May 30, 2009: This coming week 375 million people in 27 member nations of the European Union are eligible to go to the polls and vote for their country's representatives in the EU's European Parliament. However, only one third of those eligible voters are expected to participate in the process. Europeans often do not relate well to their union, seeing it often as something distant. This lack of enthusiasm for pariticipation in the EU, or "Eurosclerosis", might be attributed to the fact that many Europeans view the EU as something that appears to have little direct effect on their lives.

One reason for this perception is that the EU's success has generally been over time with little sudden dramatic effect. Europeans often take the wide range of goods and services available within the EU's market structure at competitive prices for granted – a stark conrast to the destruction and hunger that stalked Europe in the aftermath of World War II. The peaceful unification of Europe following the Cold War – and German unification in particular – would not have gone as smoothly if western Europe had not enjoyed the fruit of economic success nurtured within the EU's free trade zone.

Germany's minister of the interior Wolfgang Schäuble believes he has a solution for this kind of "Eurosclerosis": Let Europeans elect their own EU President in a direct election by popular vote. In an interview with the German daily "Die Welt" Schäuble referred to his suggestion for a direct election as a dream. According to Schäuble, even though a European identity has begun to take root in Europe, Europeans still see themselves first in terms of their national identity. Schäuble realizes that finding a candidate who would be accepted from Finland to Portugal would be a challenge, but he believes that over time a Europe-wide election campaign for EU President would create greater interest for EU processes and also facilitate better interaction among Europeans.

When asked about potential candidates, Schäuble said that that several Europeans would make viable candidates. However, he declined to mention names with the disclaimer that it is too early to discuss the details of his idea. Being a realist, Schäuble also knows that it might take a while for EU members to accept a direct election, since it would mean a further ceding of national sovereignty to Brussels, just as Schäuble's own country doesn't have a direct election for its own federal president.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Schäuble's suggestion is his reference to growing European acceptance for a European army instead of individual national armies: "For example, I am convinced that in the not too distant future we won't have any more national armies, but instead a European army. And I am not the only one who believes this. There are opinion polls showing that a clear majority of the population of most member states supports the idea."