Seducing the millennials

An ageing Europe is putting its hopes in the millennials, also known as Generation Y. Frightened by the drift towards Eurosceptic populism in recent years, the European establishment has designed the election campaign for 2019 obsessed with the young voter.

A report which followed the last election showed “the biggest abstainers” were “young people between 18 and 24 years of age, despite being precisely that group which had a more positive sentiment towards the EU.” In elections that will define the new configuration of the political spectrum in Europe, EU leaders are bent on making sure that this group becomes more directly involved in the common project. But the figures speak for themselves: 70% of those under 25 firmly support the EU, but only 30% voted in 2014, whereas more than 50% of over 55s voted but little more than half feel the European project in a positive light. The dichotomy in both cases is evident but the EU feels that it is more logical to concentrate on the youth vote.

As a connected generation which uses technological tools to communicate and manage their lives, the EU is dedicating resources to reach the young voters by use of those mediums. However, connecting and spreading the words is far from enough. The keys is youth unemployment which is running at astronomical levels.

The EU though, is beginning to react. The last budget announcement included the promise to double the funds for the Erasmus programme, allowing millions of students to study outside their country, or regional funds allocated to fight youth unemployment.