CALL TO EUROPE VI: ‘MILLENNIALS AND POLITICS’
How to re-engage young people into politics and improve the dialogue
between Progressives and the Millennial Generation?
Brussels, 17th – 18th June 2016
The report by
FEPS Young Academics Network
Coordinated by Alexander ADRANGHI & Diana Abigaïl HANRY-KNOP
The FEPS Young Academics Network (FEPS YAN)
is an initiative gathering young European scholars,
which since 2010 is continued by FEPS with the support of the Renner Institute
More information on the FEPS YAN can be found in FEPS website
INTRODUCTION
"Apathetic", "disengaged", "depressed" or "disenchanted", are probably the most common words
that are often used by observers and journalists to depict the current youth that has turned its back
on politics. This negative narrative compounds to mystify their real attributes and concrete
expectations. Maybe it is a youthful mistake. In fact, the youth that we believe in and the youth that
is acting is the same youth. It is our youth that is at the heart of the constructive findings of the
Millennial Dialogue research.
The goal of the Millennial Dialogue project is to better understand Millennial Generation with the
help of the new opinion survey methods applied in numerous countries of the world. The
programme was launched in December 2014 by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies
(FEPS) and by the US-based Global Progress, and it also featured the help of a poling company
AudienceNet. The project was designed to serve a 3P rule that became a principal logic of the
project. It referred to "participatory", "progressive" and "positive":
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It is to be participatory because it is to give the floor to Millennials themselves and to young
people who feel that they are unheard.
It is to be progressive because the aim is to bridge the gap between the social democratic
family and younger generation.
It is to be positive because the ambition of the Millennial Dialogue is to find solutions on
how to re-engage young people into politics. The aim therefore is to listen, to learn and to
change.
In this sense, between December 2014 and June 2016, more than 20 000 young people were
interviewed, which resulted in receiving of almost half a million survey responses. This global
discussion involved more than 31 countries across 6 continents. 13 countries-specific reports in
Europe (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland,
Romania and United Kingdom) and 3 in the Americas (Canada, Chile and US) were completed before
the launch of the event.
The Millennial Generation, also known as Generation Y corresponds to youths born between 1980
and 2000, who are between the ages of 15–35 today. This generation is comfortable with the digital
world, new technologies and with social networks. In spite of the first-hand experience with the
impact of economic austerity and their consequences in a tougher struggle for work, they still have
positive outlook onto the future. They are concerned about their well being and feel particularly
attached to the main pillars of the welfare-state: health, education, equal opportunities and
sustainable environment. But the Millennial Generation does not see their priorities included in
today’s political agenda. They are not interested in politics in its current format and they do not see
traditional partisan life as particularly appealing. The reason can be found not in politics itself, but in
the way how politics are done today. The importance given by the Millennial Generation to the
principles of trust, transparency and integrity shows how the respect of these values is still a magnet
to attract youngsters to re-enter the party and probably a key link to renew their interest for politics.
The current edition of Call to Europe annually organized by FEPS was for the first time entirely
dedicated to young people and their relation to politics. Held on the 17th and 18th of June 2016 in
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Brussels, the conference brought together more than 100 young experts, young politicians and
leaders from social-democratic families, young representatives from civil society and young
participants. The rich discussions and the interactive debates served to identify how to design jointly
with young people the future progressive politics and how to modernise the movement. The
European progressive leaders were invited to react to the various proposals that were presented by
young participants coming around Europe and the world.
This following report summarizes the main discussions and highlights concrete policy
recommendations formulated during this event to (re)build bridges and (re)new a Dialogue
between the progressive family and the Millennial Generation. Based on the main achievements of
the two-day discussions of the 6th edition of the Call to Europe dedicated to Millennials and Politics,
the report is divided into three parts that are the following:
I.
II.
III.
The existing and recently developed actions for the Millennial Generation
Thematic priorities defined by the Millennial Generation
Rethinking the political engagement and participation of Millennial in Politics
Due to the political context, specific attention was given also during the conference Call to Europe to
the referendum organized in the UK on the future of the country inside the EU.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The FEPS Call to Europe Conference lasted two full days, during which many different ideas were
debated. From a wide range of plenary sessions and workshops, the following mainstreaming
conclusions and policy recommendations to improve the dialogue between Progressives and the
Millennial Generation have been made:
POLITICAL REFORM
1. Progressive must find way to prove that their politics (strategy, choices and actions) are all
dictated by a clear system of values. They come first, ahead of thinking about potential allies
or trade offs to stay in power. This calls for internal reforms and profound change in the way
things are done, and should be determinant in forging a new understanding between
politicians and the Millennials.
2. Millennials are interested in politics, but they are discouraged by the way it is conducted
nowadays. In order to respond to their concerns, the Progressives should work towards
establishing a new relationship with the electorate that is reflecting their devotion to the
ideals of transparency, integrity and honesty. These three are by far the principles that the
Millennials value the most.
3. Millennials do not find themselves in the traditional political parties. Therefore, Progressives
have to seek a different understanding of what role should political organisations play in
individuals’ lives. Consequently, building a new global progressive platform (which would
expand to all continents as a model) constitutes the main challenge. The classical centre-left
has to renew, creating a innovative infrastructure outside of classical arena of traditional
partisan politics. This needs to involve ways to reconnect with grassroots movements
initiatives on one hand, and on the other prove that the parties can once again be a space
where culture is cultivated, shared and enjoyed.
4. Millennials are internationalists, convinced Europeans and they remain optimists about their
future. All this makes them believe in political vision and demand that Progressives stretch
the horizons of their political imaginations. Therefore, there is a need that the centre left
moves away from the limitations of the single-policy approach or country-limited discussion,
looking for a mission and meaning that would transcend one electoral cycle and would
surpass national borders.
5. Millennials remain concerned and are quite critical towards the grand coalitions
governments. The progressive parties seem to be the ones suffering the most on the back of
this scepticism, especially that in the recent years the grand coalitions governments have
been the ones to endorse retrenchment of diverse aspects of the socialist legacy in the shape
of existing European welfare states. Progressives have to reflect on the price they are to pay
electorally and find a way, which in the future will make their coalition agreements and
coalition governments’ policies more understandable for the electorate. They also need to
set the red lines, which they would not cross for the benefit of staying ‘in power’ only.
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EQUALITY
6. Millennials are concerned about equality. This is why a new, European strategy to improve
gender equality is demanded. In order to win their support, the Party of European Socialists
(PES) must prove to be the one at the forefront of the campaign for a real political change in
this dimension.
7. Millennials believe that politicians are not doing enough in terms of ensuring the application
of the principles of equity and equality (of gender, race, LGBT). A concrete roadmap, with
goals and ways to evaluate their attainment is a way to make a promise to change the state
of play, alongside with winning the support of the younger generation.
8. Millennials believe in the power of the European Union in terms of setting common
standards. However, Millennials believe that politicians could accomplish more by acting
through its framework. The important example is the field of equality, where Progressives
should argue for adoption of a binding directive for Member States that would commit them
to effectively fighting gender pay gap.
HEALTHCARE
9. Millennials value health and well being. They see healthcare as one of the most important
public policies and hence after the area of priority in terms of public spending. To that end,
also measures that help preventing illnesses, enable all to access healthy food and lead
healthy life (styles) should feature in the core of the political programmes. Progressives
should therefore champion the field, supporting expansion of investments that apply to the
entire health care sector. They should manifest themselves also in diverse thematic
campaigns.
CLIMATE CHANGE
10. Millennials see state of the environment as one of the key factors, which will influence their
lives in the future. Progressives should therefore rethink how to link with that belief,
rethinking the narrative that they use whilst talking on sustainable development and climate
change. There is still an important gap between the politically expressed international
concern and the actual actions at the individual level.
EMPLOYMENT AND WELFARE
11. Millennials are the generation that is fighting the plague of unemployment. The
phenomenon is connected both with general employment relations and the state of national
economies as a whole. It cannot be solved on its own but this problem needs to be tackled
through an overall approach, leading economic revival and resettlement of the relations
within the labour markets. Progressives should pave the way, ensuring that their specific
focus on youth is embedded in a broader strategy for prosperity, welfare and opportunities
for all.
12. Millennials are conscious of their generation’s priorities. They correspond with what they
think is essential in the times of quick paste change and insecurity. This is why Progressives
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should seek new ideas on how to ensure quality employment and access to welfare to all,
benefiting and not fearing technological, economic or ecological transformations.
