Lars Bosselmann - Germany/Belgium



“I have voted for 20 years: 5 years in Germany and now 15 (so far) in Belgium. I missed what should be have been my first elections: they were 16 days before my 18th birthday.

Something many people don’t realise is that secret ballots are not so secret when blind people vote. For example, the polling station in which I vote has electronic machines  so I always need to have an assistant voting for me. The assistant is an official from the polling station, so they will know who I voted for. I hope that they change the electronic machines, and all the polling stations, to be accessible.

It is really important that everyone in Europe votes for the European Parliament elections. I really believe in the European project and on what it brings to people, and I believe that it’s also our role, as citizens that believe in Europe, to counter populism and Euroscepticism. This is why I decided to a door-to-door campaign in France, where I lived, to explain to citizens what the EU does for them.

That said, I believe that the EU can be improved. I hope that, in the next years, we will see more commitment to the European project: education about how the EU works to citizens, more space for the citizens to express themselves and, in general, a more direct connection between the EU institutions and citizens. I would really like to see the role of the EU taught in school: informed citizens make informed decisions.”