European Parliament elections 2009 (84): Getting the tourist vote

I was walking around in central Berlin yesterday - heading towards the representation of the European Commission and the European Parliament in Berlin (more on this soon) - and seeing the groups of international tourist passing by I was thinking to myself:

"Wouldn't it be perfect if European parties (and/or their national member parties) would campaign at major tourist places all over the European Union, addressing EU tourists to vote for the European party's member party (or parties) in the country they come from?"

This would be a real chance for the European parties to put forward the European issues instead of leaving the campaign in the (nationally focused) hands of their members.

The campaigners would just need a list of all national member parties of their European party and they would need European campaign materials in as many languages as possible (at least in some major European languages), as well as some language skills to address possible voters from different countries.

That is a rather demanding campaign element, but I think this could result in very fruitful discussions, especially since EU citizens going to another EU country (even as tourists) might be rather interested in and open for European topics. This would also add to the European profile of the respective party and of the elections, because possible voters would see that there is a true European dimension in the campaign.

The parties could even use campaign exchanges to form these "Get the tourist vote" teams. A combined national and European campaign team would then be able to address national and international voters, and I suppose the dynamics following such projects would be very positive and more creative than a standard nationalised campaign.

Is any of the parties planning to do this?

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Under the category "European parliament elections 2009" I am following up national and European activities on the path to the European Parliament elections 2009.

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