13. Millennials are disappointed to see so many among them being part of the NEETs generation
(Neither In Education Training or Employment). Progressives must react to that, as there
needs to be much more effective pathways to helping young people to move from education
to employment. At this stage, young people feel that the institutions responsible for solving
youth unemployment have become too disengaged from the experience of young people
themselves, and seek to place the burden of resolving youth unemployment primarily on
young people’s own shoulders. Progressives should therefore invest in framing a new
platform, whereby young people would be engaged on a genuine basis in the policy and
political process of which outcomes affect them directly.
14. Millennials do understand the imperative of technological development. They expect from
Progressives to show what sort of a new model of production and consumption would lead
to meeting the sustainability challenges, ensuring a resource-efficient future and supporting
jobs’ creation in low-carbon sectors.
15. Millennials believe that the European Union is key to finding solutions to common issues.
This is why they want Progressive to advocate for creating a Common European
Unemployment Fund, which would forge solidarity, would open new financial possibilities
and would at the same time enable the Member States to invest in the solutions that are
most appropriate in their respective realities.
EDUCATION AND NEW SKILLS AGENDA
16. Millennials are a generation that cares about equality. For them culture is about creating,
experiencing, but also about building new understandings. Similarly education, which
Progressives should especially see as an crucial tool to fight xenophobia.
17. Millennials are not overwhelmed by the technological progress. To the contrary, they accept
the IT revolution as a phenomenon characteristic for the age that they live in. For them, a
new digital world is an opportunity, but it requires modernisation elsewhere – namely in the
field of education. It has to become more up to date and above all more inclusive throughout
Europe. Progressives must speak up to make the point that investment in education is key to
unleashing a great potential, alongside with empowering people to enjoy modernity.
18. Millennials believe in their right to live healthy lives. In relation to that, Progressives should
be the ones to argue that modernity offers an unprecedented opportunity to prompt a
fundamental healthcare revolution resulting from the integration of smart and digital
technologies.
19. Millennials are a generation that wants to explore the world, try out different career paths
and have a chance to enjoy different experiences. Progressives should connect with these
aspirations and make their educational agenda about empowerment. This means expanding
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the ways to support young people at national and European level to become independent
(socially, professionally etc.), regardless of what their social or cultural background is. It
requires efforts to restore the incentives for teachers and to become teachers, in a way that
this profession becomes a rewarding one, once again. That, however, also means that there
is a need to review the very definition of excellent teaching, learning and skills, paving the
way to a broader recognition of capabilities that people have acquired.
20. Millennials believe that the reforms’ agenda should be a coherent, multi-layered one. This is
why their priorities in terms of just transitions (in terms of environment) go hand in hand
with a plea to readapt educational systems. To accommodate them, Progressives should
ensure investments in education, training and skills programmes to support the
transformation to a green economy.
21. Millennials are convinced that education is, alongside healthcare and investment in jobs, one
of the three core priorities of the active welfare state that they would like to see
(re)established. In order to ensure that, reducing gender discrimination and tackling the
barriers that prevent women from enjoying same opportunities as men also plays an
important social role. That also means that its availability on the elementary level is essential,
alongside being key to enabling reconciliation of private and professional lives through
adequate provision of childcare (e.g. kindergarten, primary school), and retraining.
22. Millennials are politically very informed. But what remains important is to keep the
connection between them and politics through learning. Progressives should seek to
introduce a compulsory civic education and political literacy through citizenship in all EU
Member states curricula. To that end, there should be specific time allocated in the schools’
programmes through which they would be involved in debate on current issues, feasibility of
diverse proposals and how they as citizens can get further and engage (in campaigns, civic
mobilisations, trade unions, elections etc.)
23. Millennials cherish education as springboard. This is why they demand that the access to it is
broadened. That involves providing a direct access to education for every refugee that
arrives to Europe.
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THE DETAILED RECORD OF THE PROCEESINGS DURING CALL TO EUROPE VI
I.
THE EXISTING AND RECENTLY DEVELOPPING ACTIONS FOR THE MILLENNIALS
GENERATION
Panel 1: The Youth Perspective – Millennials, Europe and Political Engagement
Speaker: Frans TIMMERMANS, Vice President of the European Commission
Moderator: Ernst Stetter, FEPS Secretary General
Rapporteur: Giacomo BOTTOS
Vice-President Frans Timmermans
began by saying that Millennials are
a very different generation to the
one he personally belongs to. They're
better
educated,
more
interconnected and more flexible in
changing paths and adjusting to new
ones. However, Millennials are also
more eclectic than the previous
generation, which means that they
approach everything in another
manner. For instance, rather than
subscribing to an established
ideology, they set out their own compass of political conglomerate of ideas. Parties, which try to
react to this evolution by de-emphasizing the ideological core, and focusing on personalities and
their quick responses, represent the evolutionary direction of politics which is in Timmermans'
opinion, a negative outcome.
Narratives that appear dubious (by over-promising and under-delivering) are not considered more
seriously because of the strength and attractiveness of political leaders. One can see that particularly
in the situation of clash with the emerging forces of right-wing populism. The main cause of the
success of this kind of populism is the widespread insecurity, which is sensed by citizens due to the
negative effects of the economic crisis from which they suffer. The populists explore those fears,
directing attention to such issues as migration, through which they describe further growth of
potential distributional conflicts. Their ‘remedies’ are focused on scapegoating. In the end, however,
the growing frustration is another side of the coin that has imprinted also a quest for more
protection. And so far, Progressives have failed to propose a future vision that addresses those
demands.
Furthermore, people are also becoming more and more disenchanted with Europe. The perception of
the EU is now very negative, whereby the tendency of national leaders to blame Brussels is not new,
however it gets reinforced once it resonates in the speeches of the extremists and nationalists. In
order to regain trust, the EU has to accomplish setting for itself new evaluation criteria, alongside
which it can prove that it can deliver.
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What was received as controversial statement and created much of a debate was the remark of VicePresident Frans Timmermans that young people shouldn't beg others to grant them possibilities to
participate in politics, bit instead should claim their own space, get inside the system and struggle in
order to rework it. Withdrawing, he pointed out, is the main weakness of Millennials – who exhibit
also a lack of organizational (mobilisational) skills. In his opinion, ‘clicktivism’ is not sufficient in order
to change things.
While the core of the challenge that Progressives face is to tackle socioeconomic insecurity, the
question on how to rethink the welfare system is an essential one to respond to. Without a radical
change toward circular economy and innovation - economic growth will remain on the modest level
of only 1% per year. This would make the welfare state provisions unsustainable. In order to
transition to a new economy and enable each and everyone to have a good job, it is necessary to
define again rights and standards. The reform of existing educational systems should stand for as the
first step. In this light, the Erasmus programme should be promoted as a success story, being also
extended to other areas.
In order to build a Social Europe, what is needed is a sustainable economic growth and fairer redistribution of resources. Tax revenues should by increased to ensure new equilibrium between
labour and capital, as also tax havens should be abolished making all contribute and not compete
causing race to the bottom.
In that sense, Vice-President Frans Timmermans concluded that these are decisive times for the EU.
While the economic vision should be a long term one, there is much to be done instantly as well. To
give an example, it is important that there is also a shift in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership (TTIP) debate, focusing the deliberations on content. Whilst free trade could boost the
economy and create jobs, the EU should ensure that its core values and standards remain protected.
Panel 2: Three Decades of Gender Policies Call
Zita GURMAI
Olga ZRIHEN
Marju LAURISTIN
President of PES Women and Vice President of FEPS, Hungary
Vice President of the PES Group, Committee of the Regions,
Belgium
Vice President of S&D in the European Parliament, Estonia
Moderator: Matthew LAZA, Director of Policy Network.
Rapporteur: Eszter PETRONELLA SOOS
FEPS Vice-President and President of PES Women, Zita Gurmai opened her intervention with
expressing her disappointment with the fact that gender inequalities, poverty and deepening lack of
solidarity fares the EU. She pointed to the gender equality backlash, which has already translated,
among other things, to the fact the EU no longer has a gender equality strategy. According to her,
Progressives have not championed the fight for women rights, as they feel limited by the constraints
resulting from the constant grand coalition governance at the European level. Pointing out possible
solutions, Zita Gurmai called for an enhanced intergenerational dialogue, counting on the power of
Millennials to bring the question of equality right up to the top of the political agendas.
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Committee of the Regions member and PES group vice-president Olga Zrihen remarked that she had
been working for gender equality for three decades, whereby any progress accomplished would
always be a result of confrontation. She stressed that setting clear objectives is critical to succeed in
advancing transformation towards a fairer and hence after better society. She believed that this had
been forgotten and this is why the battle for gender equality seems distant and unattended to. It is
bound to have grave implications in the future, as currently the statistics show that women perform
better at school and graduate more frequently with honours, but when it comes to employment they
loose the race to men, ending up in less
secured, lower paid and frequently only
temporary or part time employment.
