Stellar cast aims to light up lacklustre European polls

By Martin Banks

Date: 03/06/04

STARS from stage, screen and sport will be among those lining up for next week's elections to the European Parliament.

An eclectic mix of would-be MEPs will contest the 732 seats up for grabs in the 10-13 June poll, the first in which voters in the EU's new member states will take part.

With polls predicting a record low turnout, it is hoped the appearance of some well-known faces in several member states will help boost the traditionally poor voter participation in European elections.

Candidates include at least three former prime ministers: Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Danish premier in 1993-2001, who was recently elected to the top post for the European Socialists, and the controversial ex-Finnish premier Anneli Jaatteenmaki (Centre Party), who resigned in June 2003 after just two months in office following accusations she misinformed the Finnish parliament over how she had acquired confidential foreign ministry documents on Iraq.

Alojz Peterle, Slovenia's first post-independence prime minister and a member of the Convention on the future of Europe, is standing for the New Slovenian-Christian People's Party.

Another ex-PM hoping to be elected is Mart Laar, from Estonia, whose three-party coalition governed Estonia in 1999-2002, making him its longest-serving premier.

In Estonia, 25-year-old supermodel Carmen Kass, a member of the country's pro-business Res Publica party, has given up the catwalk for Brussels, saying: "I'm entering politics because, for the past ten years, I've got a lot from the world and now want to give something back."

In the UK, candidates include the former TV presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk, whose capture was a publicity coup for the fiercely Eurosceptic UK Independence Party.

Former Welsh secretary Ron Davies, meanwhile, has been selected by the Forward Wales party.

Despite being described as the "architect of devolution", he is perhaps best known for an alleged woodland sex liaison - his "moment of madness" - on London's Clapham Common in October 1998 which eventually led to his resignation.

Former BBC war correspondent Martin Bell - dubbed by the media as "the man in the white suit", will stand as an independent candidate, campaigning on reforming the UK's European Parliamentary election system.

Another familiar face is the outspoken UK parliamentarian George Galloway. He was expelled from Labour and dubbed the "MP for Baghdad East" for his vehement anti-war stance. His 'Respect' coalition will contest London's European constituency.

From the Netherlands comes European Commission whistleblower Paul van Buitenen, who has set up his own Europa Transparent list and hopes to gain three to six of the 27 Dutch seats available.

From the world of TV come several candidates, including Annetka Feher, a daytime TV presenter in Hungary, who announced her candidacy by stripping off in front of the cameras; Lilli Gruber, a former RAI presenter, who will stand for Commission President Romano Prodi's centre-left coalition in Italy; Jean-Marie Cavada, president of Radio France and a top candidate for François Bayrou's Union for the French Democracy grouping and Glenn Beeingfield, a popular television and radio presenter in Malta, who is standing on a Socialist ticket.

Sportsmen are also represented in the shape of former star Slovak hockey player Peter Stastny, who is standing for premier Mikulas Dzurinda's SDKU party, and Estonia's former Olympic gold medal decathlete, Erki Nool. A candidate with one of the best-known names is Jaroslaw Walesa, son of Poland's Solidarity hero Lech Walesa.

The Czech Republic, meanwhile, can boast an ex-astronaut, Vladimir Remek, among its candidates as well as porn queen Dolly Buster - who recently withdrew her bid to become an MEP, but has changed her mind, despite apparent disillusionment: "When I decided to run, I thought politics could be honest and serious but now I'm not so sure," she said.

The celebrities-turned politicians will be hoping the electorate take a different view of their intentions when they go to the polls this month.