JEF Finland’s goals for the 2024 European Parliament elections were published at the Europe Forum on 31 August 2023. To mark the launch, JEF Finland organised a discussion event, “On whose terms will the EU’s future be built after the European elections?”, featuring EU Youth Delegate Lotta Tuominen, SYL’s advocacy expert Yuri Birjulin, and MEPs Henna Virkkunen and Elsi Katainen. In addition, JEF Finland’s President presented the goals to Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen at the Europe Forum.
JEF Finland’s election campaign begins by involving citizens in the themes that matter to them personally. Amid war, economic worries, the environmental crisis, and a receding pandemic, cooperation between states, solidarity, and hope for a better future are once again needed more than ever. Above all, JEF Finland’s aim is to highlight why everyone’s voice and opinion matters in these elections.
“In particular, I hope the debate doesn’t slide into discussion that is irrelevant to the elections and takes up space from the significant issues of the coming term. We also need to remember what the EU can and cannot decide on. That’s why we must also take a stand on improving how the EU’s own decision-making system functions”, JEF Finland’s President Amanda Alvesalo says. “We now have a genuine opportunity to influence the direction of the EU. The EU is there for us, and that’s why we need to define what we want from it. In these election goals, we set out our own vision of a genuinely better EU.”
In June 2024, the European Parliament elections will decide the EU’s direction for the next five years. JEF Finland’s goal is an ecologically sustainable, democratic, and inclusive EU with a strong economy and a functioning foreign and security policy. This will be achieved through, among other things, democracy education, ambitious climate action, and increasing the EU’s overall budget.
“JEF Finland’s election goals have been built to chart the course for a future EU that boldly defends democracy and a sustainable future. The upcoming EU elections are significant for many reasons. Since the last EU elections, Europe has been tested by threats that demand solutions and global authority. The pandemic, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and increasing environmental disasters underline the need for an institution like the EU, one that makes smart decisions to safeguard the future. Advocating for these election goals, we’re setting out to run the EU election campaign in Finland!” says Executive Board member and Political Officer Nea-Bettina Baarman.
Read the goals in full here.