Borrellian Democracy

In case you have not read about it yet, Josep Borrell (president of the EU parliament) has recently said, more or less, that the opinions in certain countries, that weren't involved in the second world war, should not be given any consideration in EU matters like the two-seat policy. Since his own home country (Spain) didn't join either side in the war, we can only presume that he has managed to set aside nationalistic sandbox thinking and is genuinely concerned about the greater common good, that he really has good reason to say such a thing. Being the president of the EU parliament, his opinions must be given the weight that they deserve.

Participation and suffering in the second world war should be made a criteria for being allowed to vote in European elections. To start with, this would mean that countries like Sweden and Spain would be prohibited from taking part in them; if they didn't take part in World War II, they have no right to take part in important European decisions today.

This applies to the younger generations as well. Anybody born after 1945 can't be said to have taken part in the war and should therefore not be allowed to vote either; anything else would be unfair. Considering that most individuals don't really remember very much from before they were 4 years old, though, the limit should rather be set to 1941.

We should also make an exception for all the brave volunteers who did join the armed forces of countries involved in the war, no matter if they fought for the communists, the fascists or the democrats; after all, it is the war experience and not the personal values that really matter in this vision of a healthy democracy. Another exception should also be made for the American war veterans, who would be made honorary Europeans and allowed to vote in EU elections and why shouldn't they be? If it weren't for them, we would all be speaking German and Russian now.

We who have signed this petition support the vision of democracy that Josep Borrell has revealed to us and urge anyone reading this to do the same and spread the word of this petition. If a sufficient amount of signatures is collected, we can make the dream become a reality.

We urge the EU commission to, with minimal delay, make this vision of democratic rights in Europe come true. We can't have every single adult running around with democratic power without having done something to earn it. Voting should be a citizen privilege, earned through participation in warfare, not a civilian right. Give us a healthy and responsible democracy!