Luxembourg’s Youth Parliament on Monday presented six resolutions to the Chamber of Deputies, with topics ranging from defence to housing, educational reforms, energy independence, and artificial intelligence. At a subsequent press event, 18-year-old Sam Elsey, President of the Youth Parliament, expressed satisfaction over lawmakers’ openness to the concerns of young people over the last two years. However, he also warned that MPs now need to show that their willingness to listen was more than just a mere campaign promise.
“We are there to help policy makers. We want to represent youth. And we can only do so if we are being involved”, noted Elsey.
Lana Despotovic, social media coordinator of the Youth Parliament, explained that there have been a record number of meetings with political parties in the last year. Niels Huberty, the future president of the Youth Parliament, added: “It is very likely that politicians will continue listening to us. The political will is certainly there. One can say that the Chamber always accommodates us.”
Members of the Youth Parliament, currently around 140 people aged 14 to 24 years, expressed satisfaction over the reaction that their housing resolution received. They argued that construction procedures should be simplified and that a special housing chamber should be created.
Philipp Bost, Vice President of the Youth Parliament, later highlighted the discussion on artificial intelligence: “It was a rather personal exchange, with politicians enquiring about the experiences that we have made as pupils and how we view things overall.”
Elsey argued that AI skills will be a deciding factor in the workplace in the near future: “It is something that we can integrate and continue using in our education system. Let’s be honest, pupils who know how AI works will be future employees who... are able to work a thousand times more efficiently than academic pupils that don’t know.”
Huberty summed up the talk on defence policies, noting that the Youth Parliament is in favour of a joint European effort, which they think could be facilitated by a European defence commissioner. They further propose to create a shared industrial arms base and argue that the will to defend European values has to be reinforced.
The discussion on energy independence focused on government support for sustainability-oriented startups and diversifying the portfolio of trading partners to avoid potential shortages. Members of the Youth Parliament further drew attention to the fact that uranium used in nuclear power plants should only be purchased from countries that respect human rights.
The Youth Parliament, which has now existed for around 16 years, further put forward a resolution on equality of opportunity and integration, which lists a number of improvements for wheelchair users and measures to protect victims of cyber bullying.
