The PES Common Candidate and PvdA Lead Candidate for the European elections, Frans Timmermans, was out campaigning in his home country this weekend ahead of the Dutch provincial vote.
Speaking to young people on the campaign trail, the PES Common Candidate said:
“Our future lies entirely in your hands. I cannot emphasise that enough. What that future will look like, you will decide. The direction in which we travel is up to you. But, I want to ask you for one thing: don’t ever be indifferent. Choose clearly. Choose right or choose left. Choose for each other or choose for yourself. But choose. Society suffers most, not because of people who have opinions or desires different to my own, but because of people who don’t have opinions, who don’t have desires, who are indifferent. The biggest threat to your generation is indifference. Don’t let it happen that you become indifferent. If you succeed in that, the world will be all right.”
In Rotterdam the PES Common Candidate visited the Krachtvrouwen (Powerwomen), a diverse group of women fighting poverty, language deficiency and isolation in their neighbourhood. He also talked to local young people who, with the help of the Buzinezzclub, are getting ready for new employment. Later, at the PvdA’s “Hackathon for the 99%”, Frans Timmermans brainstormed with young people to find ways to create a fairer, more inclusive society.
Frans Timmermans ended the day in Maastricht, his city of birth, where he had a Q&A with local students and party activists and opened the regional PvdA campaign for the European elections.