Why vote on June 9? A decisive vote for the future of the European continent.

Why vote on June 9? This question will be at the heart of many discussions over the next few days, without always finding obvious answers... yet there's no shortage of answers... Here are at least three.

Do we have the right to betray the hopes of the world's youth in democracy?

European voters are rarely aware of it, but elections to the European Parliament are not neutral for the world. Europe may no longer be the epicenter of the world, but the European Union is still the only political construction to bring liberal democracy to life for its citizens in a collegial manner, with parliamentarians elected from twenty-seven countries! This reality is not lost on young people in Asia, Africa or South America. Nor does it escape the world's totalitarian regimes, for whom democracy remains an existential threat.

In Europe, the sacrifice of Ukrainian youth to live free within the European family, far from Russian dictatorship, deserves our respect and our vote. No young Ukrainian of fighting age dies on the front line with a weapon in his hand for pleasure. No young Ukrainian woman exults at the idea of giving birth in a maternity hospital bombarded by Russian artillery. Yet this is the daily life of Ukrainian youth, whose dreams of happiness were shattered in February 2022 on the altar of Russian imperialism and colonialism.

In Tbilisi, Georgia, young people are also demonstrating to escape the Russian yoke by challenging legislation imported from Moscow to muzzle civil society. With exemplary courage and incredible dignity, they are confronting blind repression designed to crush the European hopes of Georgian youth.

The European Union needs a “Positive Parliament” designed to build the future, not glorify a past condemned by History.

In a world undergoing profound change (climatic, geopolitical, geo-economic, technological, sociological, etc.), faced with the realities of imperialism, nationalism and islamism, the European Union needs a solid, stable political majority in the European Parliament, the heart of European democracy. The European Commission must be able to face the future calmly and, above all, effectively from a legislative point of view. In this respect, the “battle of June 9” will be a crucial one for the future of the European Union.

At present, the legislative weight of the European far-right and the European radical left is insignificant in the European Parliament. Neither the extreme right-identitarian (RN), nor the extreme reactionary right (Reconquête), nor the radical left (La France Insoumise), converted to neo-communism tinged with islamism, have sufficient weight to influence the work of the Parliament.

The French far-right, via the Rassemblement National, has been present in the European Parliament for almost half a century, contributing nothing to the development of European integration. It has consistently opposed all the Union's successes (the creation of the single market, German reunification, the creation of the euro, the implementation of the Schengen area, the management of the opening of the Union to Central and Eastern Europe, the fight against the pandemic, the decarbonization of the economy... ), always defending the interests of the repressive Russian regime, allied with the Chinese Communist Party and North Korea, against European interests.

If the European far right, united on nothing and divided on everything, is a legislative dead end for the Union, it is also a political dead end for the European continent, with its sole credo the sterile valorization of an idealized past to the detriment of a bold collective projection to tame the future under the best possible conditions for all Europeans. In reality, the “battle of June 9” is a battle for the future, a battle to resist and exist in the face of the United States of America and China. We have six years to map out our future prosperity and ensure our collective security. After 2030, it will be too late...

France's influence in the European Parliament will be limited without a useful vote for the future.

After June 9, France will have the highest number of MEPs (81) behind Germany and ahead of Italy. The majority coalition in the European Parliament currently comprises center-right conservatives (including Les Républicains in France), Social Democrats and Liberals represented by Renaissance in the Renew group. Sending “zombie deputies” to the European Parliament (i.e., absent, transparent deputies with no influence on the governance of the Parliament and/or the management of its legislative work) is tantamount (even if the political logic of the European Parliament is transnational) to diluting French influence on key issues such as forthcoming accessions (Ukraine, Moldavia, Georgia) or the creation of a European defense to protect the Union's borders from external aggression from third countries such as Russia. France's voice in the European Parliament will be totally inaudible with extremist pro-Russian MEPs who have no European culture, experience or expertise. Loyalty to totalitarian regimes (Chinese, Russian, Iranian...) will be of no use tomorrow in ensuring the security and prosperity of the European continent.

The European Union is currently lagging behind the United States in terms of demographics, technology and production. The Union will not be able to stay in the race for world leadership without making serious adjustments to its governance and its relationship with the world. The “battle of June 9” must be won by all those who love the European continent, to strengthen a unique space in the world, a space of freedom, equality and fraternity between peoples, a space regulated by law, not by the blind violence of totalitarian regimes condemned by History!

On June 9, let's vote for the future of the European continent, let's vote for the future of the European Union.

Xavier Grosclaude I President of Fenêtre sur l'Europe