
individual parliamentary constituencies. Kent is part of the south
east region, which lumps it within an area that returns 10
MEPs and has an electorate of just over six million. There are four
Conservative MEPs; two UKIP; two Liberal Democrats; one Labour and
one Green.

Question: What do MEPs
do?

Laws and directives passed by the
European Parliament apply to all member states. About 75 per cent
of the legislation passed by the UK government has its origins in
EU directives, so what MEPs do has a direct bearing on what happens
in the UK.

The role of MEPs is to scrutinise,
debate, amend and reject legislation which initially comes from the
European Commission - the executive arm of the EU. They also approve the EU budget and new members of the
European Commission. MEPs do a lot of their work in committees that
meet in Brussels, examining Commission proposals across the key
policy areas of animal rights, consumer and workers rights, the
environment, international trade and regional economic development.
They also meet in Strasbourg.

MEPs, who earn the same as a
backbench MP in the UK - £63,291 - can initiate their own
legislative proposals, but only where more than half the Parliament
passes a resolution calling for it in a specific area.

Question: What kind of laws
have MEPs had a role in?

The EU was responsible for
enforcing new laws capping how much mobile phone companies could
charge users when abroad, leading to cheaper mobile roaming rates;
it has also passed the ‘Reach’ regulation, which compels businesses
to show that the chemicals they use are safe. More recently, it has
passed laws on farm pesticides, with tougher regulations on what
can be used.

A package on climate change is set
to become law this year, setting the targets to be achieved by
2020, such as a 20 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions, compared with 1990 levels and a 20per cent share for
renewable energies in EU energy consumption.

Sorry, this video asset has been removed.

Video: Political editor
Paul Francis's explanation of the European Parliament

Question: How are MEPs
elected?

Unlike national and local
elections, where votes are cast for individually named candidates,
countries operate a form of proportional representation.

Each party puts forward a list of
candidates known as a regional list and you vote for one of these
lists or for an individual candidate standing as an
independent.

The number of MEPs elected from
each party to represent a region depends on the overall share of
votes that each party receives.

In the case of the south east, the
10 seats will be divided up on the basis of how many votes are
cast.

In 2004, 2.2million people of the
six million eligible voted in the south east.

Question: How do I find out
which parties are standing and the names of
candidates?

The full list of candidates
standing in the south east region is available here:
http://www.europarl.org.uk/section/european-elections/candidates/lsoutheast

Question: How much of our
money does the EU spend and how much does the UK
contribute?

The budget for the European
Parliament is Euros 1.45billion, representing just over one per
cent of its members’ gross national income. Most is spent on aid to
farmers, rural development and aid to poorer regions - including
parts of the UK. In 2007, five countries - Germany, France, Italy,
the UK, and Spain contributed nearly half of the budget.

Each country’s payment is divided into three parts: a fixed
percentage of gross national income - which accounts for the
largest slice, customs duties collected on behalf of the EU and a
percentage of VAT income.

The UK is entitled to rebate, which returns about two-thirds of its
payments.

Question: When do we find
out the results?

The election count takes place on
Sunday June 7, even though votes in the UK will be cast on June 4.
It will take place at Southhampton. See www.kentonline.co.uk for
full coverage as the results are declared.

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