"The new JDL is down to earth"

By Pascal SteinwachsLex Kleren Switch to German for original article

Mental health, voting rights from 16 years on, e-voting, right to telework, climate justice, housing policy, free period products in public facilities... The "Jonk Demokraten" have a whole range of political priorities.

Michael Agostini, who works as an engineer and has lived in Esch/Alzette for several years, has been at the head of the JDL since May 2019. He is proud of the working groups of the "Jonk Demokraten", which have a lot to offer in terms of content.

The conversation took place on Wednesday last week.

Lëtzebuerger Journal: The executive committee of the Young Democrats consists almost exclusively of men, and in its long, over 70-year history, the JDL has only had a female president twice, one of whom even took over the office in an executive capacity. Are the "Jonk Demokraten", which today should actually be called "Jonk Demokrat*innen" in gender-equitable language, a men's club?

Michael Agostini: If you look at the corresponding photo on our website, you might actually get this impression. In reality, however, we have more than 40 per cent women on the Executive Committee.

There are 15 people in the picture, four of them women …

In the central committee, which is a nationally elected committee, three out of nine members are women and in the districts we even achieve parity with four women and four men.

However, the current top posts such as President, Vice-President and General Secretary are all men.

The fact that the JDL leadership does not have equal representation is of course true, but we are in the process of developing. For example, we have a working group on equal opportunities, which is chaired by a woman and in which the relevant issues are dealt with. My task as President is to set the necessary framework to increase the number of women in the JDL, but this must always be in line with the basic principle that the competence of a person is decisive. Quota women don't get you anywhere here.

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