How to get young people into politics and to the ballot box
In Albert Einstien's view "common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18". If that's the case, young people must surely be well informed to vote! A recent public hearing in Parliament looked at ways of getting young people interested in politics and subsequently to the ballot box. Polls have shown high levels of interest in local, national and European politics but translating that into voting habits is proving harder.
Lowering the voting age, a "culture of participation" and giving people "a dream" were all cited as ways of getting younger people involved in politics. Romanian Liberal Democrat Daniel Petriu Funeriu struck an idealistic yet sober note when he said: "Young people need a dream. Once they have a dream they will want to participate. But who really dreams the ‘European Dream’? Maybe we have failed systematically to deliver it." A poll conducted in 2007, found that 82% of people aged 18-30 are interested in national politics and 66% were interested in EU current affairs. However, only 5% were members of a political party. Lower the voting age?
At the 17 February hearing, Austrian Liberal MEP Karin Resetarits talked about last year's National Council elections in her home country when the voting age was dropped to 16. She remarked that it was "a slap in the face: every second young person voted for a right-wing party!" German Socialist Lissy Gröner Member said, "lowering the voting age is not enough. It is not only the parents who talk to their children, but many extreme parties focus their campaigns on young people." "Take the youth’s perspective"
Pieter Lietaer is a member of the International Youth Policy staff of the Flemish Youth Council. He said that "policy makers don’t always have to agree with young people, but they should make clear when they do and when they don’t. Take the youth’s perspective, inform them, and they will pronounce their opinion." Tine Radinja the President of the European Youth Forum said, "we need to create a culture of participation; but only the informed youth can be active citizens." Tick-box participation or real involvement? For Jillian Turnhout from the European Economic and Social Committee, participation needs to be fostered as an evolutionary process throughout childhood and adolescence: “Do we want tick-box participation or real involvement?" she said. The European Union's "Youth in Action Programme" involves 100,000 people in 6,000 projects with the aim of getting people involved in politics and making them more aware and more active in civil society.