A fellowship programme for first-time voters, ahead of the June 2024 European Parliament elections.

About the project

Only 4 in 10 first-time voters cast a ballot in the 2019 European Parliament elections. We decided to do something about it.

Young Europeans care deeply about the issues shaping their lives — climate, jobs, justice, rights. But when it comes to European Parliament elections, turnout among first-time voters has consistently lagged far behind national elections. The reason is not apathy. There isIt is a gap: between what young people care about and their understanding of how the EU actually acts on it.

The Vote4ORoL Fellowship was our response. Ahead of the June 2024 European Parliament elections, we brought together 44 fellows from 15 countries and 19 universities — studying law, political science, journalism, and communication — for a structured programme of research, mentorship, and peer learning designed to close that gap and produce something useful for voters across Europe.

Three stages

"I am voting, are you?"

44 fellows from 15 Member States co-authored a first-time voter handbook for the 2024 European Parliament elections, published on 27 May 2024. The handbook covered 11 Member States, explaining what young voters in each country care about most, how the EU is competent to act on those issues, and what the main European political parties have promised and done on each topic.

The handbook received over 1,500 views and was featured in Politico's Brussels Playbook Newsletter.

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