The European Youth Forum (YFJ) is a platform made up of 99 National Youth Councils and international youth NGOs from across Europe. The YFJ works to empower young people to participate actively in society and improve their living conditions by representing their interests towards the European Institutions, the Council of Europe, the United Nations and other partners active in the youth field.
More information can be found by clicking on www.youthforum.org.
Between 4 and 7 June 2009, the citizens of the EU will, for the 7th time, directly elect their representatives in the European Parliament.The European Parliament is playing an ever more important role in EU decision-making and is becoming a true co-legislator, co-deciding on a wide range of legislation that affects EU citizens. However, since the first direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979, turnout numbers have consistently fallen, to below 50% in 2004. In many countries, even smaller percentages of young people found their way to the polling stations. It will be important to reverse this trend: a higher turnout of young people at the upcoming elections will be of crucial importance, both to strengthen democracy in the EU and to add force to the voice of youth in the European Union.
Many youth councils and youth organisations across the EU are committed to ensuring that young people will make their voices heard during the European Parliament elections in June. They are running campaigns and organising a multitude of activities to raise awareness of upcoming elections and to encourage young people to vote. The YFJ is supporting and contributing to these campaigns, and is providing a common umbrella for the get-out-the-vote effort of youth organisations. At the same time, the YFJ is working with the European Parliament and the European Commission, in order to contribute to the institutional campaigns.
On these web pages, you can find information about—and links to—the initiatives of youth organisations and youth councils across the EU. All are aimed at showing one thing in June: young people vote!
The recent elections have marked the lowest turnout in the history of European Elections, with less than 45% of European citizens voting. Follow the live update of the result on http://www.elections2009-results.eu.
“These results,” underlines Tine Radinja, YFJ President, “should be an opportunity to reflect on what are the reasons that keep European citizens, and especially young people, so far away from European Institutions.”
Nonetheless, we should not fall in the temptation of analysing these data only in a negative way, like evidence of voters apathy, or the failure of Europe,” he stresses, “the responsibility of this result falls also in the hands of European and national parties that focused their campaigns very much on national issues rather than putting efforts in making it a truly European campaign”.
Make it European!
“Young people in Europe and European society in general need a more European debate addressing issues that concern all EU citizens and not 27 Member States particular interests,” concludes Tine Radinja, “and we really hope that this will be one of the priority for the newly elected MEPs in their future mandate. Europe needs more European issues on the agenda”.
Since mid-February 2009, MIJARC Europe has officially launched its campaign “YOU(th) can make the Europe of tomorrow”.
Through this campaign, we would like to provide quality information about the upcoming elections of the European Parliament to rural youngsters and invite them to go to vote on the 7^th of June 2009. We also want to create a direct and closer relationship between the European Parliament and young citizens. That is why we have invited the young people from our network to send postcards to the candidates in the European elections and to request appointments with MEPs in order to make them express directly their specific requests about Europe. *In the next 2 months, 20.000 postcards will be sent and hundred of meetings with candidates in the elections will be organized by the young people from our network.
Recently, the team of MIJARC Europe also sent letters presenting its “5 proposals for Europe” to the MEPs members of the Committees on “Agriculture and Rural Development”, “Culture and Education”, “Employment and Social Affairs” and “Environment”.
This campaign has been translated in 8 languages and disseminated to 150.000 young people living in the rural areas in Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Poland and Bulgaria.
Be part of Europe’s biggest soundwave and make your voice heard with MTV!
This is what it’s all about. Join us for the biggest shout in Europe. Ever. A roaring soundwave that can be heard from the North of Finland to the South of Spain.
Yes, that big. Yes, that loud.
What? On April 30 at exactly 3:30 pm, we invite you to shout “Can you hear me Europe?” as loud as you can.
Why? To make your voice heard. To be part of something bigger. To make Europe notice you!
How? Do it yourself or with friends - on the street, in town, at home, from a window or on through a webcam. Record your shout and upload the video to www.caneuhearme.eu, the website of the « Can you hear me Europe ? » campaign. Or…
Join the shout with MTV in:
Milan, Piazza Duomo
Berlin, Brandenburger Tor
Prague, Stromovka Park
The event will be filmed for a TV special that will be shown across Europe on MTV. We need your voice - we want to shout bigger and louder than ever before!
If you can’t make it, watch the shouts LIVE from Milan, Berlin and Prague on 30 April at 3.30p.m on MTV.
The perfect kick-off to a 42-days tour through 28th cities, which will end the day before the European Parliamentary Elections with a conference in Edinburgh. Opening the tour, that will bring Y VOTE all across the UK, 20 participants will gather in the UK capital together with the Y Vote team and the invited experts, and will have a look into the European Union’s institutions structure and their decision making process during three working days.
This is “The Island of Y”: starting on the 25th of April.
Piccadilly Circus, Hide Park, Camden Town… emblematic places of the city will give the name to the working groups in this conference to tackle to topics of the EU’s historical development, the EU treaties,
and will discuss different approaches to formalize the hybrid combination of the EU. Don’t miss the chance to join the project, and be part of it.
Should all EU Member States follow the example of Austria? Is lowering the voting age to 16 a good strategy to get more young people actively involved in society? In 2004 67% of young people aged 18-24 didn’t vote for the European Elections. Will lowering the voting age help young people to regain faith in the democratic process? Will this help in having a more youthful European political scenario?
On EuroparlTV Debate: Voting for 16 year olds? (10′17″)
“The most tangible form of participation in society is the right to participate in a system of representative democracy and vote in elections. Currently, different voting ages apply across the European Union, with the lowest age for all elections established in Austria at 16. It is the European Youth Forum’s opinion that young people should be granted the right to vote at all local, national and European elections from the age of 16. The European Youth Forum therefore calls on the European institutions to modify the Act concerning the election of the representatives of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, establishing a common voting age of 16 for the European Parliament elections.”
“Resolution on lowering the electoral age to the age of 16” (Adopted by the YFJ COMEM in April 2006)
Friday 20 March, the European Youth Forum (YFJ) and its Member Organisations are holding a coordination meeting in view of the forthcoming European Elections (4-7 June 2009).
Bringing together project managers, coordinators and responsibles for European, local and national campaigns to get more young people to vote!
Networking. Sharing of good practises. Shaping ideas.
Featuring:
Tine Radinja, President of the European Youth Forum (YFJ)
Marta Semplici, Member of the Executive Committee of JEF
Dragan Stojanovski, President of AEGEE-Europe
Alejo Vidal-Quadras, MEP
Dan Jørgensen, MEP
Between 4 and 7 June 2009, the citizens of the EU will, for the 7th time, directly elect their representatives in the European Parliament.The European Parliament is playing an ever more important role in EU decision-making and is becoming a true co-legislator, co-deciding on a wide range of legislation that affects EU citizens. However, since the first direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979, turnout numbers have consistently fallen, to below 50% in 2004. In many countries, even smaller percentages of young people found their way to the polling stations. It will be important to reverse this trend: a higher turnout of young people at the upcoming elections will be of crucial importance, both to strengthen democracy in the EU and to add force to the voice of youth in the European Union.
