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The European elections that would be held in all member states between the 4th and the 7th of June this year, as always, pass under the shadow of internal political scuffles in member states. It is extremely rare to hear about Europe and its purpose in the world. But this is regretful because, especially after the financial-economic crisis, it would be more than curious what the next distribution of global powers would be. In this sense is the article of Paddy Ashdown, former UN special envoy to Bosnia and Herzegovina and now UN special representative in Afghanistan, for the "Guardian", called "The end of Western hegemony". Here's something interesting from the article:

"But that's not the end of the story. We, Europe, are losing the US as our protector of last resort and friend for all circumstances at a most difficult time. We now have an increasingly assertive Russia, prepared to use the lever of energy, skillful at dividing and ruling, asserting the old Brezhnev doctrine of spheres of interest and backing it with force if they need to. And we have a rising China. And increasing economic power in the East. If we do not realise that the right reaction of Europe to these new circumstances, is to deepen the integration of our institutions, especially when it comes to defence, foreign affairs and economic policy, then we are fools and the next few decades are going to be much more painful. I know this does not run with the mood of the times only a week or so from European elections. But the hard choice for us Europeans is nevertheless this; to be safer together; or to be poorer apart".

The bad thing is that these facts are being spoken for decades but, nevertheless, politicians in the EU cannot manage to motivate their voters to think more about Europe than for national interests. And this is easy to understand because it would be very difficult for countries with strong history like France, Italy, Germany, UK, Spain, Portugal, Greece etc. to give up their historical heritage and replace it with something else, which in fact is just a lid. But countries like Bulgaria accept much more Europe because they don't trust their governments. And this is understandable either because in Bulgaria there's no civil society that will have a goal and try to reach it.

There are several other reasons that might help you understand why do we have to vote. But, please take note that, although there's nothing untrue, this is in fact an advertisement of the EP.