Voter turnout in the European Parliament elections?

Especially the euro-sceptics lament over the falling trends for the voter turnout in the European Parliament elections. It was 43% this year which was slightly down from the 2004 election. However, so close as to question whether it was part of the trend or not.

The national parliament elections have higher turnout, that is true, but a comparative in size election, that of the US Congress, have comparable turnout. The Presidential elections have been around 50-55% the last decades and the Congressional elections are 10-15% lower than these.

Furthermore, only about 36% of Americans currently support the work performed by Congress. It is about 60% approval for Barack H. Obama at present but it was about 25% for George W. Bush last fall.

If it is the size of the democratic system in which the election takes place that matters, changes in the procedure is not likely to have much effect. The turnout is a symptom of the age because turnout have fallen in all Western styled democracies since the sixties.

Maybe we should be happy that nearly half of the population cares and accept this as sufficient legitimacy-rendering turnouts? What would be the alternative?