Seventeen million European Union residents blocked from the ballot | Symbolic voting in Berlin with Demokratie in Der Mitte | Séverine Lenglet of Citizens For Europe | Lucy Thomas of Give Something Back to Berlin
You may have heard how large numbers of European Union citizens in Britain could not exercise their right to vote in the bloc’s elections. They were disenfranchised by British ineptitude and perhaps outright discrimination. But look beyond that group and there are 17.5 million more EU residents of voting age formally excluded because they lack a European passport. A significant number of them are in Berlin, where civil society groups are fed up that so many of the city’s residents are blocked from the ballot. This week we’re in the German capital to talk about these residents without voting rights with Séverine Lenglet of Citizens For Europe. We also cast a make-believe ballot in a symbolic EU election with James Rosalind of Demokratie in Der Mitte. We begin the show with Lucy Alice Thomas, the executive director of Give Something Back to Berlin, a group that brings together migrants, locals and refugees. Lucy spoke with us at Refugio, a venue where many old and new Berliners live and work together.