The trouble with their limited influence has mainly to do with the fact that the political capital to lead european parties take the lead (instead of national o

The trouble with their limited influence has mainly to do with the fact that the political capital to lead european parties take the lead (instead of national ones) is something which is currently political suicide among many politicians. This is a chicken and egg problem, national politicians can always blame the EU for their problems, and the European political parties are not able to prove their worth because they are being held down by national politics of member states. One solutions would be a completely seperate system, but that would require some form of federalisation, which is politically and culturally not feasable at the moment.