S&D Group in the European Parliament’s
Vice-President Marju Lauristin, echoed
these concerns. As an Member of the
European Parliament (MEP) she has been
working on the digital agenda and
believes
that
social
inequalities,
diversities, gender stereotypes are
amplified when on-line. The biggest
challenge is the digital single market, which still is presented and seen by many as a beacon of hope
in terms of becoming an engine for economic recovery. There, the threat of an amplified gender
divide exists in reality, as girls are less involved in digital issues. Having said that, Marju Lauristin
underlined that she would not define herself as a feminist because she remained concerned about
both genders, hence after also boys and the challenges that they face. She concluded that the goal
remains equality and equal opportunities for all, while politics should remain a mission conducted in
the name of others.
Several activists and young women took the floor, reacting on what has been said. While bringing
forward their personal stories together with the panellists they were pondering the question on how
to transform these diverse experiences and frustration into a positive agenda, which would yet again
have a power to mobilise and make politics a question of fighting for a better future. What remained
also unsolved, though heavily debated in the light of that session and in the context of the words by
Vice-President Frans Timmermans, was how to overcome the gap between the support for the issues
that Progressives raise and Millennials share on one hand, and the inappropriate (disregarding) way
they feel treated by the traditional parties.
The round was closed by the statement of Sergei Stanishev, President of the PES. He insisted that
finding a way to connect the fight against growing inequalities with a positive, aspirational agenda for
youth is the way to connect with Millennials. Exclusion and discrimination cause the young people’s
alienation and hence disengagement from the society and politics. As a tangible measure, Sergei
Stanishev called for a new deal for Europe that would began with putting in motion the demands of
the European Youth Plan, which new campaign was unveiled by the PES on 16th June 2016.
Main conclusions & recommendations:
1. The European Progressives need to fight to restore the EU’s commitment to strive for
equality. In particular, there is a need for a new European gender strategy.
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Panel 3: PES European Youth Plan
Sergei STANISHEV
Laura SLIMANI
Verena KNAUS
President of the Party of European Socialists (PES), Bulgaria
President of Young European Socialists (YES), France
Senior Policy Adviser, United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF), Brussels Office, Austria
Moderator: Ernst STETTER, FEPS Secretary General
Rapporteur: Nevena ALEKSIEVA & Itxaso DOMINGUEZ DE OLAZABAL
It is a well-known fact that Europe’s youth are paying a high price in the current difficult economic
and social context. The European welfare states’ frequently anachronistic enable further
discrimination against young people and contributes to intergenerational inequalities.
Therefore,
the
potential
opportunities to change the trend
were debated. The first one seems
to arise with the 2016 review of
the 2016 Multiannual Financial
Framework (MFF). This can open
the debate towards identifying
alternative sources of financing
for the EU (through: fighting tax
evasion, introducing financial
transaction tax and Eurobonds). In
all
the
above-mentioned
measures, the European funding
must have a strong leverage effect to reinforce the capacity of national and/or regional authorities to
invest and prioritise youth policies. While that should be the principle, co-financing requirements
must not hamper the ability of the poorest Member States or regions to access these European
funds.
Following the words of Sergei Stanishev, the Party of European Socialists believes a major signal
should be sent to young people - including young refugees – that reality can be changed and so that
they could regain their confidence. Concretely, the PES thus proposed launching an ambitious major
initiative, the European Youth Plan, which implementation would be based both on a financial and
political commitment from both EU institutions and EU governments. It would involve action in four
fields: Employment (1); Education (2); Culture (3) and Child Guarantee (4).
Employment
First and foremost, the PES calls for the Youth Guarantee to become a permanent feature of EU
horizontal employment policies. It would be essential to build on the success of the existing Youth
Guarantee and use it as a leverage for social and economic innovation. But the initial funding of 6
billion EUR is insufficient, which is why the PES thus demands increase of 20 billion Euros until 2020
for the Youth Employment Initiative that backs the Youth Guarantee.
Moreover, there is a need for a more comprehensive approach within the agenda of progressive
reforms. The strategy for good jobs has to go hand in hand with the one aiming at modernizing the
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education systems. What is more, there is a need for clearer evaluation criteria, which would allow
better monitoring of the progress and adjustments when needed. Last but not least, the scope of the
beneficiaries of the Youth Guarantee should be extended by raising the age limit to 30 on one hand,
and on the other, putting in place mechanisms that prevent gender discrimination in accessibility.
Education
The PES calls for increased efforts aiming at the European and national levels, particularly through:
broadening Erasmus+, by including secondary and vocational education. The program must become
accessible to every young person regardless of his or her background, study choice, and gender.
Furthermore, participating in the program should not result in additional costs, which remains
especially hindering for socially disadvantaged or in any way disabled young people.
Culture
The PES calls for empowering young people as culture consumers and creators by introducing a
"European Youth Culture Cheque". It would be a voucher of a certain money value co-financed by
European funds, which could be spent on any cultural activity of the young cardholders’ choice and
to support young European creators in their cultural projects. Through that the EU should provide an
increased support for cross-border cooperation projects in culture, innovation and creativity.
Child Guarantee
The PES calls for a new fund dedicated to the Child Guarantee, which finances could become
available during the MFF’s revision. The goal is to fight children poverty, by means of ensuring that
every child has access to: free healthcare, free education, free childcare, decent housing, and
adequate nutrition. The integrated European plan would also connect with strategies offering
support and opportunities for parents to get out of social exclusion situations and to integrate
women and men equally into the labour market.
Panel 4: YouthUp, For More Youth Inclusive Politics
Speakers: Representatives from the European Youth Forum (EYF)
Moderator: Régis PRADAL, Consultant for the European Youth Forum
Rapporteur: Ivan STEFANOVSKI
YouthUp is a project set up by the
European Youth Forum to crowd
source ideas for inclusive politics in
a non-traditional way and build a
network of campaigners.
Participants engaged in YouthUp
by take part in an interactive
crowdsourcing session, during
which they seek to formulate new
ideas. Once they are articulated,
they are then voted upon.
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During the session at the Call to Europe, the ideas that gained most of the votes were the ones
pointing out that the Progressives should:
a) reformulate their strategy and support social movements;
b) conceptualise the reform of the education system;
c) focus on forging the politician-voter relationship in an innovative manner.
Main conclusions & recommendations:
2. Progressive parties in Europe would benefit from opening up to the new ways of engaging
(young) people in the formulation process leading to the birth of new ideas. This could
contribute new dynamics and hence lead to a different idea about how the politician-voter
relationship should function.
Panel 5: A Global Plan for Progressive Action for Millennials
Speaker: Pascal LAMY, Vice-President of FEPS and former Director-General of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO), France
Rapporteur: Christoph PAETZ
To begin with, the Vice-President
of FEPS and former DirectorGeneral of the World Trade
Organisation, Pascal Lamy argued
that changing the focus and
priorities is essential to the
renewal of the progressive
movement.
Millennials’
expectations towards politics are
nowadays seemingly more about
participation than competition,
more about empathy than
aggressiveness,
more
about
happiness than having faith in progress. At this point, what matters most for the young generation is
availability of opportunities and this is why access to education is among their top priorities.
A major fear of the Millennial Generation is war. That concern derives from a profound feeling of
global insecurity. The lesson is that the existing international system is unstable and dangerous. It
must be re-thought and reformed. In that mission it must respond also to the newer, but by now
most pressing global issues, such as state of the environment.
Currently, politicians and leaders are in their own bubble and do not connect with Millennials. They
act behind a closed curtain, which generates the feeling that they simply decide in their own interest.
This explains the data that shows that so many Millennials believe that the elected representatives
are focused on controlling them, limiting possibilities and in general fail to deliver. However, for
young people integrity as well as transparency is central. Politics that they would engage with would
have to abide by the principles of transparency, respect for democracy and legitimacy.
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The outlined objectives display the basis for reshaping a new global progressive platform called a
New Global Construct Progressive Convention. This movement must expand its horizon to all
continents and incorporate not just the Europeans and Americans, but for instance also the African,
Indian, Chinese or Indonesian progressives. Creating the connection will be hard work, but it can be
and should be done.
Main conclusions & recommendations:
3. Transparency, integrity and honesty are the most valuable principles among young
generations. Without these principles politicians and political leaders will not be able to
connect with the Millennial generation.
4. Building a new global progressive platform to all continents constitutes a main future
challenge for the progressive movement.
