Opinion: It turns out that the kids in Europe are not alright. For the European Union parliamentary elections early this month, voting ages were lowered to 16 in Belgium, Germany, Austria, Greece and Malta. And many of the first-time voters used this newly gained privilege to support local far-right parties.
Far-right parties now have the biggest bloc in the EU’s parliament and their victories are apparently driven, in part, by Europe’s youth vote.
When the EU’s 720-seat parliament last held elections, in 2019, Green parties everywhere benefited from the continent’s youth vote. But this election, that previous “green wave” of young voters turned a much murkier colour.
Experts say it’s not that Europe’s young have suddenly all become frothing, racist, ahistorical scumbags. Reasons for their change in political preference obviously vary, but suggested motivations include insecurity and uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, as well as rising prices, lack of affordable housing and general dissatisfaction with democracy.
In addition, it seems the far right is seen by some young voters as the “punk” or anti-establishment choice. “They have a bit of a rebellious vibe, especially when it comes to their anti-woke agenda, and that appeals to young people,” a professor of political science in Brussels told the BBC.
An Italian political scientist told the Guardian, “For many of these young voters, far-right parties have been part of the political landscape their whole lives. They’ve grown up with them. There’s not the stigmatisation there once was.”
It probably doesn’t help that conservative parties around Europe have recently co-opted some of the rhetoric of the far right.
It might also be generational: the memory of what happened last time the far right came to power in Europe is now several generations old.
There are other factors, too. Although they may not be much good at common human decency, Europe’s far-right parties have excelled when it comes to promoting themselves on social media. Surveys suggest that social media platforms are where young Europeans get their news and information. And clearly TikTok and Instagram are just perfect for broadcasting simplistic slogans and unnuanced argument.
At the time of writing, exactly how much Europe’s youngest voters had contributed to the far-right’s increased numbers in the European Parliament was not entirely clear, But there were some worrying signs.
In France, 32% of voters aged 18-34 chose Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally. The new face of that movement is Jordan Bardella, a 28-year-old political influencer with movie-star good looks and more than 1.5 million followers on TikTok.
Bardella and Le Pen’s overwhelming success at the EU elections resulted in the calling of a snap election in France for the end of this month, something that might even end up with the baby-faced Bardella – who reportedly throws tantrums if his suits don’t look just right – getting the prime minister’s job.
In Germany, the extremist Alterative for Germany, or AfD, became the country’s second-most-popular party, gaining five extra points, thanks to the support of voters aged 16-24.
The AfD is the most popular German political party on TikTok and in a report published shortly before the elections by the Anne Frank Educational Centre, researchers warned the AfD was using TikTok to present a sort of ideological “parallel universe” in which things like conservative housewifery (accompanied by banned Nazi songs, no less) and toxic masculinity look “cool”. These warnings clearly came a little late.
So, the question the grown-ups are debating now is: is it 16-year-old voters we should ban – or social media?
