About
The final Charter includes 49 recommendations relating to the democratic participation of young people at three levels of governance: the local and regional; the national; and the European level, focusing on education, cooperation, and information; youth empowerment, leadership, and democratic participation; the role of new technologies and digitalisation; and youth mainstreaming of policies and political representation.
The Charter was endorsed by the Presidents of the European Committee of the Regions and the European Youth Forum at the CoR plenary on 1 December 2022 in presence of representatives of European Institutions and other key stakeholders. Read the related press release here.
Background
The co-creation process of the Charter on Youth and Democracy was launched at the 9th Summit of Regions and Cities in Marseille, 3-4 March 2022, and engaged youth through various innovative means.
To fulfil its goal of empowering and involving young people across the EU and its regions in the drafting process, the proposals for the Charter recommendations were collected and consolidated through a participatory process together with the youth, by means of online and in-person consultations, dedicated social media activities and local events. Such an approach called on young people to express their ideas and also debate these between themselves and with CoR members and participants in the Young Elected Politicians program, before being consolidated into a Charter.