Panel 6: Three Decades of Political Call: Nineties, Noughties and the Twenties
Massimo D’ALEMA
Elio DI RUPO
President of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies
(FEPS) and former Prime Minister of Italy
Leader of Parti Socialiste and former Prime Minister of Belgium
Moderator: David COPPI, Journalist, Le Soir
Rapporteur: Diana A. HANRY-KNOP
Massimo D’Alema and Elio Di Rupo engaged in a dialogue, which session ended the first day of the
conference. Both honourable interlocutors concluded that Millennials are not becoming
depoliticized. To the contrary, various examples of their mobilization show that they are interested in
politics and current issues, combined with a belief that there is always an alternative and the future
may be the one of brighter, fairer world. But what they are mostly distrustful about is the existing
political establishment.
Elio Di Rupo admitted that he saw the young generations becoming the most disappointed part of
the electorate regarding the policies, which had been proposed and pursued by socialists
governments. In this context, he would consider that instead of mantra of austerity and no
alternative, Progressives should rather try to match the expectations of Millennials by engaging with
them in a new debate on the role of state. Elio Di Rupo underlined that in order to break out of the
apathy, Progressives would need to put forward a ground breaking, bold and “spectacular” idea.
Instead, he feared, socialists prove to be unclear in many of their choices – example of which is their
position on the TTIP.
Finally, both leaders agreed that Europe is currently missing not only a future-oriented, hopeful and
though provoking agenda, but also strong leaders, who would be able to appeal to broader citizenry
and carrying their passion to mobilise them to stand ‘in favour’ of integration for the sake of the EU.
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Main conclusions & recommendations:
5. The reaffirmation of the role of the state by the Progressive family should be one of the
possible ways to transform their agenda and engage with Millennials in an exchange
regarding a tangible, concrete issue.
Panel 7: Millennial Dialogue – Making Millennials Voices Heard Across The World
David LEWIS
Duduetsang MOKOELE
Paulo WACHE
Layla ZAIDANE
CEO & Founder AudienceNet, UK
Assistant researcher, Knowledge Economy and Scientific
Advancement, MISTRA, South Africa
Head of Department of Foreign Policy, Centre for Strategic and
International Studies, Mozambique
Managing Director, Generation Progress, US
Rapporteur: Diana A. HANRY-KNOP
This session was devoted to sharing the results of the surveys and interviews realized by FEPS with its
partners and the Millennial generation on the continents other than Europe. The confrontation of
experiences from four different countries served to compare the challenges faced by young people,
alongside with what they admit to hold dear and hope for. Understanding of these is key not only as
an incentive for a new global agenda, but above all as a possible bridging point to engage in a
constructive dialogue with the Millennial generation.
But before moving to the global level, David Lewis, Founder of AudienceNet was given the floor to
offer a snapshot of all the findings. He highlighted and summarised that the issues that matter for
Millennials are public spending sectors that constitute pillars of the active welfare state: health,
education and jobs. When it comes to politics, what is important for Millennials is to "be free and say
what we think", and what follows consequently “to be heard”. Millennials don’t trust politicians,
giving as an explanation the following reasons: because of broken promises, because of the fact that
politicians are predominantly focused on their own career, as also because they uphold distance to
electorate and show unable to interact with young people. The recent exceptions, when older
15
politicians carried and mobilised the youth - Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn - occurred, as both
were seen as credible and trustworthy. Evidently, in order to engage with young people, it is
essential to broaden the scope of existing channels of communication. David Lewis believed
therefore that online voting and campaign on social media are essential to increase Millennials
participation and involvement in politics.
The next presentation was given by Duduetsang Mokoele, who spoke on the results of the survey
concluded in South Africa. She showed that the expectations of young people there are not differing
from those expressed in European countries. For the Millennials, access to good education, quality
healthcare and decent jobs is crucial. This is what they believe to be the basic construct of a modern
state. Thus, also the historical and political context of South Africa contributes to reinforcing the
importance of these principles. This conclusion was also echoed by the subsequent speaker, Paul
Wache from Mozambique, who reminded the audience that lack of educational opportunities, and
here especially in the area of civic education, has an impact in fostering disinterest on politics of
young generation in the country.
Layla Zaidane, who presented the outcomes of the US survey, concluded the panel. She stressed that
it is truly important to create infrastructure outside the classical partisan space. Here she agreed with
David Lewis that online voting and campaigning on social media is one of the ways to reconnect with
Millennials. Backing this thesis up, she showed concrete results with the example of the US based
campaign "It's On Us" that was conducted on social media in the US. Finally, she spoke on the issue
of legitimacy and representation, explaining the interesting phenomenon that within the recent
primaries it was in fact Bernie Sanders and not Hilary Clinton, who mobilised the votes of women –
and young women in particular.
Main conclusions & recommendations:
6. Education, healthcare and job creation are the main priorities of Millennials and young
generations across the world.
7. There is a need to create new infrastructure outside of the classical arena of traditional
partisan politics to involve young people.
8. Trust constitutes the key link between politicians and Millennials.
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II.
THEMATIC PRIORITIES DEFINED BY THE MILLENNIALS GENERATION
Almost half a million survey responses received for over 20 thousands young respondents from 31
countries across 6 continents underlined the importance given by the Millennial generation to
employment, healthcare, education, climate change but also to music, culture and social media. The
results from different countries showed how young generations are attached to active welfare states
and particularly concerned by the environmental and climate change issue. According to the main
priorities defined by the Millennial generation, corresponding thematic workshops were organized
during the Call to Europe VI conference. A large number of experts, politicians, young leaders and
participants among Europe and the world were involved in debates in the following workshops on
"Millennials and Employment"; "Millennials and Healthcare"; "Millennials and Education";
"Millennials and Climate Change"; "Millennials and Gender Diversity" and "Millennials and Music,
Culture & Social Media".
Workshop 1: "Millennials and Employment"
Javi LÓPEZ
Maurice CLAASSENS
Wim VERMEERSCH
Member of the European Parliament, S&D40, Spain
Senior Organisational Coordinator, SOLIDAR, the Netherlands
Staff Member Stichting Gerrit Kreveld and Editor-in-Chief,
monthly Journal ‘Samenleving en politiek, Belgium
Moderator: Maria FREITAS, FEPS Policy Advisor and Millennial Dialogue Coordinator
Rapporteur: Neil WARNER
The youth employment situation
in Europe is critical, not merely in
peripheral countries but also, in
less affected countries such as
Germany and the UK. It is also
important to understand the
question
in
terms
of
“employment” rather than simply
the
narrower
issue
of
“unemployment”.
New
employment forms (such as zerohour contracts, increasing selfemployment) are posing serious
challenges to young people as well
as to the welfare state in general.
The yearly Employment and Social Developments (ESDE) report suggests that labour markets have
still not recovered from the 2008-2009 economic crisis. The situation has in turn been exacerbated
by austerity measures, implemented within a narrowly defined framework of “structural reforms”.
It is important to understand the intrinsic connection between youth unemployment and the general
state of the European economy. Hence, the best way to solve youth unemployment is to solve the
unemployment problem in society as a whole. Youth unemployment is also a good mirror of society
overall – young unemployed people feel a sense of marginalisation and lack of control over their lives
17
that is also evident in European societies more widely. These sentiments in turn tend to undermine
faith in established political institutions and support for diversity.
In light of this, it must be remembered that youth unemployment is not just a figure and not just
problematic in and of itself, but has extensive and long-term effects on society, the economy and
political institutions. The NEGOTIATE research project led by Norwegian Social Research at Oslo
University College shows that early job insecurity has a significant long-term impact on people’s
career prospects.
These changes, combined with the increasing role of technology and digitisation in the labour market
and in daily life, also provide new challenges for the welfare states to which it must adapt while
continuing to provide the same level of social safeguard. To tackle youth unemployment and poverty,
employment and welfare systems must get young people into the social security system as soon as
possible while much greater efforts must be made to improve the transition between education and
jobs.
Progressives need to be the ones to resist the narrative that the problem of unemployment can be
solved simply through greater flexibility, especially at the bottom levels. The general approach of
policymakers continues to place the burden of being able to get a job on the capacities of young
people, while neglecting the structural questions of overall trends in Europe’s political economy. This
leads to an unsustainable of reliance on unpaid or low paid internships, and to a neglect of the
question of quality of jobs. This approach is unfair and pressurising towards young people, and
ultimately does not work.
Young people need to be engaged more genuinely in the process of finding and campaigning for
solutions, as core drivers and teachers and not as a superficial afterthought in the political process.
Even if it thinks they think they do, the EU institutions do not listen to young people or take their
experiences on board. On top of this, a new and understandable narrative and framework is needed
to provide the political basis for changing current employment relations.
Main conclusions & recommendations:
9. Youth unemployment is intimately connected both with general employment relations and
the state of national economies as a whole. It cannot be solved on its own but needs to be
tackled through this general approach.
