Citizens’ ability to influence European Union policy mainly takes place through national elections and European Parliament elections in member states, which means that young people without voting rights have very marginal opportunities to influence European policy. The EU Youth Initiative is JEF Finland’s own innovation, which, if realised, would give young people without voting rights a way to bring the issues they consider important onto the European Parliament’s agenda.
“It is essential that the European Parliament also hears the voice of young people who cannot yet vote. The active participation and being heard of absolutely all young people is vital for Europe’s future,” comments JEF Finland President Iiris Asunmaa.
When decisions are made about Europe’s future, younger generations are easily left in the shadow of their elders. Young people’s own voice is heard weakly in European Union decision-making, even though minors, too, have a huge number of ideas and a strong desire to take part in deciding on EU matters.
“One of the goals mentioned in the EU Youth Strategy is bringing the EU closer to young people. The youth initiative we have devised would be a very concrete way to strengthen young people’s commitment to the European project and to increase young people’s voice in the European Parliament. I really hope that, for instance, Finnish MEPs will take up our idea,” Asunmaa continues.
The EU Youth Initiative proposed by JEF Finland is not a legislative initiative by nature, but a discussion initiative. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has committed in her programme to advancing initiatives that come from the European Parliament, so at best, the plenary discussions based on youth initiatives could lead to concrete changes at the EU level.
An electronic system would be created for young people without voting rights, through which they could submit their own initiative proposals and vote on proposals submitted by other young people. The proposal receiving the most votes would advance to become that member state’s annual youth initiative, and the young person who submitted it would be offered the opportunity to present their initiative to the European Parliament’s plenary session. The European Parliament would commit to discussing, in its plenary session, the youth initiative submitted by each member state for a predetermined period of time.
“Parliament has expressed a desire to meet directly with young people it would not otherwise normally encounter. The youth initiative would offer an excellent opportunity for such an encounter. In addition, schools, upper secondary schools and vocational institutions could make use of the initiative opportunity as part of EU education,” Asunmaa concludes.
Read more about the EU Youth Initiative we devised!