The federal Vivaldi government decided last year to allow every Belgian from 16 years of age to vote for the European Parliament from 2024, to the great enthusiasm of young people. The age limit for this was still 18, which is still the case for local, Flemish and federal elections. But today those same young people are displeased by the election date – probably Sunday, June 9, 2024.
“Elections on June 9, in the middle of the block, just embarrassing,” says Jong Groen. “For the first time, we have voting rights for 16-year-olds, but this rule creates an extra threshold. In other EU countries, where there is no compulsory voting, this will ensure that many young people will not vote.” “Very unfortunate if this is indeed the case”, responds co-chairman of Groen Jeremie Vaneeckhout. “This has a huge impact on students during their exam period.
The Flemish Association of Students also thinks it is an “incomprehensible decision” to organize elections in the middle of the block. “For most students, the block is an extremely stressful period, now they have elections on top of it.” “Right during the exams of thousands of (European) young people. Anyone who says that politics also concerns young people must be consistent”, chairman Julien De Wit still responds.
However, not everyone is equally outraged. “Drama politics”, is how Flemish member of parliament Maurits Vande Reyde describes Groen’s criticism. “It is Sunday. If this were to prevent young people from going to a voting booth for a while, you would no longer have any argument to extend voting rights to 16. Voting is in most cases an hour at the most. As if other people who are going to vote also have nothing to do.”
Final date next week
However, this is not entirely certain, given that the Member States are allowed to move the date forward or backward by a few weeks for practical reasons. That decision must then be taken unanimously by the 27 after consultation with Parliament. That would feel more for the date of May 26, as it did five years ago, but there is no consensus on that.
If the member states cannot agree, 9 June will be the only option left. Germany, among others, would be in favor, as would Belgium, which would like to benefit as long as possible from the Belgian EU presidency in the first half of 2024. The final date will be set next week by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Council of the European Union.