10. New methods need to be developed to adapt employment and welfare systems to
technological and economic change.
11. There needs to be much more effective paths for helping young people to move from
education to employment.
12. Institutions responsible for solving youth unemployment have become too disengaged
from the experience of young people themselves, and seek to place the burden of resolving
youth unemployment primarily on the capacities of young people themselves. Young
people need to be engaged on a genuine basis in the policy and political process, and new
narratives are needed to challenge existing employment relations.
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Workshop 2: "Millennials and Healthcare"
Martin EDOBOR
Elif ALDUMAN
Maja ŚERČIČ
NHS Doctor and Chair of Young Fabians, UK
President of KYM, International Non Profit Humanitarian Aid
and Development Organization, Turkey
Vice-President of External Affairs for the European Pharmacy
Students Association, Slovenia
Moderator: Vassilis NTOUSAS, FEPS International Relations Policy Advisor
Rapporteur: Lisa Marie BORRELLI
Health care is highly prioritized by Millennials, while at the same time discussions about access and
standards problematize the field. There is consent among the Millennials that nutrition, sport and
future aspects of how they will be in 20 years, create a framework in which issues can be discussed.
That is especially as they see what their parents were guaranteed by the welfare state and what,
after all the years of austerity and retrenchment, they themselves might end up with.
Martin Edobor began with saying
that there is a strong need for
ensuring
intergenerational
equity and equality. In that
sense, the healthcare industry
has not adapted to needs and
demands of Millennials, resulting
in anxiety of the latter. In the
context of ageing population,
those under the age of 30 will
have to take over the majority of
workforce, thus have a higher
burden of disease. This needs to
be considered politically, making
the government adapting their policies and ensuring alteration of health care provision. What has to
be noted is while requiring potentially more support in the future, currently Millennials are less likely
to visit a doctor, e.g. because inaccessibility, waiting times and lack of engagement.
In this context, a valid question is what could Progressives do to improve the situation? One of the
remedies to the direct concern of accessibility would be for the hospitals to develop apps or online
platforms, in order to facilitate the contact patient – doctor. Particularly in a time of the Internet,
people start looking up potential diseases online before going to the doctor, which creates a
potential risk of misinformation and hence increases the need to counteract providing valid, accurate
information. This all remains a concern as the lack of physical access is a top issue, which appears
even as a greater problem while life is not as secure, as it used to be.
Accessibility was also the major concern for Elif Alduman, whose remarks pointed especially at the
developing regions. There often search and rescue teams leave after some days or a month after the
disaster strikes (e.g. natural disasters, when medical assistance is most important). The need to think
in a longer-term perspective and to ensure that there are more hospitals, for example in sub-Saharan
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African and Southern American countries, is an obvious demand. Furthermore, the fact that the new
generation is not inclined to be part of the voluntary actions creates a very specific challenge for the
aid work. While many volunteer doctors and helpers retire, it seems that hardly anyone is willing to
follow and feed in their steps. Last but not least, the modernity comes also with a new set of issues,
where climate change influences availability of water and nutrition, there is an increased wave of
forced migration and the commodification of health care (especially in its pharmaceutical aspect) is
the reality. These need to be addressed with new set of policies that could forge an updated
sustainable development agenda.
Last but not least, Maja Śerčič returned to some issues raised by the first panellist and emphasised
that what is needed in different European countries specifically is to acknowledge issues on access.
Healthcare policies need to be rethought, taking into consideration a long-term perspective. Health
care systems are not fit to the purpose. To that end, the focus should shift to prevention, trying to
support people in leading healthy lives and here through help avoiding high costs related to people’s
hospitalization. There should also be more done in order to qualify people (social workers, elderly
carers etc.) with soft skills, that will allow them to deal with diverse diseases.
The discussion that followed revealed that indeed, progress of the IT revolution demands filters
through which the amount of wrong information could be eliminated and smart health care systems
could be put in place instead. Furthermore, as any other policy, healthcare provision is not free from
discrimination. Attention needs to be paid to the great amount of migrant Millennials, arriving to
Europe frequently in poor shape, living in camps or even hiding. To that end, impoverished personal
situation of anyone cannot prevent him or her from receiving the medical assistance that he or she
needs. Needless to say, there is also need for gender proofing of the healthcare system. Last but not
least, while not to many Millennials wish to become doctors – that is indicative to the standards that
are violated in terms of jobs within the healthcare system.
Concluding, the state should reform, rebuild and expand the health care sector, ensuring smart
investments (e.g. budget cuts need to be prevented, useless treatments need to be prevented) and
using the IT evolution to the benefit of raising standards of care.
Main conclusions & recommendations:
13. The prevention on mental and physical health represents the main challenge for
Millennials and our societies in the future. Strong preventative campaigns are needed and
should be connected to investments that apply to the entire health care sector.
14. The application of the principles of equity and equality (of gender, race, etc.) is still a major
issue to take up not only in developing countries but also in Europe.
15. The role of education is decisive in the fundamental healthcare revolution resulting from
the integration of smart and digital technologies.
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Workshop 3: “Millennials and Education"
Alexandra ANTONESCU
Gökçe GOKCEN
Maria PODLASEK-ZIEGLER
Hanna HUUMONEN
President of the European Students Union, Romania
Vice President of Young European Socialists (YES), Turkey
Project Officer at the Directorate-General for Education and
Culture, European Commission
President of Student Socialists Union, Finland
Moderator: Alain BLOEDT, FEPS Communication Advisor
Rapporteur: Mafalda DÂMASO
The session revolved around the
following key debates: the role of
education
in
reducing
inequalities, the need to rethink
formal education, and in better
integrating
refugees
and
minorities.
On the role of education in
reducing
inequalities,
the
participants discussed the need
to adapt education in order to
make it fit for a digital,
knowledge-based economy. Although higher education was mentioned as a major priority in
ensuring this transition, education policies at all levels require adaptation both in terms of content
(e. g. teaching skills important for the future) and in ensuring that schools are accessible for
everyone. In this context, the role of student mobility in the EU must also be strengthened.
With formal education, the participants discussed the fact that changes to the economy and to the
job market (such as the end of the idea of "one job for life") require education in Europe to foster
adaptability, hybrid know-how, soft skills, and the interest in lifelong-learning. Indeed, although
Millennials are the best educated generation that has ever existed, there is a mismatch between the
knowledge, skills and attitudes that one gains through formal education and those that are required
at work.
Finally, regarding refugees (as well as Roma and other communities), the group agreed with the need
to better integrate these young people and adults and to assess their qualifications in a fair manner.
The participants agreed with the urgent need to rethink the goals served by education at the
European level. More specifically, education should not be focused exclusively on transmitting skills
but, rather, on preparing individuals for life. Nonetheless, and unfortunately, there is a clear trend
towards specialisation rather than a focus on nurturing adaptability. Additionally, investment in
teacher training is insufficient. As a result of this, the educational system is not fit for purpose. The
Finnish enquiry-based model, in which students learn different skills at different rates while also
achieving the best results in international tests, represents a particularly interesting example in this
context.
21
Second, European politicians and policymakers must support young people to become independent
whatever their social or cultural background. Third, the participants mentioned the increasing
importance of digital media and its potential as a tool to fight xenophobia, which is not recognised to
its full extent by politicians. The digital world should not be seen as a challenge; rather, it is an
opportunity to make education more inclusive throughout Europe.
Main conclusions & recommendations:
16. Supporting at national and European level young people to become independent whatever
their social or cultural background. It requires rewarding teaching and reconsidering and
expanding the definition of excellent teaching and learning.
17. The digital world is an opportunity to make education more inclusive throughout Europe. It
represents a potential that needs to be recognized and extended as a tool to fight
xenophobia.
18. The importance of pursuing investments in education throughout Europe in order to give
young people from all backgrounds what they need to succeed.
Workshop 4: "Millennials and Climate Change"
Alien De DEKEN
Sanjeev KUMAR
Ervins LABANOVSKIS
Youth Movement Climate Expert, Belgium
CEO & Founder of Change Partnership, UK
Head of the Board, Freedom & Solidarity Foundation, Latvia
Moderator: Charlotte BILLINGHAM, FEPS Executive Advisor
Rapporteur: Enza Roberta PETRILLO
The workshop was focused on
concrete examples and good
practices in order to ensure an
environmentally
sound
and
sustainable politics in Europe and in
the world. Sanjeev Kumar proposed
to create innovative policy and
political solutions as well as
organising
decision-makers
in
governments, business and civil
society to ensure that real change is
achieved. For this purpose, he
suggests to use a change
management approach, called "Just Transition framework" to aid the transformation of regions,
communities and workplaces from high-carbon sectors to new, more inclusive and sustainable
economic models.
