What on earth should we vote for?

Through the window of the envelope, I saw that it was a voting card. I called out to my friend asking what on earth we were supposed to vote for now? ‘Something with the EU,’ was the answer I got. That’s when the panic set in a bit, because I really do my best to stay informed about politics, but I tend to skip the European level.

By the way, you can vote on May 23 for the Dutch members of the European Parliament, in case you, like me, didn’t know what was going on. So I just threw the big question on the table during lunch between the crackers and avocados: what are you actually voting for? If question marks could be visible above heads, I would have seen them. Of course, we had to vote, because we don’t have that right for nothing, and do you remember from two months ago at the provincial elections, but what was it about? still a bit tricky.

My first thought was that I would just vote for my old trusted party. Usually, I agree with them, so not much can go wrong. Right? But what if they suddenly behave very differently at the European level? Or are anti-EU? Or just pro-EU and you’re not? Then you might as well step away from your national preference and approach it differently at the European level. Guys, it feels like politics.

And while I’m typing this piece, I realize how good I have it. I get to say something about my municipality, about my province, about our country, and also about Europe. How privileged can you be? You have countries where men and women aren’t even allowed to vote or countries where elections are so manipulated that the results are too dirty to handle, and then there are countries where women have no say at all. And tomorrow I get to go to the polls for a whole f-ing continent. Meine gute, I suddenly feel the pressure.

Brings me back to my point that I still have no clue who or what to vote for, but I do know what I’m going to do tonight: study the EU and our parties. See you tomorrow at the polls.