Fearing another abysmal turnout in next year’s European Union elections, the European parliament spin doctors have hit upon a solution – blast a ballot box into outer space.

Officials confirmed last week that talks are under way to send a ballot box into orbit ahead of next June’s poll, as part of a £21m public relations contract to boost the image of Brussels.

Turnout in the 2004 elections hit a low of 45.6% across the 25 nations. Only 38.9% of British people made it to the polls.

With the prospect of even greater apathy next year, Eurocrats have hired German PR firm Scholz & Friends, a company that was previously in charge of revamping Germany’s “boring” image during the 2006 World Cup.

The ballot box may accompany Frank de Winne, a Belgian astronaut, who is due to fly to the International Space Station in May.

“We want to show people that they can vote anywhere,” said Jaume Duch Guillot, the European parliament spokesman. MEPs have so far failed to be convinced. “Until Martians have the vote I think we would be better concentrating our efforts on something more tangible,” said Chris Davies, the Liberal Democrat MEP.

“What a bunch of space cadets,” said Martin Callanan, a Conservative MEP. “This is just silly and pointless. Don’t they think there is enough debris in space already without sending even more?”

The project echoes a 2005 stunt when Brussels launched a bound copy of the European constitution into space on a Russian rocket.

Three years on the constitution, both physically and politically, remains in orbit.

Space experts have warned that the amount of space junk has reached a critical level. Roughly 9,000 pieces of debris orbit the Earth, including a glove lost during a 1965 space walk and a pair of pliers.

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