Last but not least in our series of interviews with the presidents of the youth wings of the biggest European political parties, we’ll be focusing on the single most important question in the upcoming May elections: why should we vote for your party?
Now that you’ve heard the proposed solutions from each of the youth wing presidents to the problem of low voter turnout among young people and to youth unemployment, can they actually convince you to vote for them? How are the Centre-Right, the Social Democrats, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the Conservatives different from one another?
First up, we spoke to Kostas Kyranakis, President of the Youth of the European People’s Party. In his response, he points out that “this time it’s different”. Indeed, for the first time ever, you will be (indirectly) choosing the next EU Commission President when you vote in May. But can he convince you to vote for the Centre-Right?
Do you agree that Jean Claude Junker’s experience as the Prime Minister of Luxembourg for almost 20 years (and President of the Eurogroup during the crisis) is the great asset that sets him apart from other candidates? And will this experience help him lead the European Union to a better future?
If experience is a big asset, where does that leave Martin Schulz? Kaisa Penny, the President of the Young European Socialists, encourages voters to instead compare the different party manifestos to see what alternatives are out there to the Centre-Right’s economic policies.
According to Kaisa, the Social Democrats are “the best choice to lead the change that Europe desperately needs”. Then again, all parties have different ideas about what needs to be changed. Whereas Kaisa thinks that this means ending austerity policies and investing in creating jobs, Jeroen Diepemaat, President of the European Liberal Youth, believes that we should focus more on ensuring both market and individual freedom are strengthened in the European Union.
Next, we spoke to Michael Bloss, Co-spokesperson of the Federation for Young European Greens. Whereas other parties often focus on what should happen between now and the next election, the Greens argue they have a long-term vision for Europe over the next 30 years, including the transition to 100% renewable energies and jobs for young people. The Greens also believe that more European integration, democracy and transparency and including young people (their leading candidate – Ska Keller – is just 32 years old) will make Europe stronger and more prosperous in the long run.
Finally, we spoke with Tim Dier, Chairman of the European Young Conservatives. He criticises the three leading candidates (Jean-Claude Juncker, Martin Schulz and Guy Verhofdstad) for all being carbon copies (for instance, they all grew up within 100 kilometers of one another). Therefore, Tim thinks people should vote for the Conservatives as they are the only ones offering genuine reform.
Who will YOU vote for? Do you agree with the Conservatives that Europe is going in the wrong direction? Should we have more political integration or less? Have the Centre-Right’s economic policies been the best way to tackle the crisis? If not, who provides the best alternatives? VOTE for the party you think can best lead Europe to a better future in our Debating Europe Vote 2014!
Vote 2014
Voting is closed in our Debating Europe Vote 2014! The results are now in, so come and see what our readers thought!
17 comments Post a commentcomment
The young EPP has a Greek president?
I guess that’s what you call a traitor.
Xavier Schoumaker, wanna see a traitor? Come to Bulgaria, where you will see the PES president working for Russia. Violating EU laws and defends the mafia for stealing from EU funds.
antifederalists and anti-eu party all the way ofc
Right right right right.
Gonna vote German afd(euro sceptics) and make my parents and my sisters’ families do the same.None of them wanted to vote actually but I made them.
Might as well vote for NPD while you’re there too, because that’s where “less Europe” will lead us to.
We need a long-term vision to lead the right politics for European citizens. But we also need DE-MO-CRA-CY which is lacking at Europe to take care of the european problems.
That´s why we can say : GO GREENS !!!
É o direito da democracia moderna na Europa o voto pode mudar muitas decisões deste grande barco que é a Europa O voto pode trazer mais estabilidade mais ideas e mais futuro dentro do espaço da Europa
So let me get this straight:
Center-Right’s reason for why we should vote for him is “this time it’s different”<– heard that one before.
Next we have Social Democrats with their “the best choice to lead the change that Europe desperately needs” – which will translate ( like in France ) into "changing" our society to cater to corporations and lower social welfare for the needy.
Holland talked big and he cowered to corporate control eventually. He did not have the courage to press-on with taxing the wealthy and increasing help for the people. Why should these guys be any different?
The Greens – while i am all for green-tech this whole obsession with "jobs" will be the death of them.
And their plans are for 30 years while they won't last one election cycle in power to show what they can do. "Green" should be a feature of ALL parties not a party in itself.
And finally the Conservatives whose main critical point is that "hey they are born and grew too close to each other" ( /facepalm )
Only if the Radical Left cannot win i will change my vote, and it will go for the GREENS.
At least i'll know i tried to stop the total destruction of this continent by global warming effects.
Addendum: interestingly enough, i believe the exact opposite of EVERYTHING the conservative fellow just said :)
We need *more Europe*, we need an *European force* ( Putler made that very obvious ), etc
@Crayven
So despite the endemic corruption in the EU, despite the EU-created frightening debacle in Ukraine, despite the lack of democracy in the EU and despite the lack of EU accountability, YOU want more! LOL!
” we need an *European force”?
A cry heard many a time but completely unworkable. So just who would have the final say when this “force” gets deployed?
I guarantee that if such a force was already in existence when the Ukraine situation arose any attempt by the EU elite to deploy it would have been vetoed by many countries
A EU force will always be completely impotent as there will never be unanimity between countries when it should be deployed… and If it is decreed that only a majority decision is required for deployment then the countries who don’t agree will withdraw their support….. you will never have a country prepared to sacrifice its troops on an issue it doesn’t agree with and on the say so of some foreign commander…that is political suicide
Dear Karel, right… has already left!
Dear Karel, right… has already left!
Votar pela positiva, isto é Votar por uma União Europeia verdadeiramente democrática e defensora dos valores humanos.
EPP it’s the party that can help Europe to complete its process for becoming a real federation of States with the same aim.
“Do you agree that Jean Claude Junker’s experience as the Prime Minister of Luxembourg for almost 20 years is the great asset that sets him apart from other candidates? ”
ROFL, yes like being Prime Minister of a country with the population 1/16th of the City of London really gives him credibility doesn’t it?
What is really worrying is that he may very well be the most experienced out of the lot, but that is purely a reflection on just how unqualified any of them are for such a position…