Editorial: What have politicians done for young people who are disenchanted with politics?

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In the latest Polindex study, 35 per cent of young people aged between 18 and 24 in Luxembourg stated that democracy is no longer necessarily "the best form of government" for them. Among young foreigners, this figure is even over 50 per cent. In a first reaction, Chamber President Claude Wiseler recognises a need for more "conversations about democracy, freedom, institutions and the functioning of the country" in order to "convince young people that freedom and democracy are extremely important values". In short: he diagnoses a PR problem. But is that really true?

You have to ask yourself: what exactly would Mr Wiseler, as a representative of politics, point to in concrete terms in order to credibly convey to young people that democracy – the only form of government they are familiar with – actually works for them and represents their interests with more than symbolic gestures?

After all, politics has done woefully little for young people in their lifetime so far. Here are just a few of the most obvious examples of its failures, which hit young people disproportionately harder than older generations: Climate crisis, housing crisis, growing inequality between rich and poor, rising depression rates, youth poverty, biodiversity crisis, pension insecurity and inflation.

"Democracy" has been ranting about all of these problems for decades, but it has not solved any of them. For many, not even credible solutions are recognisable. Worse still, many of these crises have arisen or been exacerbated within the framework of democratic processes. And they are not being resolved because those who have benefited from them – mostly older generations – are preventing necessary changes through democratic channels. Of course, this does not mean that other forms of government would solve these problems – probably not. But how are young people supposed to know that if they don't have any comparative experience? What they see is simply that the current system does not fulfil its promise of providing them with a better, or, increasingly, even a good life.