EU commissioner calls on young people to make their voices heard

European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel was in Cyprus on Friday to take part in the island’s first-ever Democracy Forum in Nicosia and called on young people to make their voices heard and to express themselves passionately on the issues that concern them.

Gabriel pin-pointed the goals and actions of 2022 set by the EU as the European Year of Youth and called for the promotion of young people’s ideas in decision-making centres to create a better future together.

She said the idea behind the European Youth Year is for young people to share their vision and ideas and take part in activities across Europe via the EU Commission’s ‘Voice your Vision’ platform. She added that the Russian invasion of Ukraine further emphasised the need to uphold European values of democracy and the rule of law, and noted that effective action in this direction is participation in elections.

She also noted the particular mobility of European youth, and in particular students, in expressing solidarity with Ukraine and the Commission ‘s actions, mainly in support of universities, Ukrainian students and teachers.

The Democracy Forum aimed to foster debate between political decision-makers, social partners and civil society about the challenges facing modern democracies.

It was organised in Nicosia by the Citizen’s Commissioner in collaboration with parliament, is based on a Council of Europe initiative to build a platform for the promotion of ideas and innovative solutions to key challenges facing democracy and its institutions, and seeks to adopt democratic processes promoted by citizens themselves so as to strengthen the foundations of democratic and healthy societies.

President Nicos Anastasiades, in his greeting, conveyed by the agriculture minister Costas Kadis, said that the government’s primary concern is to build a society focused on the citizens themselves, a society in which citizens will not be mere recipients of decisions, but active co-creators of those decisions.

“Relying on the five basic principles of good governance, namely transparency, participation, accountability, efficiency and coherence, we have reinforced the strength of the views and actions of civil society through a series of decisions, while enhancing its role,” he added.

The president highlighted the fact that the government has proceeded with the establishment of institutionalised mechanisms for direct consultations with citizens, and referred to the decision for the establishment and operation of an Independent Authority against Corruption and the voting of the Law on the Right of Access to Information of Public Sector Law of 2017.

He also said that following a government decision, the institution of the Volunteer Commissioner was transformed into a Citizen Commissioner, with the clear aim of strengthening participatory governance and promoting active citizenship.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Annita Demetriou said parliament strongly supported two-way communication between the state and its citizens and the transformation of proposals into actions and projects, in the context of strengthening active citizenship, participatory democracy, pluralism and transparency, with the aim of highlighting the problems of civil society and consequently solving them.

“As speaker of the House of Representatives, the foremost exponent of the democratic will of the people, I declare that we clearly have an obligation to constantly strive to bridge any gap between citizens and institutions,” she said.

Demetriou stressed that any discussion on the future must include the major issue of ensuring the sustainability of the planet through sustainable development, since, as she said, the future of Cyprus, Europe and the world is directly linked to global health. Demetriou also stressed the role that integrated digital transformation will play in the social, political and economic future of the relationship between the state and its citizens.

She also stressed that young men and women should be more actively involved in public life and express their point of view in order to contribute to the co-formation of a new reality.

For his part, Citizens’ Commissioner Panagiotis Sentonas said that the war in Ukraine was a harsh and painful reminder that neither democracy or peace are given situations or concepts and said that state and society must do everything in their power to protect and strengthen democracy.