European elections - 7th of June 09

Between the 4th and the 7th of June, all European citizens have the right, and may I add the duty, to elect their European Parliament.

If you're non German in Munich, you can find more information here .

Whichever your country of origin and your country of residence, you can get a lot of information on this website. There you will find information on what is the role of the parliament, but also on all the parties, whichever the country, to which European parties they belong, etc. It means that if you do not go and vote, you will not have the excuse of the "it is all the same" or "it is too complicated". You have everything explained to you.

Now I have to say, if you go on German Parties websites to read the programs, which I just did, you might get scared. They are very very fond of extra long sentences with extra long words, and if your German is not fluent, it is tough. Good for us, Auslander, they have short and long versions of the programs, some have it in English, you also have extrernal pages summarizing it for you and of course you can always ask your German friends or colleagues. Worse case scenario, you do not get a word, do not feel comfortable voting blind - which you should really not do - so think of the "Briefwahl". Voting in your homeland but through a letter, or sometimes at your consulat / Ambassy.

You also have parties regroupment, which are indicated on the European vote website: it shows you which party of each country gathered together. For example, the German CDU /CSU gathered with the French UMP, because they share common ground ideas. SPD gathers with PS; etc.

You have a loooot of possibilities to vote and express yourself, also as foreigner, and you should not pass on this opportunity because of misinformation, fear of hassle or lazyness. It is a big deal and we often to forgot how easy we have it. I don t want to play the Mummy eat-your-spinach-there-are-kids starving-in-africa but nevertheless, I kinda will.

A lot of people actually fight and risk their lives to obtain the rights to vote, so just because we have since decades, it does not mean we should not see the duty in it too. we owe it to ourselves and to the others to go and vote. It is something everyone of us should be proud to do. No matter what the ideas are, we live in free democratic countries and we actually empowered to choose who will guide us, and what will be done. I think that taking the time to research what the program of each party is and getting up on a Sunday morning is the very least each of us can do.

Too many people expect everything to come cooked in their hands but never take a stand, participate or do something. It is very easy to say "all rotten" and just spend your Sunday tanning next to the Isar. It really is easy, to not care of the election but then, when actions are taken by people you did not elect, to get upset. But the thing is, if this happens, you will have no right to complain about anything done in Europa, because you will have done nothing, not even vote. If you let the others decide for you, well, they will!

So please think about it. Get yourself on the lists of voters, and actually vote on Sunday 7.06. Voting is not just a right you use if you feel like it or if the weather gets bad. It is a chance, it is a duty and you should just take it as your damn right, and make sure you will express yourself and participate to the decision.

Here are a couple of links of the main parties to start checking the different programs:

CSU: http://www.csu.de/europawahl/wahlprogramm/1401093.htm
FDP: http://www.liberale.de/webcom/show_article_portal.php/_c-548/i.html
Grüne: http://www.gruene.de/europa.html
SPD: http://www.spd.de/de/politik/europa/manifeste.html

and here some videos and the popular "5 friends 4 Europe" (Do not vote! Except if...)