There will be 785 new pairs of feet making their way through the Quartier Européen in Brussels from 7th June 2009 as voters in 27 countries go to the polls to elect a new European Parliament.  In truth, many of them will be the same pairs of feet as before, but if nothing else, the elections provide a key opportunity for interest groups to seek commitments and a renewed agenda from Europe’s elected representatives for the period 2009-2014.  With this in mind, ESU will shortly be publishing a manifesto for the next parliamentary term which sets out clearly the measures that European students would like MEPs to take in order to secure the shared vision for higher education in Europe which we all wish to see.

At present, the Parliament only has a very limited role in respect of higher education, which makes it easy to dismiss its relevance for organisations such as ESU.  However, with the power to increase the budget of, for example, the Lifelong Learning Programme, as well as codecision (joint legislative) powers on mobility issues, as a well as an influential voice on the Bologna Process, equity and non-discrimination and social affairs in general, and with many MEPs showing a strong interest in such issues, there is a lot to be gained from making the student voice clearer and louder within the European Parliament.

Keep your eyes peeled for the launch of the manifesto in next month's edition of The Student Voice.

In the meantime, you can find out more about the elections, the candidates and where and for what they stand on the Parliament’s official website.