Of course if you are in the UK or the Netherlands, you might have voted already, then well done! I am going to vote on Sunday, and just wanted to check in quickly to make sure all my fellow European voting citizens still hesitating will cast their votes.
I know, I am late with this for the British and the Dutch (to be fair, it might not matter at all for the former), but I hope this urging will help some of you. In my country, it is a common tendency that participation is extremely low on European elections compared to other elections. This is despite the fact that every poll shows a good majority of Hungarian people supporting the EU as an institution.
For me, I am a lifetime advocate of multilateralism and international organizations. I strongly believe that this day and age a nation state can only thrive as part of the international community, committing to globalism for better or worse. For even if there may be downsides, the problems of our time (climate change, international terrorism, ever changing trends of world economy, just to name the most important few) can only be tackled working side by side and not against one another.
Long before Hungary joined the European Union, I was at this opinion,and the EU referendum (about joining) was actually one of the first elections I participated in as a young adult, and I have kept believing in the ideals of the EU ever since.
I have expressed my opinion about participating in elections whenever we are presented with the opportunity here, it does stand for European parliamentary elections too. If you are hesitating because you have no idea what the European Union is about, here’s a quick crash course for you:
You can also find great educational material here and here. If you are hesitating because politics in your country doesn’t make any kind of voting appealing, try to look past that (that’s what I do) and think all the positive the EU is providing you and your country with.
I read from EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini recently that “Europe is what we make of it”. This weekend is our chance for making something out of Europe, let’s not waste it!
