Vox Populi: Maria Laura Franciosi from Rome, Italy

1. What are your expectations/hopes from these elections?

For the first time since the first European Parliament elections in 1979, when not many people -especially young people – bothered to vote (maybe because of the novelty or because they had no idea of what Europe meant to them) I sense that this time it will be different. Young people I talk to seem determined to take their future in their own hands and vote. This is very positive. Obviously, my great hope is that these young people will vote not only with their heads but also with their hearts. They know that their future is firmly in their hands, not in the hands of populists who have no idea of what solidarity is. The future of Europe is a future of sharing, of involvement, based on those values which form the foundations of the European construction. The date of Brexit is getting closer and there is still no clear plan. Many young people feel that this is not acceptable because for many their future may also depend on its outcome. The threat of Europe coming apart could become a reality especially if Britain leaves regardless whether in an orderly or disorderly way.

 

 

2. Do you/people in your member state still have faith in the EU to deliver?

Absolutely, yes. Europe is all of us, Europe is not those distant bureaucrats closed in an ivory tower who decide about our future as many populist governments want us to think. The decisions are ours, they are taken by our governments and we have to work with these governments to prepare a better future. And if the governments do not want to follow that path, we change them. Student marches in several countries demanding greater environmental protection are the best indications that they realize that this future is in their hands also and that those hands have to work together for this.

3. Will you be voting? If so, who for (if you are willing to say)?

I will vote in Belgium for Italian candidates as an Italian citizen. And I will certainly not vote for right wing or populist parties. They are very far away from my ideas and their “vision” is not the one I share.

 

 

4. Tell us some very brief persona/biographical details about yourself?

Long career in journalism, but also a teacher and university lecturer, writer and politically engaged, with the fixed idea of helping young people find jobs given the great difficulties I had in finding mine.