Youth make up 16.3% of the European Union and are an important deciding factor in the future of the EU’s political landscape. Regardless of these statistics, current decisions are the decisions of the future.
Despite an increase of 14% in young people’s turnout in the 2019 EU elections, turnout remains low. At the same time, we can see that young people are very active in the informal political spheres, dominating political activism and civic engagement, such as demonstrations or online engagement.
How can we translate the desire to participate towards higher voter turnout during the EU elections? How can we develop approaches that address the duality in participation?
Participation, however, goes beyond voter turnout and beyond just the elections. How can we ensure that young people are heard and have a voice during the EU elections and later in the EU Parliament?
To try to make light of these questions the #DemocracyDrinks partners have organized the next session on 28 May around the role of youth in the lead-up to the EU elections in June. We will be joined by:
Lotte Prins, Board member of the Nationale Jeugdraad (NJR)
Roos Habets, Young Politician and current candidate for the EU Elections for Volt.
Femke Brouwer, Parliament expert at the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) and current candidate for the EU Elections for GroenLinks-PvdA will moderate the conversation.
Do not miss what promises to be a very exciting conversation and join us from 17:00 onwards at the Hague Humanity Hub. Please register to join via Eventbrite here.
What are the Democracy Drinks?
#DemocracyDrinks brings together democracy advocates, thinkers and enthusiasts at our monthly informal networking events. It is a great way of making new contacts and catching up with people you know; for testing ideas and planning actions; for moral support and inspiration. Feel free to invite friends and colleagues that work on or are interested in defending values like democracy, rule of law, human rights… Come along and you will be made welcome!
This event series is a collaboration between the Netherlands Helsinki Committee (NHC) and the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) and The Hague Humanity Hub.
#DemocracyDrinks were launched in 2018 by Defend Democracy Executive Director Alice Stollmeyer. Over time, #DemocracyDrinks have expanded their reach and have been organized in Aarhus, Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Copenhagen, Kathmandu, Montreal, The Hague and Washington DC, and soon also in other cities. The events attract a lively mixture of people from NGOs, international institutions, think tanks, national governments and representations, academia, public affairs consultancies, social businesses and other active citizens.