By the EESC Workers’ Group

The European Parliament’s campaign ‘Use your vote, or others will decide for you’ is very apposite. Their election video, delving into the roots of the European project of building up a peaceful future from the ashes of war and genocide, strikes the right chord. Particularly nowadays, with extremism and apathy running amok, politics often seems to be more like a reality show than a true agora.

Do you really want to let others decide for you? They are already doing it and they are opting for austerity - again.

Our president Lucie Studničná said it loud and clear: we can’t afford another austerity crisis. The measures undertaken during the last financial crisis left some countries in a limbo of economic decline and brain drain. In Spain, Italy and Greece, unemployment remains high, and GDP per capita is still far away from 2008 levels. In response to this non-solution, we have had a surge of Euroscepticism and populism, enabled by a shift to the far right.

The new fiscal rules will leave most Member States toothless to face the climate and social challenges ahead. The promises of La Hulpe will ring hollow. Citizens will suffer, and the addition of extra economic difficulties, which governments will surely describe as ‘imposed from Brussels’, could be the last straw for many.

Democracy is not just about voting: civil society and trade unions are fundamental for maintaining its health. And yet, voting is not just a tool of legitimacy, and it is far from useless. It is a right hard-won by the efforts and often the lives of million people across many generations. And we can lose it.

Decisions on austerity are not set in stone. For these elections in June, and for all the national elections coming, we extend the call: use your vote. Don’t let it be taken away from you. Vote for social progress. Together, we can continue improving our countries and the European Union, and change what does not work.