Brussels, 19/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 19 February, the League of Young Voters and International IDEA (the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) published a report on the growing disinterest of most young people in European elections. According to the authors of the report, young people notice no real interest from European political parties in issues that young people care about. This discourages young people from turning out to vote.
During the 2009 European elections, the rate of youth abstentionism was 65% - with wide variations between the member states (just 18% of young people in the UK voted, compared with 59% in Sweden). The presumed abstentionism among young people in this year's European elections is clearly linked to socio-economic factors. In their pre-electoral campaigns, the political parties do not target young people because young people do not vote much, the authors of the report state. However, the authors dismiss the often quoted argument that young people's not voting is a form of protest against the EU. Young people rather want to express satisfaction with the EU, the authors state, but feel that European political parties are not interested in the issues that young people care about. Indeed, none of the political manifestos speak effectively about these issues. The report makes several recommendations for motivating young people more: (1) establish quotas for young MEPs (25% of MEP candidates should be less than 35 years old); (2) clearly highlight issues of concern to young people in the pre-electoral campaigns; (3) target key groups in the campaigns - such as people suffering from social exclusion, students and young electors who are voting for the first time; (4) involve social media more in order to raise awareness among young electors; (5) simplify the process of voting; (6) lower the minimum voting age required for the European elections. (IL/transl.fl)