President Calls upon Young People to Understand their Right to Vote as an Opportunity

Ljubljana, 10.4.2009  |  press release

The President of the Republic, Dr Danilo Türk, attended a public debate on the active citizenship of young people and elections to the European Parliament, at which he addressed the participants of the debate and answered their questions. In his address, he spoke about active citizenship and stressed that this idea primarily requires thorough consideration and a good selection of topics seen as the priorities of society. In the President's words, such priorities include any election, including elections to the European Parliament.

The importance of the European Parliament and direct decision-making is growing, so the European Parliament must be taken seriously and issues connected with it must be seen, said the President. As an example, he pointed out the discrepancy between the relatively high level of confidence enjoyed by European institutions according to public opinion polls, and the low election turnout, which is often lower than that of elections to national institutions. Such low involvement is not good, noted President Dr Danilo Türk, since the European Parliament decides on an ever broader range of issues and is no longer merely an advisory body.

As a second problem, he pointed out that the European Union is based on the ideas of democracy, the rule of law and human rights; at the same time, however, its institutions are developing in circumstances in which there is no uniform European »demos« or environment of a politically developed public with a uniform, integral and pan-European character. Elections to the European Parliament are important stations on the way to the creation of a European »demos« and it will simply not occur without the active involvement of the electoral body, he explained.

President Dr Danilo Türk advised young people to ask those standing for election to the European Parliament, who will present themselves in the coming weeks, about their priorities, and to decide on the grounds of their answers and credibility. He said that he never understood his right to vote as an obligation, and advised young people to see it primarily as an opportunity. Each vote counts and election surprises exist, said the President and explained that he, too, had received forecasts that he would lose the presidential elections.