The twin problems of European elections

With the next European elections less than a year away, MEPs and their political parties are already thinking about attention-getting themes and turnout, the twin problems that have dogged the EU assembly since direct elections began in 1979.

But next year's June vote has been elevated to something of a milestone with Brussels for the first time trying to create what has so far remained an elusive entity: a European political space.

It took the political earthquakes of the French ...