cycles will most likely contribute to further stabilisation of electoral patterns .
For some time , the idea of citizens as ‘ masters of the treaties ’ has been floating around . This change towards a citizen-based Union is slowly but inevitably materialising . And , in my view , the lesson from this comparison between 2004 and 2009 is that this change is best metabolised politically through enlargements .
The accession of Ukraine , Moldova , remaining candidate countries from the western Balkans , and possibly Georgia , will enfranchise their peoples as EU citizens . It will allow them to vote in the European elections . We , the citizens of countries that are already EU members , often do not appreciate enough the symbolic meaning of the European vote . But for the newcomers , the ability to participate in an electoral process with a continental impact gives additional weight to the initial decision on accession .
I thus hope that the elections to be held after the next enlargement will be a moment as important for reuniting Europe as were the elections of 2004 and 2009 .
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