The next European elections will be between June 6 and 9, 2024which puts us about 100 days – 99 to be exact, as of March 2 – from deciding the future of a European community that a lot is at stake in this quote.

A countdown in which Europe finds itself in a geopolitical context “much more complex than the one it has faced in the last 20 years,” political scientist Pablo Simón tells laSexta, with two wars to the doors and the possibility that Donald Trump returns to the White House. Furthermore, Simón also highlights, “the parties of radical right are becoming important.”

In this context, the European Parliament plans the fear of low mobilization and therefore wants to focus this campaign on enhancing participation and motivating, above all, young vote.

Youth participation in the previous European elections in June 2019 was 41% in those under 25 years of agealmost ten points less than the 50.6% of the general participation throughout the Union, or twenty of the 61% of Spaniards who voted. There was somewhat less difference in the second group of young Europeans, between 25 and 39 years old, of which 47% participated.

Furthermore, participation has clearly increased in the last three European elections, which shows that the community population is increasingly aware of the relevance of these elections in their lives. Specifically, the youth vote has grown by 13% in the last 10 years.

What worries young people?

The traditional generational gap in voting is a reality, but there are also many young people who feel close to Europe. Four out of ten young Europeans believe that voting is the most effective way your voice is heard, according to the Eurobarometer on the European Youth Year 2022.

However the 70% of young Europeans feel who do not have much or any say in important EU decisions, laws or policies that affect them, according to the previous year’s Youth Eurobarometer.

For the European Parliament, one of the keys is to listen directly to the concerns of young people. “Job insertion, access to housing”, “rent at a decent price” are some of the crucial themes expressed in events such as the boot camp organized with 50 young people residents in Spain between 18 and 30 years old. An event included in the strategy Alltogether.eu in which young people debated the importance of the European elections with political scientists, officials from the European institutions, influencers and communications directors. These young people, in turn, will be volunteers in elections in Spain.

“I think it may be important how the extreme right can block agreements on climate change,” one of the boys who participated told laSexta. “If we don’t vote, others will do it for us,” adds another young woman.

In Spain we will vote June 9 to elect the 61 MEPs who will represent us for the next five years in the European Parliament, two more than the current 59. In total, more than 372 million people in the EU are called to vote in the next European elections.