Voting Processes - State Youth Council: Politicians give insufficient focus to youth problems
The Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Youth Council criticized politicians for not giving sufficient importance to the issues that concern youth today. On Tuesday, they expressed their concern over dismissing the choices of young people from the past weekend. Instead, they emphasized the need to focus on their predicaments and requirements.
The survey conducted by Infratest dimap shows that in Germany, 16% of the voters aged between 16 to 24 preferred the AfD in the recent European election, which is 11 percentage points higher than in the previous European election in 2019 with the same age group category.
In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the needs of the youth were not considered much in the recent election campaign, claims the Youth Council. Youth-related issues aren't prioritized neither in politics nor their budgets. "Although funding for youth work is legally enforced in the Social Code, it is often regarded as a volunteer service under the stress of municipal coffers."
The financial disregard leads to certain irreversible effects. There's a shortage of funds, equipment, and resources for open youth work, youth association work, youth social work, political youth education, and media education. "Locating insecurities, engaging in conversations, showing participation opportunities, keeping existing offers and creating new ones - all these cannot be accomplished through the existing structure of youth work under the present circumstances." The places where young people can exercise self-determination and co-determination--both fundamental democratic experiences--are becoming increasingly limited, specifically in rural regions.
