R12: Youth at the Table: Make Participation a Right, Not a Gesture

Young people across Europe bear the long-term consequences of political
decisions on climate, housing, social rights, and fiscal sustainability, yet
their influence in formal democratic institutions remains limited. While youth
parliaments and councils are not a new mechanism, they exist in only around half
of European countries and often lack a solid legal basis, stable funding, and
institutional support to translate into decision-making. Participation is too
frequently symbolic, dependent on political goodwill, short-term projects, or
voluntary effort.

This is not primarily a problem of youth disengagement, but of democratic
structures that concentrate power in the hands of established actors and create
unequal access based on intersecting forms of discrimination. Public authorities
often outsource participation to short-term projects or underfunded
organisations, while retaining decision-making power. Without consistent legal
guarantees and accountability mechanisms, participation risks reproducing
existing privileges and undermining trust when young people’s input receives no
visible follow-up. Existing legislative frameworks, including Article 165 TFEU,
Article 11 TEU, and Council of Europe standards on youth participation, already
recognise the importance of youth involvement. However, these frameworks lack
binding obligations, enforcement, and consistent implementation across Member
States.

We therefore demand that youth participation becomes a guaranteed right,
anchored in law through independent structures, adequate resources, inclusive
access, and mandatory accountability.

We demand that EU institutions, within their competences:

● Propose and adopt a Council Recommendation on a European Youth Participation
Framework, setting minimum requirements for independent, representative national
youth councils, youth parliaments and student unions.

● Integrate these standards into EU youth cooperation instruments and reporting
cycles, ensuring consistent evaluation of their implementation and impact.

● Use EU funding programmes to incentivise Member States to implement these
standards, including participatory governance rules, transparency requirements,
and inclusive access measures for marginalised youth.

● Introduce Youth Impact Assessments for relevant legislative and policy
proposals, particularly those with significant intergenerational impacts.

● Ensure regular monitoring and public reporting on the implementation and
impact of youth participation mechanisms.

We demand that Member States:

● Adopt or update national legislation to create or recognise independent,
representative national youth councils with a defined consultative role on
youth-relevant legislation and budgets.

● Guarantee stable, multi-year public financing for youth councils and
participation infrastructures through transparent rules that protect
independence and prevent undue influence.

● Establish or strengthen national youth parliaments with formal institutional
links to parliament, including mechanisms ensuring parliamentary committees
respond to adopted youth resolutions and report on follow-up actions.

● Protect civic space and youth organising by fully safeguarding freedom of
association and assembly in law and practice.

● Create monitoring and accountability mechanisms to track how youth
participation inputs are reflected in final policy decisions, including regular
public reporting.

We as FYEG will:

● Develop and deploy a shared advocacy toolkit for Member Organisations to
campaign for the legal recognition, independence, and adequate funding of youth
councils, youth parliaments and student unions.

● Collect, consolidate and disseminate best practices on consultation rights,
accountability mechanisms, and public-authority response procedures.

● Work with Member Organisations to advocate for youth participation reforms at
national level, with a focus on the inclusion of marginalized youth and those
facing intersecting forms of discrimination.

We call on the Green political family to integrate these demands into political
programmes and legislative priorities at EU and national levels, ensuring their
consistent implementation across other levels of governance. We call on them to
act decisively to defend civic space and youth organisations against undue
influence, recognising that independent youth representation is a basic right of
young people.

We call on national parliaments, governments, and local authorities to stop
treating youth participation as a temporary project and to legislate for
permanent, inclusive and independent youth participation bodies, backed by
stable public funding and a guaranteed impact on decision-making.