Anyone contemplating this week’s European parliament elections could be forgiven for feeling disenchanted with the entire event. This election ought to be a galvanising moment in democratic politics, with 375m people across 27 nations eligible to vote for the four-year Strasbourg legislature.

But whatever other things the European parliament is good at, galvanising voters is not one of them. Turnout this week is expected to be below the 45.6 per cent registered in 2004 (which was itself the lowest figure for voter participation in the parliament’s history). In most states, election campaigning has been dominated by national politics, ignoring pan-European issues altogether. In some countries, most notably the UK, results are likely to be marked by a powerful showing for parties that want their governments to quit the EU immediately.