“Conscious that direct involvement of youth in the affairs of society remains essential, as a safeguard for democracy and for sustainable development in the municipalities and regions”,1 and in view of the apparent disengagement of young people from conventional political participation in recent years, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe has been taking a closer look at the issue of youth participation. In 2012, the Congress’ report entitled “youth and democracy: the changing face of youth political engagement” explored the reasons for young people’s waning interest in democratic and civic participation.

Understanding from the report’s conclusions that young people are not disengaging rather that they are engaging differently in a society in which they feel marginalised from the political process, in 2014 the Congress devoted a large part of its two sessions to the theme “Empowering youth: a shared responsibility for cities and regions”. The aim was twofold: to generate exchanges between the local and regional politicians represented in the Congress on the participation of young people, as actors of local and regional democracy; and exchanges between these elected representatives and young people.

In October 2014, for its 27th Session, thirty-four young people from different backgrounds – youth activists, youth workers, students, young politicians – took part in the session and debated with Congress members on the issues on the agenda. In view of the success of this experience, the Congress, in close co-operation with the European Youth Foundation and the Council of Europe Youth Department, has decided to once again invite a number of young people to take an active part in its 29th Session (20 to 22 October 2015) and a one-day workshop

http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/youth/Source/News&Calls/2015_CALL_CONGRESS_29th_en.pdf