Written by Silvia Kotanidis.
Involving young people could be considered an ethical requirement in any inclusive approach to the policy-making process. However, while young people are often the direct addressees of specific policy initiatives, their voices are little heard – whether at Member State or EU level.
Over the past 5 to 6 years, the younger generations have been able to claim more attention from politicians, and from society at large, on matters they close to their hearts. A case in point was the school climate strikes movement in 2018 and 2019. However, the impact of policies on younger generations cannot be perceived through the lens of adults alone. It is widely acknowledged that more attention needs to be given to the voices of young people themselves.
For this reason, Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to listen to young people’s voices in a structured way during her second term as European Commission President. One of the tools she intends to deploy are youth policy dialogues, to be organised on an annual basis. In addition, a ‘youth check’ is expected to be implemented from 2025. While more details of both initiatives will emerge as the new Commission starts work, the new Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport, Glenn Micallef, sketched an outline of the plan during his confirmation hearing in the European Parliament.
Currently, an overview of existing tools through which EU institutions can interact with young people shows that young people’s participation is receiving attention, albeit in an unsystematic way. The new Commission has pledged to enrich these tools in order to give an innovative boost to young people’s participation in EU policy-making, and to focus EU decision-makers’ attention more sharply on intergenerational fairness and young people’s needs.
Read the complete briefing on ‘Youth policy dialogues: Young people’s participation in EU policy-making‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.
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