‘Use your vote’. EU Parliament for voter participation: “Don’t let others choose for you”

Brussels – “Use your vote. Or others will decide for you.” Following the launch of the communication campaign ahead of the June 6-9 European elections, the EU Parliament seeks to push voter participation in the 27 EU member states with a voting awareness program along several lines. In particular with a short film highlighting the historic significance of the electoral appointment for the renewal of the members of the European Parliament for the tenth time since the birth of the united Europe.

“Democracy in the European Union is more important today than ever; your vote will decide what direction Europe will take in the next five years,” is the appeal of the President of the EU Parliament, Roberta Metsola, launching the new phase of the communication campaign for the elections that “will decide the Europe we will live in.” Just as demonstrated by the short film Use Your Vote, which collects the testimonies on democracy of some senior citizens from different member countries to pass them on to new generations and make clear how this right cannot be taken for granted.

The EU institution has already set up a specially dedicated portal in the 24 official languages of the EU with all the useful information, updates on member states, and the possibility to register in the community designed to encourage active participation in organizing and promoting elections.
However, with the vote just over a month away, it is critical for the EU Parliament to remind EU citizens and voters of the importance of actively defending democracy, given the recent history of many current member countries that saw their individual freedoms curtailed in the second half of the twentieth century (following Europe’s common experience of World War II).

In anticipation of the June 6-9 event, the EU Parliament will promote an EU-wide election awareness day on May 9 (Europe Day), which will also include illuminating several monuments-including the Colosseum with the EU flag and the Use Your Vote inscription. On the other hand, as far as moments of information and debate are concerned, to mark on the calendar is the Eurovision Debate, the May 23 confrontation between the Spitzenkandidaten of the European political families, including the current President of the EU Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, for the European People’s Party (EPP), organized by the European Broadcasting Union (the organization that, precisely, organizes the Eurovision Song Contest).