Did you all enjoy the Eurovision last month? It’s quite the pageant, full of colour, energy, a diverse cast from across the continent (and Australia). Some people say they enjoy the voting more than the singing – the drama, the suspense, the complex counting, the excitement of the contestants as their fate unfolds.

If that’s your bag, perhaps you tuned into the European and local election counts. They weren’t as glitzy or glamorous as the Eurovision, but the drama and the tension around the vote counting was every bit as exciting. And that count mattered more, because it decided who we as a country are sending to represent us in the European parliament.

Ireland has a pretty unique voting system, one that is more complicated than most. I would argue that it’s the most democratic system that exists anywhere in the world. It’s called the single transferable vote (STV), and how it works is fascinating.

For the voter, it’s actually quite simple. It could as easily be called ‘pick and mix’, because it’s a bit like when you go to the shop with a couple of euros and a bad case of the munchies. In the sweet shop, you have dozens of different options, from jelly babies to sour dummies, cola bottles to chocolate mice. And you pick the ones you like best first. The same goes for voting – you decide which candidates you like the best, and then you vote for them in order of your choice.

It’s quite like the CAO form that has to be filled out when applying for third-level education. Perhaps you have a brother or sister who has just finished the Leaving Cert. If they want to go to college, they will have chosen the course they want the most, and the highest preference they are eligible for will be the one they will get.

Europe matters to farmers

Apart from the fascination with the voting and the count, do European elections matter at all? They do to farmers and their families, because no other sector of the economy or society is as affected by the European Union as farming. The EU we know today, with 27 countries stretching all the way from the Dingle peninsula north to the Arctic Circle in Norway, south to Portugal, Spain and Greece, and eastwards to the Russian border of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, known as the Baltic states, is very different to the original European Economic Community (EEC) founded almost 70 years ago. In 1957, Germany and Italy joined with France, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, who they had been at war with 12 years earlier, to create a common market and a new spirit of co-operation.

Remember, all these countries had been involved in World War I only 40 years earlier, so peace was far from guaranteed. One of the earliest developments of this new EEC was the Common Agricultural Policy. This was designed to ensure that people would never go hungry again, as there had been terrible food shortages in the aftermath of both wars.

Five separate aims

There were five separate aims – a guaranteed supply of food; that this food would be affordable; that it would by of good quality; that farmers would have a decent income; and that rural economies would be protected and supported through a vibrant agricultural sector. The CAP was a huge success, indeed, soon after Ireland joined the EEC (alongside the UK and Denmark in 1973) too much food was being produced. The CAP then introduced production quotas for milk and sugar beet.

The CAP still is a crucial part of the EU, and accounts for about 30% of the budget. And the 14 MEPs that Ireland sends to the European Parliament must work with over 700 colleagues to evolve the CAP and agree a budget for it.

They work as part of a three-legged stool. The other two legs are the European Commission, who are civil servants who develop the rules and oversee them, and the member states themselves. The ministers of all the EU’s 27 governments meet every month in what are known as ministerial council meetings. And all three have what is known as co-decision, meaning they must agree between them all on how farming is funded and governed.

So every time you help to tag a calf, or weed wild oats from a field of barley, or dip sheep to prevent scab and flyblow, you are helping your farm to keep the rules of the CAP. Well done!