At least, the two main parties in Parliament found an important issue about which to agree wholeheartedly: the granting of voting rights to young citizens aged sixteen. It might be that in the hurry to agree and to show that they agreed, some leading questions were not given sufficiently comprehensive answers. But it does not really matter (?). The crux is that agreement has been registered, right?
Still, beyond the splash about how as a country, we have introduced this reform well before many others, some intriguing questions persist. For instance, why has sixteen been set as the limit, not seventeen, not fifteen?
Then there are the questions about how a sixteen year old voter cannot drink alcohol in public – drive a car – or marry freely – and not undertake acts of a legal nature... – or even, if I have correctly understood the situation, not stand for election as a councillor? a mayor? an MP? All this apart from considerations regarding the ability of an elected sixteen year old to also cope with the requirements of the school he/she attends.
Perhaps after all, the extension of the vote to sixteen year olds could have benefitted from a more radical debate.
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Abortion
A cold “war” is proceeding currently in the media over the issue of abortion. It could be that the referendum being prepared in Ireland on the subject is stoking interest. But it seems as if strong underlying currents are also pushing the controversy forward locally. Regularly, media inputs appear which in the strongest terms, proclaim that abortion is so much against the diktats of God and the nature of man.
There are regular inputs as well, even if more prudent and less frequent, which insert claims in favour of the point that women should have the right to decide what happens to their own bodies. This second camp advances arguments that can hardly be dismissed outright, while those who oppose them know they have the backing of quite a big majority in the country at large.
I am in the curious position of being for half the week in a country where the anti-abortion frame of mind dominates. Then I find myself for the other half of the week, in a society where in the most natural manner as well as in the strongest terms, abortion is considered as a fundamental right of women.
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Elections in Italy
On the left, the Italian elections are being presented as a challenge that has to be won in order to safeguard European values and a pro-Europe commitment in the country. Anti-EU sentiment has been allowed to grow excessively and there is a need, as Macron did in France, to give people the chance to record their agreement with the European project. The line being plugged is that only the left can provide this opportunity.
The snag is that as a matter of fact, the left is split. Not every body agrees about how the first priority should be to make a stand against “anti”-Europe forces. The most vital stand that should be made, so it is claimed, must be against austerity in Europe, for it has put too many burdens on workers and their families. In a different frame and with a different emphasis, similar positions have been adopted among German social democrats.
Meanwhile, there is an election campaign that must be fought.