Change is made by those who stand up and speak.

Today, we’re excited to launch a new initiative for our platform: Debating Europe Vote 2014!

With unemployment at record levels, rising extremism and popular discontent, Europe needs to hear YOUR voice. Get ready to take part in the largest ever exercise in EU e-democracy!

You can read more about Debating Europe Vote 2014 on our ‘About’ page here, and you can register to vote here.

To kick things off, we organised a head-to-head debate in the European Parliament between Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria and leader of the Party of European Socialists (which forms the Socialists & Democrats Group in the European Parliament), and Sir Graham Watson, President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (which is part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group in the European Parliament).

The debate was organised into three rounds, which we will be publishing over the course of this week. In each round, we take YOUR questions and put them to both men, and their answers will hopefully help you decide if you feel like voting for either group in our e-Vote. If you don’t fancy voting for either group, then stay tuned because we will be publishing answers from the other groups in the near future.

You can watch the first round of the debate – on the economy and the future of Europe – below.

Finished watching the debate? Did either of them convince you to vote for their group? Or would you prefer to vote for someone else? Then register an account and vote!

Watch the video below; the President of the European Parliament – Martin Schulz – and some of the leaders of the biggest groups in the European Parliament – Joseph Daul, Hannes Swoboda, Guy Verhofstadt and Daniel Cohn-Bendit – want YOU to take part in Debating Europe Vote 2014!

If you still can’t make up your mind, why not leave a comment on Debating Europe so that we can take it to MEPs and get them to respond? Ask them about the issues YOU find important, so you can get a better idea about the different ideologies and values held by the groups in the Parliament.

Change is made by those who stand up and speak, and YOUR voice needs to be heard!