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Europeans often grumble that the European Union is run by anonymous apparatchiks. Surely they're not referring to Prince Emmanuel Filiberto of Savoy, grandson of Italy's last king, who is campaigning for this week's European Parliament elections. Or to Rickard Falkvinge, the founder of Sweden's Pirate Party, whose campaign rallying cry is for free file-sharing on the Internet. Or to Elena Basescu, a.k.a. Romania's Paris Hilton; the flashy It girl, who happens to be the daughter of the Romanian President, also wants to become an MEP.

With candidates like these, it's easy to forget that the European Parliament shapes Europe's policies on vital issues like climate change, banking rules and immigration law. Yet when elections roll around every five years, the august...