Voting in EU elections in Italy, Greece and Germany

• published: 23 Jul 2015
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SHOTLIST Athens 1. Wide of Parliament 2. Mid of pedestrians near Parliament 3. Wide of main square Constitution Square 4. Wide of entrance to school, where voting takes place 5. Close up of sign 6. Wide of interior of school 7. Mid of electoral assistants 8. Close up of hands going through electoral papers 9. Official hands voter ballot paper 10. Wide of electoral booth with voter inside 11. Mid of voter as he casts his vote 12. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Voter, Name not given, VOX POP : "We are interested in Europe because the roads to Europe should be open and we should, I believe look beyond our borders." 13. Wide of school 14. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Manos Matsoukas, VOX POP : "In Greece, voting percentage is higher than other countries although it's decreased. We'll see today, as it's also a Bank holiday." 15. Wide of Syntagma (constitution) square Rome 16. Exterior of polling station 17. People entering polling station 18. Electoral lists in polling station 19. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Riccardo di Carlo, President of polling station: "Low. The turnout is very low, here we are around 20%, but I know that the national turnout is even lower." Reporter's question: Why do you think turnout is low? "Maybe there is not a lot of interest in these elections. Italians don't feel them very much" 20. Voter slipping ballot in box 21. Various ballots 22. Electoral lists Berlin 23. Wide exterior of polling station 24. Close up of election officials placing a polling station sign on the door 25. Wide exterior of election officials placing a polling station sign on the door 26. Various of the polling station 27. Children clothes hanging in the polling station, pan to booths 28. Mid of station 29. Close up of EU, German and other flags 30. First voters voting STORYLINE Europe appeared to be leaning to the right ahead of European Parliament elections on Sunday, with voters in many countries favouring conservative parties against a backdrop of economic crisis. Opinion polling showed right-leaning governments with edges over their opponents in Germany, Italy and France. Conservative opposition parties were tied or ahead in Britain, Spain, and some smaller countries. Despite the early hours of the morning, Greeks started gathering in voting stations on Sunday to cast their ballot for the EU elections. At a technical school near Athens, preparations for the elections were well underway. Voting assistants were sorting out ballot papers while others guided voters through the procedure. Greece is expecting a record low turnout to the ballots this weekend for the Euroelections, even if the actual participating percentage is expected to be one of the highest one's in the EU. Economical scandals, between former governments and foreign multinationals on the one hand, as well as the Greek Orthodox church and the current governments on the other, are on the main news agenda of the country, ahead of this year's EU Elections. In Italy polling stations opened on Sunday morning for the second day of voting to elect their representative members to the European Parliament. On the first day turn out stopped at 17.82 per cent said italian news agency ANSA, nearly three per cent lower than the 2004 elections. The country is picking its members of the European Parliament against a backdrop of accusations that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old model and that he used a government plane to ferry friends and entertainers to his vacation villa. Berlusconi, now in his third stint as premier, won a landslide victory last year despite corruption charges related to his business dealings hanging over his head. Meanwhile, voting was also underway in Germany. laws. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/9907e14f0ca7950ef91d50b8f33fce89 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork