© dpa
Berlin's youth senator Astrid-Sabine Busse (SPD) has announced a campaign for the political education of young people in the city.
It is to be launched this summer against the background of the planned lowering of the voting age for elections to the state parliament to 16, as the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family Affairs announced on Friday. Representatives of various youth organisations, associations and committees have been invited to the kick-off meeting on 5 July. Busse also wants to take part in it herself. "The point is to talk about and promote the participation of young people in a parliamentary democracy," the senator said.
Further working meetings within the programme "Youth. Power. Democracy." are to take place at regular intervals. According to the senate administration, one of the issues to be discussed is whether future legislative projects should be subjected to a mandatory "youth check", i.e. whether it is necessary to clarify in advance what effects new laws will have on the young generation.
The meetings will be chaired by State Secretary for Youth Aziz Bozkurt and the Chairperson of the Landesjugendring, Ramona Hinkelmann. "The initiative "Youth. Power. Democracy." is a great opportunity for more intergenerational justice, innovation and participation in Berlin," said Bozkurt. "We want to give young people a lobby, promote political education as the key to participation and work strategically to ensure that young people's interests are heard more."