“A record-breaking number of people have signed up in the European Parliament THISTIMEIMVOTING campaign, aimed at encouraging European citizens to exercise their voting rights. 10 days before the election, as many as 300 thousand people have signed up in the THISTIMEIMVOTING.eu campaign across Europe. Italy comes just after Germany”. This was said last night by Valeria Fiore, manager of the European Parliament Liaison Office in Italy, as she opened the event “#STAVOLTAVOTO: Spizziamoci i candidati”, organised by the EP and by the European Commission for the debate with the Spitzenkandidaten, the first candidates on the list for the presidency of the next European Commission. Many are the topics addressed in the debate: from environmental issues to the fight against climate change, from young people to innovation, from creativity to food, to find out more about the Europe that will come after 26^th May. Fiore, during the meeting in Rome, spoke of the negative feeling that many citizens have about Europe: “Such feeling stems from their being not properly aware of the role the EU plays and the efforts it makes, every day. For instance, in the case of the funds received by the local authorities, few people know that they are allocated by Europe. Then, the States tend too often to ‘blame’ the European Union when in fact decisions are not taken through a European legislative procedure”.

“THISTIMEIMVOTING, then, wants to tell us that the EU concerns all of us. Sometimes, more than we can imagine. A realisation that must start from the schools. This is exactly why many of the events included in the campaign have put young people at the centre. At the previous round, 30% of young people had actually abstained just because they did not regard the event as important”.