EUROPE—Proving once again that in politics pragmatism always prevails, an outgoing French member of the European Parliament has admitted that he used porn to entice young people to vote in the recent European Parliament elections. The comments came in response to a question by a local paper inquiring about the conservative party chief’s methodology for getting the notoriously complacent young people out to the polls.
Joseph Daul, who belongs to the European People's Party (EPP) and grew up in a region of France near its border with Germany, told Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace that he simply compared the challenges he faced as a youth with the ease of access afforded by membership in the European Union today, figuring the argument would likely sell itself.
"I tell them that at their age, when I was 18, when I wanted to go to Kehl (across the border in Germany) to see porno movies that were banned in France, you had to wait two-and-a-half hours to get through customs,” he explained, adding with typical Gallic flair, "You'd get to the cinema and the film was already finished. And one out of every couple of times I'd realize I'd forgotten to bring deutschmarks!
"When you explain it that way to youngsters they understand straight away what Europe means,” he said.
Not jobs. Porn.
