As voters across Europe prepare to head to to the polls in early June to elect 736 members to the European Parliament, achieving a high turnout by young voters will be important. Young Europeans between the ages of 18 and 30 tend to share a positive image of the European Union, associating it with the freedom to travel, study and work anywhere in the Union, according to a recent Eurobarometer study. But they while some 82% of them are interested in national politics, only 66% expressed interest in EU current affairs. In an effort to spark interest, we recently partnered with the European Movement Ireland and Irish Youth Media Development to put on a 2-day workshop at our Dublin headquarters. Twenty-five young people from throughout Ireland became ‘e-journalists’ for the elections. The Europe Movement Ireland is an independent voluntary organization that aims to explain Europe in a jargon-free way to young people. At the workshop, participants benefited from the expertise of some of Ireland’s leading political journalists and bloggers, as well technical know-how from Googlers. The students tried out their their newly-acquired skills at a press conference with current European Parliament members Eoin Ryan and Mairead McGuinness .Media coverage on the day captured the mood of the "boot camp for young hacks" and you can keep up with the budding reporters at their YouTube channel and blog . If European institutions are to improve their legitimacy, the engagement of young voters is vital. The workshop represents a step in that direction. Posted by Sybille Warren, Programme Manager, and Iarla Flynn, Public Policy Manager
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