I do agree with you regarding the figurehead. However, as with previous elections going back a long way, its now a case of voting out who you LEAST want in power nowadays with career politicians. I believe this is the same in a lot of countries now? I think for many though that UKIP is fast becoming the party speaking and pledging how everyone is feeling and has felt for many years and so far is the only party making these feelings heard and giving these people a voice while others are too scared of offending rather than doing what is right for the country.
There are many examples of why europe does not work for us anymore and this FTL 'force through' is another prime example to add to the list! Its in the interest of nobody except the least safe countries in europe meanwhile it is dragging down the safety standards of the nations who have managed to build a fairly solid set of FTL's over the years and everyone is being ignored to satisfy a bunch of non elected politicians' wishes. But what would we know...we just live through these FTLs/rosters and have done for decades in many cases!