According to him, the main pillars to structure the path towards climate justice are: a multistakeholders dialogue on the shift to a green, low carbon economy, from the workplace to national
22
government; investments in technologies and infrastructure to meet the sustainability challenges for
a low carbon, resource-efficient future while creating quality jobs; a government-led investments in
education, training and skills programmes, from the workplace to national levels, to equip students
and the workforce with the skills for a low carbon, resource-efficient economy and a democratic
decision-making and respect for human and labour rights are essential in order to ensure the fair
representation of workers’ and communities’ interests. Strengthening worker information,
consultation and participation rights matters in order to ensure a more sustainable development.
As a youth movement climate expert, Alien De Deken, draws on the absence of shared strategy
inside youth climate movements. She stresses the need of a positive narrative able to offer a
concrete alternative. According to her, grassroots activism will not solve every single environmental
issue and the initiatives have to be taken by each individual. She stresses the fact that a growing
movement of change makers can contribute through their initiatives to reinvigorating international
climate talks.
For Ervins Labanovskis, the sustainable development is possible only if the daily life of each citizen is
based on a careful attitude to the environment. He underlines that citizens and politicians have not
a clear understanding of what the "green economy" means. According to him the major
obstacles, in order to ensure an environmentally sound and sustainable politics, are: the single policy
approach that is often restricted on the consequences than on the whole environmental cycle (e. g:
energy, waste-management) and the predominance of the country-limited discussion framework in
the context, where decisions and actions that are needed are local and global.
Main conclusions & recommendations:
19. Increasing investments in technologies and infrastructure to meet the sustainability
challenges for a resource-efficient future and supporting the development of job creation
in low-carbon sectors.
20. Ensuring investments in education, training and skills programmes to support the
transformation to green economy.
21. Rethinking the narrative of the manner how to present the environmental and climate
issue. There is still an existing gap between sharing the concern and acting at the individual
level.
22. Surpassing the single-policy approach or country-limited discussion framework with the
development of real policy actions applying to the whole cycle and beyond borders.
Workshop 5: "Millennials and Gender Diversity"
Elisa GAMBARDELLA
Kevin PEEL
Karen ELOOT
Feminist Network Coordinator of Young European Socialists
(YES), Deputy National Secretary Socialist Youth, Italy
Member of Manchester City Council, UK
ACV Gender & Equal Opportunities Coordinator, Trade
Unionist, Belgium
Moderator: Hedwig GIUSTO, FEPS Senior Policy Advisor
Rapporteur: Lisa Marie BORRELLI
23
The workshop began with the input of Karen Eloot, who underlined that it’s a common objective of
Millennials, progressive movements and the trade unions tackle the gender pay gap. It should be
achieved not only because the existing and persisting situation is unfair, but also because its
implications in terms of hindering economic and social boosting capacities are evident. According to
Kevin Peel, also a specific focus on equality of all – and herewith on equal rights and opportunities of
the LGBT people – should be attended to on the European, national, local and regional levels. Finally,
Hedwig Giusto from FEPS added that following the survey, Millennials do not recognise the
progressive parties as vessels of gender policies.
As it has been agreed by the wider panel,
gender policies are crucial to build a
better future in the EU, which makes it
necessary to discuss how and through
which measures. The participants
debated about how to improve equal
rights and in how far legal reinforcement
is efficient. In this regard, it was noted
that laws are necessary in order to
create the most suitable environment
and help people change their mind-set.
From this point of view, education, at all
levels, was also considered an essential factor. A stronger focus of governments on promoting and
safeguarding gender equality would prompt other actors to react – which could resonate in spheres
of business.
Furthermore, it was underlined that despite all the efforts so far, the language of political and public
discourse, as also the one dominating within media and per extension in the societies, remains
chauvinist and homophobic. Therefore, more has to be done to change the narrative, diminish
stereotypes and foster a different understanding of gender equality when it concerns social role
models. In that sense, persisting feminisation of certain professional sectors, such as teachers, social
carers etc., needs to be addressed. Here, in setting new norms, media, culture and literature would
play important roles.
The question of the extent to which the political discourse around gender diversity is too often
ghettoised, even within progressive parties, was also largely discussed and participants agreed that
efforts should be made in order to overcome this limitations and increase people’s awareness.
This deconstruction already needs to start at the family level that presents a huge influence for the
child, especially in the first year. To conclude by the words of Kevin Peel: "there is still everything to
fight for and the rise of the far right means that our rights can be taken".
Main conclusions & recommendations:
23. Continuing to introduce legal frameworks and further laws to push for gender equality in
Europe.
24. Reducing gender roles and presentations through better education, childcare (e.g.
kindergarten, primary school), but also in families.
25. Addressing specific focus on all levels on LGBT.
24
26.
Workshop 6: "Millennials and Music, Culture & Social Media"
Marte INGUL
Victor NEGRESCU
Marilyn JOSEFSON
Pablo RODRIGUEZ SUANZES
Head of Communication for the Oslo Mayor Campaign, Labour
Party, Norway.
Member of the European Parliament, S&D40, Romania.
Adviser, European External Action Service, European
Commission
Correspondent in Brussels for El Mundo, Spain
Moderator: Elena GIL, FEPS Social Media Advisor
Rapporteur: Diana A. HANRY-KNOP
Marta Ingul, Head of Communication for the Oslo Mayor Campaign and Labour Party in Norway,
described how decisive it is today for politicians to be connected through social media. For political
parties, it is cheaper and easier to be directly in contact with voters that way. However, she
underlined that social media never wins a political campaign. “Knocking on the doors” still remains
important to be in touch with citizens. Social media in general are representing just another platform
and being part of it means “to be social” and to find connections with the others. But the way in
which the candidates communicate and share information with followers on social media is
determinant. As a good example, she used the successful campaign of Martin Schulz in 2014.
Victor Negrescu, young Romanian Socialist MEP agreed on the purpose and insisted on the visibility
and personalization that is offered today by social media. He noticed that the personalization of the
message represents a main challenge for Progressives, because it means to address and design a
specific message to each individual and not to a specific group (young, unemployed…). From his
experience in Central Europe, it is essential to be real and sincere on social media and avoid
presentations and pages on Facebook that seem to be managed by communication teams.
In this sense, Marilyn Josefson, a
former singer and current adviser
in the European External Action
Service
in
the
European
Commission, underlined some
similarities
and
differences
between the way how to do music
and the way how to do politics. As
well as in music, today there are
more opportunities to do politics
more diverse and less costly. The
main difference, according to her,
is that in political parties, a
hierarchy is still present contrary
to the music industry, where the
majority of decisions is taken by the young people who decide through different social platforms
which artist should be supported. The challenge for political parties is to absorb the changing ways of
engagement and interest in politics. Example of this is the past Obama Campaign ‘Yes We Can’.
Finally, the discussion at this workshop was completed by the intervention of Pablo Rodriguez
Suanzes, a Spanish correspondent in Brussels for El Mundo, who analysed the differences in the
behaviours between the readers of traditional newspapers and the users of social media.
25
Main conclusions & recommendations:
27. Be real, sincere and authentic on social media. It is one of the solutions to reduce the
distance between politicians and Millennial voters. In this sense, it is important to adapt
the language and personalize the form of our messages on social media.
28. The adaptation of the party organization represents the main challenge in the way how to
have young people involved.
III.
RETHINKING THE POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATION OF MILLENNIALS IN
POLITICS
Session 1: The Political challenge of ‘Grand Coalitions’ – The Youth Perspective
Johanna UEKERMANN
João ALBUQUERQUE
Quentin HENAFF
President JUSOS, Germany
Vice President of Young European Socialists (YES), Portugal
National Secretary of Youth, MJS, France
Moderator: Ania SKRZYPEK, FEPS Senior Research Fellow
Rapporteur: Giacomo BOTTOS
The topic of Grand Coalition in European politics was debated by representatives from youth
socialist’s organizations. The second part the discussion involved also the participants of the session,
including, among others, Massimo D'Alema, President of FEPS and Laura Slimani, President of YES.
In general, the speakers saw the political option of Grand Coalitions as problematic. Johanna
Uekermann had a direct experience of the Grand Coalition in Germany and remains against this
settlement. JUSOS expressed, after the last elections, their opposition against the alliance with the
conservatives. Grand coalitions are not common in Germany and the current one is not benefitting
social democrats. The main concern, shared also by other speakers, is that a Grand Coalitions could
strengthen the far right, often perceived as the only opposition to the coalition of the main parties.
