In May 2019, the European Union will organize its elections in order to elect, for five years, the Members of the European Parliament and the new President of the European Commission. In a context of the euroscepticism rise, all over the European Union, ALDA is convinced that this future vote holds a primary importance.
Indeed, some major issues are linked to the European elections: more than a simple poll of our future European representatives, the 2019 vote will take place in a post Brexit context. Expression of a populist vote, the Brexit vote has highlighted the cleavages within the European Union and raised some doubts. Yet, ALDA strongly believes that the European Union has to stay united. In order to do so, it is necessary to engage the 500 millions of European citizens to participate to these elections by using their voices and voting.
Since the first election of the European Parliament in 1979, the participation rate has decreased continuously: from 61,99% in 1979, it dropped to 42,61% in 2014, a record. The trust in the European institutions, impacted by the several crisis that the European Union had to face these past years, has also fallen: from 1993 to 2017, the trust in the European Parliament decreased by almost 10% (54% in 1993, 45% in 2017). Therefore, the European elections of 2019 are the occasion to put back some meaning, more transparency and legibility in the European Union, in leading the European citizens to the polls.
The European Parliament is the only institution that is elected by direct universal suffrage and that directly represents the European citizens as such. For this reason, to elect a Member of the European Parliament is an important act: their decisions impact our daily lives. It is the European Parliament that votes the European Union legislations together with the Council of the European Union on the basis of the European Commission proposals, that exerts a democratic control on all the European institutions, that elects the President of the European Commission, that approves the budget of the European Union, etc. It will be the representatives we will decide to vote for in May 2019 who will be in charge of these significant tasks.
Aware of this major issue, one of ALDA’s priorities in the coming months will be to engage the citizens in the 2019 campaign, to report the importance of this event and ultimately to lead the Europeans to vote.
Check-out the webpage of the campaign: YOU4EU – Towards the European elections 2019
In May 2019, the European Union will organize its elections in order to elect, for five years, the Members of the European Parliament and the new President of the European Commission. In a context of the euroscepticism rise, all over the European Union, ALDA is convinced that this future vote holds a primary importance.
Indeed, some major issues are linked to the European elections: more than a simple poll of our future European representatives, the 2019 vote will take place in a post Brexit context. Expression of a populist vote, the Brexit vote has highlighted the cleavages within the European Union and raised some doubts. Yet, ALDA strongly believes that the European Union has to stay united. In order to do so, it is necessary to engage the 500 millions of European citizens to participate to these elections by using their voices and voting.
Since the first election of the European Parliament in 1979, the participation rate has decreased continuously: from 61,99% in 1979, it dropped to 42,61% in 2014, a record. The trust in the European institutions, impacted by the several crisis that the European Union had to face these past years, has also fallen: from 1993 to 2017, the trust in the European Parliament decreased by almost 10% (54% in 1993, 45% in 2017). Therefore, the European elections of 2019 are the occasion to put back some meaning, more transparency and legibility in the European Union, in leading the European citizens to the polls.
The European Parliament is the only institution that is elected by direct universal suffrage and that directly represents the European citizens as such. For this reason, to elect a Member of the European Parliament is an important act: their decisions impact our daily lives. It is the European Parliament that votes the European Union legislations together with the Council of the European Union on the basis of the European Commission proposals, that exerts a democratic control on all the European institutions, that elects the President of the European Commission, that approves the budget of the European Union, etc. It will be the representatives we will decide to vote for in May 2019 who will be in charge of these significant tasks.
Aware of this major issue, one of ALDA’s priorities in the coming months will be to engage the citizens in the 2019 campaign, to report the importance of this event and ultimately to lead the Europeans to vote.
Check-out the webpage of the campaign: YOU4EU – Towards the European elections 2019