Euro view by Chris Davies, Liberal Democrat MEP for the North West.

IT'S probably not what an MEP is supposed to say, but I have a sneaking sympathy with those who claim that they are not going to vote in the European Parliament elections this June. At least, for once, I shall be on the side of the majority. The latest study suggests that only a tiny minority, a precious elite of informed and responsible citizens numbering just 18% of the population, will definitely participate.

The irony is that MEPs have a lot more power than most Westminster MPs. The recent vote on tuition fees made the point. Tony Blair survived by the skin of his teeth. A loss would have represented only the fourth time in 100 years that the House of Commons had defeated a government bill in this way.

It's quite different in Brussels. No-one 'controls' the European Parliament. We quite regularly reject proposals from the European Commission, although more often we amend them. During my brief experience in the House of Commons I don't think I achieved anything practical at all. I had my say but the Government always got its way. These days rarely a month goes by without my securing some changes or improvements in laws that will be binding on 25 European countries. Being an MEP feels like a proper job.

But why should people vote when they probably cannot even name an MEP and don't know what the European Parliament actually does? I suspect that most people here in the North West of England don't even know that they have ten representatives: five Conservatives, four Labour, and me as the sole Liberal Democrat.

Some of us work hard to try and communicate. The average Westminster MP would be delighted to get three or four mentions every week in the newspapers serving their constituency. According to surveys, I regularly get 50 mentions every week in the newspapers serving this huge region. It's more than any other MEP but most people have still never heard of me.

I curse newspaper editors for not doing more to explain the way in which European laws are made that will affect all our lives. But I admit that reporting Euro elections is not easy.

There's none of the drama involved in choosing a government, or even of changing the control of a local council. The voters simply pick parliamentary representatives to reflect their views.

Perhaps my contribution to increasing the turnout will be to inspire people to do anything to get rid of me. My views on our failed sex and drugs laws, my support for many things European, my loathing of the racist British National Party and the pathetic UK Independence Party, and my passion for radical measures to protect our environment have all attracted plenty of outraged criticism over the years. I wonder if they have won any friends, and whether they will bother to vote?