Grand Coalitions are often presented as inevitable, but this is not always true. For instance in
Germany there was the possibility to form a different, left wing coalition, involving SPD, Die Grünen
and Die Linke. But there wasn't a serious attempt to form this kind of coalition. In Portugal, instead,
the tentative was successful. This dilemma (left-wing or Grand Coalitions) call of course into question
also the social-democratic identity. Keeping social democratic values could help building links with
the left. On the other hand, supporting austerity policies could weaken party identity and create
room for populist movements.
Another issue raised in the debate is that Progressives are often perceived as the “junior partner” in
the coalition, which could lead to policies reflecting somewhat lose consensus and make it very
difficult to attract young people. The risk is to be perceived as part of a malfunctioning “system”,
rather than be seen as those who want to change it. Recapitulating, implementing policies
benefitting young people could be very difficult in a Grand Coalition government. That multiplies the
26
problem already exposed in the study showing that in general Millennials don’t believe left wing
parties are really listening to them.
If there's no alternative to Grand Coalitions, there should be, at least, the will to build on common
ideas and with definite programs, which show red lines and the set clear of evaluation criteria. That is
because citizens tend to see entering in a coalition in order to attain power as repulsive otherwise.
To sum up, the electoral maps and the alliances couldn't change suddenly, like in the Games of
Thrones series, but managing the situation at hand requires from Progressive parties that they show
integrity, credibility and devotion to the programme they had asked voters to support before the
elections.
Main conclusions & recommendations:
29. The political context is changing and today’s left parties are losing more from the Grand
Coalition than gaining.
30. In order to rebuild the trust of citizens and Millennials in Progressive parties, it is essential
to focus first on values, ideas and programmes than on partners and office seeking.
Session 2: How to Improve Millennials Trust And Participation in Politics
Brando BENIFEI
Paul MAGNETTE
Jutta BUYSE
Balázs BÁRÁNY
Hilary PILKINGTON
Emma MURPHY
Fabio WOLKENSTEIN
Petra PINTELEI
Tom VRIJENS
Sara CARRER
Lora LYUBENOVA
Maxime FELON
Grace WILLIAMS
Member of the European Parliament, S&D40, Italy
Minister-President of Wallonia, Belgium
Municipal Councillor Forest Commune, SP. A, Belgium
Member of the MSZP National Presidium, Hungary
Professor, University of Manchester, UK
Professor, Head of School in the School of Government and
International Affairs, Durham University, UK.
PhD candidate & researcher, European Institute, London School
of Economics, Austria
Volunteer Light Into Europe, Romania
President ETUC Youth Committee, Belgium
Senior Advisor, ThinK Young & Senior Director EMEA, BursonMarsteller, Italy
European Youth Forum Board Member, Bulgaria
President of Youth Socialist Movement, Belgium
Chairwoman of Labour Youth, Ireland
Moderator: Lorena LOMBARDOZZI, FEPS YAN
Rapporteur: Seamus MONTGOMERY
The central question of this session was constituted on how to improve the trust and participation of
Millennials in politics. It was debated in the specific FEPS Call to Europe ‘world café’ format, whereby
it also included the elements of a fish bowl and other methods. The inputs were offered firstly by the
speakers accommodated within four tables, each of which represented specific stakeholder group:
politicians, academics, civil society, and youth organization representatives. In the first part the
speakers at the four tables interacted with one another, while during the second one the discussion
allowed participants on the floor to contribute their questions and comments.
27
The general, but unjust image of young people today is the one of disillusionment, disengagement,
detachment, and disaffection — but, as it was said, it is not based on knowing Millennials, their
dreams and political views. For Millennials many political issues matter, such as ensuring equality or
providing quality jobs, health, and education – nevertheless their declared interest in politics is low.
Consequently, the first part of discussion focused on the role that politicians should be playing to
reconnect. That is an uneasy task, as among young Europeans there appears to be a remarkable
distrust in politicians. This also stood out as a message from a short film documentary featuring
interviews with young people in France and across Europe, which was played during the debate.
Responding to that, the representatives at the politicians’ table argued that there is an issue with the
way leaders behave nowadays. They must transform and become yet again a source of inspiration for
Millennials. The way to restore the connection and win young people’s trust is therefore through
showcasing personal integrity and leading by example.
The academics, instead, emphasized a clear
need for more explanation of and passion
from the politicians, once they address the
current issues that Europe facing. They
united in speaking against the divisive
discourses often heard from political
leaders who speak to young people in a
different way than they do towards their
older constituents. There was also a call for
prominent voices to be more radical and
clear, broadening their political repertoire
and informing the public about the everyday realities that underpin their arguments. At the end of
the day, activism is, after all, about concrete issues.
Another issue that received a lot of attention in the debate was the concept of ‘clicktivism’, which
refers to a more detached and inconsequential form of political activism that takes place exclusively
on online forums and social media. The consensus was that young people desire to participate in the
political process to a larger extent than this allows.
Furthermore, much is being said about Millennials as a generation existing and interacting with the
external world exclusively online, though this is not necessarily the case for young people around the
world. Even so, there was strong support for online voting as well as lowering the age of voting,
bolstered by the belief that 16 year-olds should have the right to vote and are perhaps reachable for
politicians and other voices of influence with little difficulty.
Main conclusions & recommendations:
31. In efforts to confront the question of how to improve the trust and participation of
Millennials in politics, the factor of education is crucial. Programmes at schools that inform
students about current issues and how to go about voting on them are needed.
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32. Internal reforms within the existent political parties at the European level is necessary, as
well as reforms to the understanding of and approach toward the younger generations by
politicians.
Session 3: Policy Recommendations to Improve Millennials Political Engagement
Károly BEKE
Pierre SANÉ
Spiros PENGAS
Member of the MSZP National Presidium
President of Imagine Africa Institute, PS, Senegal
Deputy Mayor of the City of Thessaloniki, To Potami,
Greece
Political science associated professor, the City College of
New York, Italy
Politics Faculty Member, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Project Researcher, Kalevi Sorsa Foundation, Finland
Founder of Think Young, Italy
Founder of TEDxEastEnd, UK
Co-Director, Policy Solutions, Hungary
Member of the Olof Palme International Center Expert
Carlo ACCETTI
Tomaz DEZELAN
Merja JUTILA ROON
Andrea GEROSA
Maryam PASHA
Tamas BOROS
Johanna WESTER
Network, Sweden
Nikolay BERIEVSKI
Caroline HILL
Member of the National Council of the Youth Union in
Bulgarian Socialist Party, Bulgaria
Chair of Young Labour, UK
Moderator: Jakub JABLONOWSKI, FEPS YAN
Rapporteur: Davide Sardo
The session was structured around three main questions, which all discussed by four panels of
politicians, academics, and representatives of civil society and youth organisations. The session has
revolved around the issue of the political engagement of the Millennials, and it has overall led to
rebut the main stereotypes concerning the supposed passive attitude of Millennials towards politics.
As a result, the panellists substantially agree on the need of a shift of focus from the aim of
‘mobilising’ Millennials to the aim of winning their trust by taking into account their priorities and
granting them an adequate representation.
The first part of the debate was centred on the question on how could Progressives transform their
campaigns into sets of actions that can mobilise Millennials equally and effectively in the real and
online worlds. The question has indeed been challenged by most of the panellists invited to express
their opinion. In particular, it has been pointed out that the main issue is not the one to convince
young people to vote in order to win an election: mobilise Millennials is, instead, part of a wider
strategy that should be aimed at building up a widespread cultural hegemony, with the ultimate goal
of transforming society. It is in this context that the practical instruments aimed at favouring
Millennials’ participation, and the question of leadership itself, have to be framed.
The second part of the debate focused on the question of how to re-establish the link between
politics, political culture and culture. The main idea conveyed in response has been that Millennials
have to be understood as content creators, and not just as content takers. The cultural output takes
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a number of innovative shapes, but this simply means that the ways to pay attention to, and to
understand such creativity, have to live up to such new complexity of forms. Once again, the answer
to the question consisted somehow in a twist of the question itself: politics should rather listen to
the content created rather than trying to infiltrate and influence it; ‘culture is already there, the most
successful politicians are those who listen’. The space in which cultural production and political
connection happens has also been discussed, and the attention has been driven on the fact that the
virtual and online space is indeed complementary with the real space of the universities and of the
city squares.
The third part of the debate was
framed by the question of how can
Progressives build a coherent
narrative connecting governmental
politics and what is considered a
Progressive
agenda
by
the
Millennials. Once again, the query
itself has been put under discussion:
the issue is not really connecting
governmental politics with what is
considered
Progressive
by
Millennials, but it is rather to
implement, once in government, the Progressive policies that are often put forward during electoral
campaigns and when at the opposition. In particular, it has been noted that ‘the neoliberal ideology
has permeated the whole debate and political culture’, with the result that ‘radicalism is now framed
in a way that is different from the socialist one’. Therefore, ‘building a new narrative means starting
from what is wrong, especially the power of corporations, and building a movement around that’.
