The Consul-Generals of Germany and Greece spoke to political science students on Tuesday as part of a presentation to mark the European Parliament elections held this past weekend.

Dr. Christian Brecht and Ioanna Efthymiadou, of Germany and Greece respectively, shared their views on the elections in Europe and the growing powers of the EU Parliament.

“When we talk about the European Union, it might seem from the outside as a very complicated bureaucracy, and sometimes even dysfunctional if you approach it in terms of a national state or a derivation, because it is neither; but being a unique entity in international law, it also has a life of its own and it works in practice and becomes nature to all of us,” Efthymiadou said.

The presentation, held in the Schmitt Academic Center, also included segments from DePaul professors giving an overview of the European Union and the nature of the European Parliament and its elections. Throughout the hour and a half event, a common topic of discussion was voter apathy among Europeans as well as the rise of radical right wing anti-European Union candidates as viable options.

“We’re talking about potentially four or more European countries where an openly euroskeptical, an openly antiimmigrant and a nationalist party will come away with the most seats,” Erik Tillman, an associate professor of political science, said. Tillman hosted the event.

Tillman, however, cautions that winning the most seats in the EU Parliament does not automatically lead to influence. While the two-party system reigns supreme in the U.S., European states tend to have many political parties, which can lead to a party winning the most seats with a relatively small percentage of the vote. The largest current party, the European People’s Party, has 274 members, or roughly 36 percent of the total chamber. In any case, a coalition government is likely.

“Probably the end result of all of this is going to be grand pro-European coalition of the mainstream parties,” Tillman said.

He further added that the incoming parliament will have to deal with a crisis of trust among the European voters who feel that their needs are not being addressed. With the Eurozone crisis among other things, voter apathy is high. However, the diplomats stressed that the EU is positive and should be expanded.

For Brecht, the desire is in part personal.

“I’m married to a French lady who has never given up her French nationality, she’s working at a German university,” he said. “She is serving there as a civil servant with her French nationality, so this is possible under the EU.”

Brecht also added that his two adult children live in different parts of the EU, using it as an example for the options the EU provides.

The event was attended mainly by political science and geography students, and included a brief question and answer session.

“I thought it was an interesting event,” Tillman said. “We got to hear to several different perspectives on the European Union and the challenges it faces today, and it served to remind us why the EU remains such an important project.”