EU Elections

‘If as a young person, you are never approached by a political party and their proposals do not speak to you, why would you go out and vote?’
said a member of the European Youth Forum. Source: Creative Christians
In a novel experiment, around 270,000
teenagers in Belgium will be able to vote
for the first time in the EU elections in
June, in an innovative attempt by one
of the 27 member states to give 16- and
17-year-olds a say.
At the most recent 2019 elections, the
bloc saw a historically impressive turnout,
with 50.6 percent of eligible citizens
going to the polls.
And that increase was mainly driven by
the under-25s — although paradoxically
they were also the age group with the
lowest overall turnout.
Now, the EU is hoping for a new youth
surge in turnout for the 2024 election,
If you don’t
defend it, the
EU is there
today — and
who knows
tomorrow?
Jaume Duch
and wants the idealism of the younger
generation to act as a barrier against populism,
as the far-right is expected to gain
ground across Europe.
“Young Europeans will become a wall of
democracy next June against this wave
of populism and hate that threatens to
attack Europe,” said EU Commission
vice-president Margaritis Schinas back
in January, when he publicly asked US
singer Taylor Swift to help get young Europeans
out to vote.
The general voting age in the EU is 18 —
but Belgium is not the only member state
that will allow people that age to vote.
Austria has done so since 2007, Malta
since 2018 and Germany adapted its elec-