Why should we bother about elections?
May 2019 is definitely a politically intense time. Today is the final day of the elections to the European Parliament, which was being held all over Europe during recent days. I have recently became an adult, so this is the first time when I am able to "impact the world".
This fact led me to a serious reflection and I realized how incredibly important these elections are. As an European Union (I would even say as a whole world) we are witnessing a serious crisis nowadays. Conflict in Iran, Brexit, Venezuelan crisis, Global Warming are issues that may seem to be distant, but actually they may affect you directly, no matter from which corner of the world you are.
This is the reason why choosing the leadership of the institution with the combined GDP almost equal to United States is so important. Apart of the global problems, European Parliament has a direct impact on decisions regarding EU citizens. Many of them are controversial and raised a lot of hype, so I think it is important to analyze them and choose an appropriate politician according to your beliefs. Even if you are not the EU citizen, I think that discussing such topics is always valuable - you never can be sure what reforms your government will come up with.
Brexit
Brexit is a symbol of a current Euroscepticism among EU citizens and politicians. This attitude is constantly gaining popularity nowadays, and many people consider EU as an institution with primarily negative impact on its members. This situation is most likely caused by disagreement between EU and some member state governments (e.g. Poland's migration policy). Increasingly can be heard that Europe should only cooperate on an economic field. Therefore, current elections may drastically change the shape of European integration.
Acta 2
Acta 2 is probably the most important in terms of Steem community. Some people claim that this directive will lead to the censorship of the Internet and smaller services will not be able to afford complex analysis of published content in respect of authors' rights abuses. Such scenario would definitely be disastrous for Steemit, DApps and similar websites. On the other hand there were plenty of fake news regarding Acta 2, so we cannot be sure how it is going to actually impact the Internet. Most of people on Steem are creators, and perhaps this regulation will bring fairer principles and prevent abuses in our work.
Global Warming
Global Warming raises plenty of emotions in my country, most likely because our energetic system is almost fully based on coal. Additionally, in December 2018, a city of my origin - Katowice - has been the host of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change which only added a fuel to the flames of social discussion.
Some politicians claim that Global Warming does not exist, others say that it will cause the extinction of humankind. Regardless of what the truth is, we need to be aware that current elections will surely impact the Europe's approach to the climate changes. United States have already withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, and some European politicians declare similar intents.
Share your opinion
Mentioned issues are only the tip of a very interesting iceberg that we could discuss through all day. I have chosen these three topics, because they are controversial and I believe they will be significantly affected by the result of the current elections. I would be really glad to hear your view on these issues and the future shape of the European community.