On June 9th we will have European elections. Not wanting to use a well-worn expression, which is repeated at every electoral event, the truth is that these elections are really very important and decisive for Europe and for yours and ours. future. Elections that may seem distant to a large majority, in addition to the population’s lack of knowledge about the work carried out by Members of the European Parliament.
Like any self-respecting Democrat, I consider that significant electoral participation is always a good sign. However, we know how difficult it is to mobilize to participate in elections that seem very far away, even if, without Europe, our country would not have the level of investment and development that it has today.
In Portugal, we implemented a set of innovations in this electoral event to encourage people to go to the polls. In these elections, in an unprecedented way, any voter can vote at any polling station and without prior registration. The possibility of early voting remains. But, for the first time, the electoral rolls are digital, pointing the way to electronic voting. Personally, I defend electronic voting as the future, as long as security, equal access and the integrity of the process are guaranteed.
European integration is central to our country, and today it is relatively consensual, but we cannot forget that it was not always like this. Mário Soares, the pioneer with the “Europe with Us†summit in 1976, when the PS included membership in its electoral program, had to face at that time many of those who doubted and placed obstacles in the construction process. is European. Mário Soares was right, as he has always been in the country’s main challenges, something that very few can say. The summit with the participation of names like Willy Brandt, François Mitterrand, Bruno Kreisky, Felipe Gonzalez or Olaf Palme would go down in history, and began to change the way the international community began to look at the our country.
These elections are also central due to their framework. The international context of the war in Ukraine, the American elections, the conflict in the Middle East, the challenges of enlargement and cohesion are very clear. In the national and European context, the growth of the extreme right and the advance of populism needs to be stopped.
At the national level, the Socialist Party list is arguably the strongest. A list led by a woman who gave health management, especially during the pandemic, a sensitivity and firmness that the Portuguese will not forget. Trying to compare the confidence that Marta Temido gives to the Portuguese in relation to any other head of the list is a mistake and almost shameless.
And who is best placed to stop the extreme right? The AD is a member of the PPE that supports Ursula von der Leyen’s re-candidacy for president of the commission. A candidate who demonstrates that she will have no problem building bridges with right-wing extremist populism if this guarantees her re-election. Even recognizing the good response to the pandemic, the current President of the European Commission is someone full of controversy and was known as a bad defense minister in Germany, having become in 2019 a case of mismanagement. internal structure of the German CDU.
At the same time, the Government continues its path of permanent campaign and political instrumentalization of the State. At the level of the permanent campaign, it even reaches the point of not complying with the recommendations of the CNE – National Elections Commission, using this electoral period for announcements, inaugurations and a lot of marketing measures. A lack of republican ethics, reprehensible in every way.
This fact demonstrates that we are not facing a trustworthy Government. Just like the constant dismissals, exonerations and purges of directors of the Public Administration or state bodies, most recently occurring at the time of writing this article, that of the administration of AICEP, a nuclear agency to leverage the Portuguese economy, and where businesspeople with investment projects in our territory or with a desire to internationalize want is stability. And anyone who treats those who invest or go international like this certainly does not have the best vision for Europe.
