The citizen movement WeMove launched a campaign to unite the European Union and encourage Europeans to use their ballots in next month's elections "to make the EU a better place for people and planet", Tuesday 30 April, at a press conference in Brussels.
Entitled "No to Hate, Yes to Change", this campaign brings together NGOs and local groups from all over Europe who, as the name of the initiative indicates, wish to say "No" to the fear and hate that far right extremists are trying to exploit in order to divide Europeans, and "Yes" to change.
"We are calling on people to vote for the kinds of leaders and representatives who will change things and build a better kind of Europe that goes back to its original values," said Laura Sullivan, Executive Director of WeMove.
According to the organisation, this change is necessary to respond to the "enormous challenges" facing the EU, such as the rise of the extreme right and corporate power, the climate crisis and the increase in inequality and the threat to women's rights.
"We need decision-makers who are up for fighting climate change and inequality", said Maria Mayrhofer, executive director of "#Aufstehn", a community of more than 190,000 Austrian citizens. She further asserted: "In Austria, the desire for positive change instead of a politics of fear and hate is shared among many in civil society”.
On 19 May, a few days before the European elections, WeMove and its national partners will organise a day of unity across Europe, with the hope that hundreds of thousands or more people will take to the streets to express their desire for change and their opposition to hate.
To consult the campaign website: http://www.yestochange.eu (Damien Genicot - intern)