This is a step away from what we normally do, because we don’t like taking politics. However, a conversation in the office made us realise that very few people know what is going on in June 2009.

There is a page here on the European Union website which is meant to cover everything.

However, we all find it confusing! Here is a list of EU election candidates on the BBC website.

While you will have read on the EU site how to vote it is difficult to work out what each party stands for.

While we could put a link here to each of the parties, we would prefer not to as a link is seen by Google to be a vote of confidence in the content of that site. Politically, that is a hot potato for us!

However, The most important thing to remember is that Political Parties at EU level are just groups that each country’s political parties join to help simplify what they all stand for.

However, the confusing part is that it is the politician who decides which group they are going to join, not the party. So, you can end up with a Labour or Conservative MP being in a different group to other Labour or Conservative MP’s.

It does mean that the behaviour of the MEP who gets into power may be totally different to another MEP from the same party. Where this is very useful to know is when it comes to issues where the UK has an interest against the EU. The latest would be such as the Working Time Directive.

In Wales, our Labour MEP’s are members of the Socialist Group, while the Plaid Cymru member is a Green and the Conservative member is a Christian Democrat, as a member of the European People’s Party.

It isn’t possible (AFAWK) to know which group new MEP’s are likely to join, however, you can always ask them!

Hope you find this page useful, and it helps you decide who to vote for.