Global Challenges

Introduction

“Democracy requires effort, deserves bravery, needs leadership.”European Parliament President, Roberta Metsola, G7-Conference in Berlin, 2022

The recent decline in voter turnout in the EU-elections, especially among younger people, poses a huge threat to our democracy. For instance, the last EU-election had a voter turnout of just barely over 50%, which is less than in a majority of national elections. There is also a notable contrast between regions, with central and eastern Europe generally having lower voter turnouts than western regions.

Another problem is the imbalance in the availability and accessibility of information regarding politics and democracy itself. Due to fake news and the lack of independent and unbiased journalism and media in some countries, misinformation had and still has the opportunity to spread quickly. Additionally, freedom of press is not fully developed in all member countries, some even going as far as not reporting about any political opinion opposing the governments at all. 

The shift in attitudes towards civil and political engagement has its own set of challenges. Not educating people, especially youngsters, about politics has been a powerful tool of anti-democrats, assuring that yet another generation doesn’t question the ones in power. Often, it’s not the lack of interest that keeps Europe’s youth from education, but the current school system. This is why we, as representatives of European youth, demand the following actions on the part of the European Union:

Demands

• establish mandatory unbiased political education in secondary schools
• organize easily accessible youth parliaments
• organize campaigns on how to properly inform yourself on current EU policies, also in non-election times
• provide laws in more understandable language
• strengthen European cooperation and identity