• Home
  • About
    • Governance & Structure
    • The AER Executive Board
    • The AER Secretariat
    • Statute & Strategies
      • AER Statute
      • AER Procedures
    • AER stands with Ukraine
    • The History of AER
  • Members
    • Who are AER’s members?
    • Member Directory
    • Join AER!
  • Mutual Learning
    • About Mutual Learning
    • The Knowledge Transfer Forum
    • Working Groups
      • Ongoing Working Groups
      • Past Working Groups
  • Advocacy
    • About Our Advocacy Work
    • The Bureau
    • The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
    • AER Political Priorities 2020-2025
    • Intercultural Regions Network
  • Projects
    • About Our Projects
    • Ongoing Projects
    • Look for Partners
    • Completed Projects
  • AER Programmes
    • AER Eurodyssey
    • AER SUMMER ACADEMY
    • AER Youth Regional Network (YRN)
    • AER Observatory on Regionalisation
  • Events
    • AER events
    • Other events

Assembly of European Regions

Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985

You are here: Home / News / Y-FED: AER Poll Finds Young People are Optimistic About the Future but Lacking Awareness on the CoFoE

Y-FED: AER Poll Finds Young People are Optimistic About the Future but Lacking Awareness on the CoFoE

28 October, 2021 By Bianca Basílio Silva

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail
Share this!

Under the scope of the European Project, ‘Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it’, the Assembly of European Regions (AER) ran a poll gathering data on citizens’ expectations and priorities on the future of Europe, with a focus on young people. The results were presented at the Y-FED Final Conference in Brussels and announced in our press release, which can be read here. 

About the poll

The representative poll was conducted by Savanta in June 2021 and included six EU countries (Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Romania and Sweden), with a sample over 1,000 participants per country. 

On the Y-FED Project

This poll aimed to gauge the state of young people’s active citizenship in the European project, something that the AER and our partners, the Young European Federalists (JEF) set out to achieve over the last two years with our project, ‘Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it’.

By developing a proposal for an improved institutional framework of the EU in line with the European Youth Goals (EYGs), Y-FED provided young people with the opportunity to learn about the work of the European institutions, to participate in the design of more representative and accountable institutions, and to promote the developed model through policy dialogue and political advocacy. 

Simultaneously, Y-FED raised awareness on the EYGs among young Europeans and local decision-makers, encouraging dialogue between them and prompting policy reform and implementation actions at the local and regional levels.

How politically active and aware are young Europeans?

Overall, respondents shared the belief that young people will have more opportunities to play an active role in society and politics, reflecting optimism for the future. Nevertheless, when asked about the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) young people showed a lack of awareness, with over half 46.8%) not having heard about the CoFoE. Despite this, the AER survey found that young people want a greater role in the political process.

Moreover, regional and local governments showed to enjoy a higher level of trust among young Europeans than national governments do (46% versus 38%), proving to be the level of government best-placed to introduce novel, non-bureaucratic channels for young citizens to engage in the decision-making process through and beyond the CoFoE.

Respondents were also asked about future opportunities in five different areas (​​Education, Jobs, Equal Rights, Civic Participation and Mental Health) for the next generation of young people in their region and split into two age groups (18-24 and 25-34). You can read more information in our Press Release or…

Click here to read our full technical report!

This poll was organised in the context of the European Project “Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it”. Y-FED aims to bring the EU closer to its young citizens by developing a proposal for an improved institutional framework of the Union in line with the European Youth Goals. The initiative, supported by an Erasmus+ “European Youth Together” grant, is implemented through a series of capacity-building training courses, public policy hackathons, a large-scale simulation of a reformed EU and advocacy actions.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: Y-FED, Youth

← Knowledge Transfer for Integrated Care – Sharing the Results with the International Healthcare Community 2021 Eurodyssey call for elections: Steering Committee Chair and Members →

More articles on this topic

Call for Mentors: Support Young Activists in their Advocacy Actions!
EXTENDED – Call for Participants: Advocacy Training for Young European Activists
Call for Trainers: Advocacy Training for Young European Activists
#HotlineCohesion – Get back on track with ALMA!
AER’s Youth Regional Network is back! Highlights from the YRN General Assembly 2023

AER. Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985.

Follow our newsletter!




View previous campaigns.


  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Tweets by @europeanregions

AER Projects

  • Ongoing projects
    • EU-BELONG: An Intercultural Approach to Migrant Integration in Europe’s Regions
    • Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe
  • Partner search
  • Completed projects
    • SCIROCCO Exchange project
    • SKILLNET – Sector Skills Network of VET centres in Advanced Manufacturing: a coalition of transnational VET providers
    • CUBES – Cultural Administration Boosting with the Engagement of Sustainability for Local Communities
    • Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it
    • AMiD – Access to Services for Migrants with Disabilities
    • AER Summer Academy 2016
    • Alcohol Prevention Peer Reviews
    • ECREIN+
    • Engaged
    • Joint Efforts to Combat Dropout (JET-CD)
    • Let’s REUnite! Together for cohesion project
    • MOCHA
    • MORE4NRG
    • PRESERVE
    • PYE – Promoting Youth Employment
    • PRO-I3T
    • REALM – Regional Adult Learning Multipliers and the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiatives
    • Regions4GreenGrowth
    • Road to the Future
    • SEED European Silver Economy Awards
    • Smart Care
    • Smart Europe
    • YES – Youth Entrepreneurship Strategies

Library

Statutory Documents
AER Strategies
Minutes
Media Kit
Activity Reports
Newsletters
European Regions Map

Join AER!

Become a Member

Job Opportunities

Sign up for our Newsletter

Website map

Brussels · Strasbourg · Alba Iulia

A Network, a Partner and a Voice of European regions, since 1985 · Copyright © 2023 · Assembly of European Regions · [email protected] · Log in