Over the last five European Parliament elections, young people’s participation and preferences have changed significantly in response to various socio-economic, political and cultural factors. Of course, the European Union is politically and socially diverse, meaning this evolution has not been uniform across Member States – it reflects a huge range of local concerns and socio-economic contexts.
Importantly, for the first time all citizens over the age of 16 were eligible to vote in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Malta, and all citizens over the age of 17 in Greece, thus opening up the elections to new, young voters.