More simply, ‘progressives should take ownership for progressive initiatives and culture, not leave it
to the other side of the field’.
The debate has dynamically reverted some of the underlying assumption contained in the proposed
questions, by shifting the focus from the action to be taken to ‘mobilise’ Millennials to the evaluation
and valorisation of the existing forms of participation involving young people in Europe and in the
rest of the world. Rather than focusing on techniques to trigger Millennials’ engagement, left wing
parties are indeed required to deliver truly progressive policies, in order to respond to the most
obvious and widespread needs of the new generation: tackling inequalities, fighting for an education
that does not discriminate on the basis of the economic possibilities, reducing precariousness in
employment and granting decent salaries.
Main conclusions & recommendations:
33. There is a need for evaluating and valorising the existing forms of participation involving
young people in Europe and in the rest of the world.
34. Progressives should aim at building a movement around progressive initiatives and culture.
35. Progressives have to commit to delivering genuine left wing policies in order to respond to
the expectations of young people in education and employment.
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Session 4: The message from Young Progressive Leaders
Julia HERR
Laura SLIMANI
João TORRES
Johanna UEKERMANN
Aaron OOMS
President of Socialist Youth, Austria
President of Young European Socialists (YES), France
Secretary General of Socialist Youth, Portugal
President of JUSOS, Germany
President of Young Socialists, Belgium
Moderator: Matthew LAZA, Director Policy Network, UK
Rapporteur: Ivan CEROVAC & Panagiotis DOUDONIS
The discussion regarding the message from young progressive leaders was conducted in the Dragon
Den’s format. This way it had an interactive character. The leaders, all of them heads of youth
organizations of Progressive parties, along with the president of Young European Socialists, Laura
Slimani, were requested to respond to concrete proposals made by young participants regarding
specific policies which they would see necessary to implement at EU level. The leaders had a chance
to react and state what they thought of the proposal (that they would here in the room together
with others for the first time), after which there was a chance for audience to react and vote as well
– choosing the most agreeable proposal in the end of the round.
There were four major policy recommendations to the young progressive leaders, all of which were
accepted by the audience, with a strong majority. The first proposal, which was actually the winner,
since it was voted as the best by the audience, had to do with the establishment of a common
European unemployment fund. Young leaders have recognized this as a valuable and important idea,
but have expressed their scepticism regarding its realization, or have pointed out that social
integration in the EU should be based on
other, more important policies (e.g.
establishing a common minimum wage).
The second proposal regarded a binding
directive for member states to tackle the
gender pay gap. Despite the fact that the
leaders seemed to agree on the
substance of the measure, the inclusion
in it of a tax relief was met with
disagreement; instead, hard sanctions
were proposed for those companies
violating the proposed directive.
Two final suggestions touched upon educational policies of the EU by suggesting compulsory
education on political and civic literacy of citizens, as well as direct access to education for migrants,
regardless of their legal status. Τhe young leaders stressed the importance of civic knowledge, values
and skills and emphasized the value of the strengthening of the European demos. The role of political
discussions in schools and the building of a deeper feeling of European citizenship were also stressed
in this direction. The final proposal was accepted as well by the progressive leaders. Johanna
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Uekermann characterized the immigration issue not as a problem but as a solution to European
problems.
Both in their opening and in their final remarks, the young progressive leaders stressed the issues of
European integration, creation of jobs, inequalities as well as a the need for a stronger European
citizenship feeling. In this direction coalitions and strategic partners, progressive politicians’ keeping
of promises, Progressives having their own narrative as well as emphasis on the importance of
politics in changing the society were the common denominators of their speeches.
At the end of the Dragon’s Den, it was Massimo D’ Alema, the President of FEPS who took the floor.
The former Prime Minister of Italy, emphasized that absence of clearly defined choices, lack of
boldness and blurred agendas are the
reasons for the diminished appeal of
politics. That applies to Progressives and
their politics as well, and explains
incapacity to reach out to younger
generations. Moreover, he pointed out
that should reinforce its commitment to
the progressive fundamental principles
and values, while simultaneously it must
develop a stronger capability of
innovating in doing politics. How to do
that – was a challenge that the here
through gathered leaders he hoped to hear responding.
Main conclusions & recommendations:
36. Progressives should focus on creating a Common European Unemployment Fund with
instruments defined by the Member states.
37. There is a need for adopting a binding directive for Member states to tackle gender pay
gap.
38. Compulsory civic education should be introduced in all EU Member states curricula.
39. Progressives should fight for a mechanism, which would ensure that every refugee that
arrived in Europe is directly granted access to education.
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ADDITIONAL - REFERENDUM IN THE UK AND THE FUTURE OF THE EU
Specific Workshop: Referendum in the UK and the future of the EU
Martin EDOBOR
Caroline HILL
Maya GOODFELLOW
Christophe SENTE
NHS Doctor and Chair of Young Fabians, UK
Chair of Young Labour, UK
Researcher and Writer, UK
Lecturer, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Moderator: Charlotte BILLINGHAM, FEPS Executive Advisor
Rapporteur: Denis PRESHOVA
This workshop organized with the
support of Fabian Society was
devoted on the UK Referendum on
the membership in the European
Union and the campaign led on this
issue. This session was divided into
two parts. The first part consisted of
the
panel
discussion
and
presentation of the views and
arguments of the speakers on the UK
Referendum. The second consisted of
a debate among the members of the
audience whose goal was to reflect on the main arguments and issues raised in the panel discussion
with their comments and questions.
The panel discussion was divided between the internal and external perspective of the referendum
as well as the campaign. The internal aspect of the discussion focused on the campaign and debate
over the UK referendum pointing out the main characteristics and shortcomings, particularly, of the
Labour In campaign, and the reasons behind this. Making an overview of the character of the whole
campaign, it was underlined that the right-wing parties generally succeeded in framing the public
debate. In essence this referendum was the result of the battle between two blocks within the
Conservative Party. While Prime Minister David Cameron was blaming the EU on numerous occasions
in the past six years, now he was obviously hindered trying to lead the Bremain campaign against his
political opponents within the party. Among them was Boris Johnson. And externally, he had to face
the right of the political spectrum in the UK such as UKIP. Under such a constellation the Labour had
a tough time, trying to campaign – while at the same time remaining in its role of an opposition
party. The Labour In campaign, was not as successful as their message was not getting through
because their standpoint was not clear and it could not be really differentiated from the
Conservatives. The simple answers of the negative campaign led by the UKIP that emphasized the EU
democracy fallacies seemed to find easier acceptance among the electorate.
The lack of positive campaign on the EU could be observed also through the fact that the right wing
media, such as the Daily Mail, were most read. The messages sent were avoiding global issues and
EU’s leverage on a global level. This posed a great hurdle because in the embedded debate over the
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EU it was difficult to challenge the dominant narrative led by the same old people. This narrative has
even previously, but during the campaign even more so, alienated people from the EU who, partly, as
result of the educational faults could not understand how the EU works. The last point concerned the
large generation gap on the attitude toward the EU. Millennials, who feel rather disengaged, are
dominantly for the EU but nevertheless their voice was not heard. Their arguments have not really
reached the electorate. The Brexit camp arguments, mainly revolving around the anti-immigration
sentiment and the introduction of borders, once again resonated louder than the economic facts and
figures strongly speaking for the Bremain.
The external view on the UK referendum mainly focused on the impact of Brexit on the future of the
EU and the threat of disintegration but
also on the role of Millennials in this
very important process. Being a lot
more than just a plebiscite the UK
referendum will also show what the
impact of Millennials will be. While
having a strong internationalist stance
and favouring rather new parties with
an ambiguous standpoint across
Europe, still their abstention rate is
rather high and this might be
detrimental for this referendum.
The debate, which took place among the audience members, was mainly about the possible
consequences of the Brexit and over the weaknesses of the whole campaign over the UK
referendum. The main points were that the UK could face some difficult challenges in the aftermath
of a Brexit. Those would consist of the issue Northern Ireland’s peace agreement and one of its
cornerstones, the free movement of people, the stance of a rather pro-European Scotland and the
economic consequences such as the devaluation of the pound as well as the complete lack of action
plans for tackling these consequences. On the other hand the debate raised the concerns, which
were revealed from the campaign. Namely it has revealed that there is an obvious anti-establishment
sentiment, which has been on the rise also around Europe which heavily criticizes on the democratic
deficit in the EU which on the other hand is not taken as seriously. The way that the campaign has
been framed has left the big political questions unanswered.
Call to Europe VI was organised in cooperation with:
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