The Brits love drinking coffee like the French; we're glued to European football like the Italians; and we take our holidays in Spain. So it's a source of embarrassment to the Government that only 24% of the British electorate bothered to vote in the 1999 European elections.

That's why packs of journalists are currently being flown out to the European Parliament, courtesy of the tax payer, in an attempt to generate publicity about the forthcoming elections taking place on June 10.

DAVID HOLMES was among those invited to the beautiful French city of Strasbourg, the parliament's second home after Brussels, where he soaked up the Euro atmosphere and met up with a few amiable, but let's face it, anonymous MEPs, representing the North West in Europe.

MENTION Europe and people conjure up images of bureaucrats spending hours coming up with ridiculous rules like imposing straight bananas on our nation.

Such tabloid tales infuriate MEPs who claim the stories are usually completely untrue (like that one) or some directive has been wildly misinterpreted.

Other thoughts cross our mind about high salaries, a gravy train of endless perks, costly subsidies to farmers and even corruption.

But putting all this baggage to one side for one moment, you have to say the concept of European integration seems laudable enough in theory.

The EU arose out of the ruins of the Second World War and the search for a lasting peace.

And many argue the European Union has successfully achieved this aim over more than 50 years.

The economic argument also seems a strong one. With 370m people in 15 countries - soon to rise to 450m in 25 countries - the EU is the largest trading block in the world. Businesses enjoy economies of scale and, theoretically, consumers should gain wider choice and lower prices.

It's in the political sphere where it might be argued the Euro dream turns into Euro trash.

The EU is reckoned to be responsible for about 50% of new laws yet people feel directives are imposed on them without their input. And the poor turnout figures last time show the British public is not engaged with the process. Ask people in the street the name of their MEP and most will not have a clue.

The system isn't exactly voterfriendly, which doesn't help.

Nowadays there are 10 MEPs (reducing to nine at this election) covering the whole of the North West. None is responsible for a particular constituency so there is no link between an individual MEP and an identifiable community.

Even with a better system, you wonder how it would ever be possible for a voter to feel their view counted for something in an electorate numbering hundreds of millions.

Chris Davies MEP is the only Liberal Democrat representative in the region and as pro-European as they come, but even he finds it difficult to explain how the EU can become democratic in a meaningful way.

'I don't know a way round that,' he said, shrugging his shoulders. 'Decisions should always be taken at the lowest practical level. Europe should be there to add value, not take power away from national governments without good reason.'

But for Chris there is no alternative to the EU because of the need to control the forces of 'globalisation' at a global level.

'We live in a world dominated by the economy, the environment and criminal forces that no one nation can control. That's why the prime ministers get together every three months to discuss issues like terrorism and global warming to see what we can all do.'

A good example of this global reality emerged as I talked to Chris outside the European Parliament council chamber.

The MEP was just about to take part in a debate on the live transportation of sheep and cattle. He and others argued it was cruel that animals are crammed in trucks and transported across the EU without water, and sometimes with broken limbs, for hours on end.

He had advocated an overall limit of eight hours for animal journey times but, in the event, parliament set a nine-hour limit on almost all journeys for slaughter.

Explaining the conflicting pressures at work within the EU market place, he said: 'Food producers like to be able to label their meat as locally produced, so they transport the animals to local fattening grounds before slaughter.'

He would prefer to see animals killed at their local slaughter house and the frozen meat transported across the continent to avoid any suffering.

Chris, a Cambridge graduate who is his party's spokesman on the environment and consumer affairs, also believes that a strong Europe could act as a bulwark against US domination on the world stage.

'Europe can act as a counterbalance to the views of George Bush. Hopefully we won't split in future like we did on Iraq and end up weak,' said Chris, who was among more than a million people who took to the streets of London to oppose the conflict.

Like his colleagues, Chris earns £56,000 a year and by all accounts he puts in the hours. Unfortunately, a minority let the side down, leading to feeling that MEPs are on the make.

'Every MEP does a different job,' says Chris, who took a telephone call from Liberal veteran Cyril Smith during our chat. 'Some are bone idle, others work every hour God sends.'

Chris, a born campaigner, does actually live in the region he represents, at Greenfield, near Oldham, unlike some of his North West colleagues. He has decided to concentrate on a few issues rather than attempt to do everything.

'I try to divide my time. For three days a week I work on environment legislation and meet with interest groups, listening to their arguments and trying to come up with my own arguments about how we should change legislation. The rest of the time is spent taking up political causes.

'We just had a vote at the Lib Dem conference on the issue of medically assisted suicide, like the case of Diane Pretty, and I can bring in European examples from countries like Holland and Belgium.'

With refreshing honesty, he added: 'I am a party politician. My job is to stand up for Lib Dem interests.'

Chris, 49, is married to Carol, a school teacher, with a daughter Kate, 12, and a competitive fell runner in his spare time. He believes the consensus politics of the European parliament achieves more than the confrontational courtroom-style operation at Westminster. And he certainly feels the EU offers value for money.

'It's 1% of the Gross National Product, the total budget, of which a lot comes back through subsidies - about 40% goes to agriculture and 30% through structural funds like Objective One, like Merseyside has got, and the rest is overseas aid and what have you and 5% on administration.'