In this corner of Europe, no one cares about the EU election – POLITICO

The last time he voted in any election was “probably” 20 years ago.

Like many people in Runnik IX, a poor Roma neighborhood on the outskirts of Slovakia’s second-largest city, Košice, he had no intention of voting in the upcoming European elections.

Fratel said there was no point in voting because the European Union had not made any changes in his life.

This remote corner of eastern Slovakia, just a 90-minute drive from the Ukrainian border and one of the EU’s poorest regions, is insulated from the complexities of Brussels politics.

Runnik residents face widespread unemployment (according to local authorities, more than half of the working population does not have a job) and difficult housing conditions. Local authorities say many live in dilapidated and overcrowded apartments, with an average of about 12 people per apartment.

In Slovakia, as in most European countries, significantly fewer people turn out to vote in EU elections than in national elections. However, the situation in Slovakia is particularly bad, with consistently one of the lowest rates since joining the EU in 2004, and voter turnout in every European Parliament election being the lowest in the region.