Youth participation in Greece

Is there a national youth council, representing young people in your country? If yes, please provide the name, number of member organisations and number of young members.

YES - National Youth Council , independent, non-governmental, non-profitable foundation since July 1998 with 200 registered members , who are included into 38 youth organisations

 

Is there a ministry dealing concretely with the youth affairs in your country? If yes, please provide the name of the ministry.

YES - Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs

 

Does the government in your country has a specific youth policy/youth strategy?

YES

 

From what age are young people allowed to vote in the elections? If different age for different elections (parliamentary, local, regional, etc.), please specify.

Since the age of 18 years old

 

From what age are young people allowed to be elected in the elections to the representative bodies? If different age for different elections (parliamentary, local, regional, etc.), please specify.

The bottom age limit is 25 years old

 

Are there any youth participation initiatives at the local level (in municipalities), e.g. local youth parliaments/youth councils, meetings of young people with decision-makers? Please describe.

Yes, in Greece exist such organisations:

Greek Network of Young Businessmen (Ελληνικός Σύνδεσμος Νέων Επιχειρηματιών)
Young Business Counterparts –Programme of U.N.D.P.
Youthnet Hellas(Δίκτυο Νέων Ελλάδας)
Youth Association for Greece and Europe (ONEE)
YSUN -Youth Society for U.N. and Greece (Σύλλογος Νέων για τα Ηνωμένα Έθνη)
Local Youth Boards (toSYN) –participating to Municipalities

 

Are there youth participation/decision-making bodies at schools, e.g. school parliaments, student councils, etc.? Please describe.

Yes, there are General Assemblies of Students in every National School (Intermediate or High) and in National University Foundations

 

Are there are youth parliaments or other youth participation bodies on the national level? Please describe.

Yes, there is the National Youth Board and the Parliament of Teenagers (Βουλή των Εφήβων)

 

Is there any kind of education to youth participation/active citizenship included in the school curricula in your country, e.g. civic education? Please describe.

Yes, there is included in annual school program and the course is named: Scholastic and Professional Orientation

 

Do media inform about youth issues? Are young people involved in media and their production, e.g. as journalists? Please describe.

No, the majority of media do not provide a lot of information on youth issues. Nevertheless, exceptionally it is possible to find information through blogs, free press (Lifo, Athens Voice), and rare thematical documentaries on channels (for example: The generation of 700euros)

 

Are there youth information centres, official youth websites or other sources of youth information available for young people? Please describe.

Yes, there is the ongoing General Secretariat for Youth under the umbrella of which, every other youth organisation or association function.

 

Are young people in your country informed about the European youth policy and its priorities? What do you think can be done to make young people aware about this? Please describe.

We strongly believe that youth is neither properly informed nor supported to participate to organisations relative to their direct interests. Especially youngsters living in province areas are mostly excluded form this kind of activities.

We suggest that we should grow through proper education stronger political conscience, as well as we should restore the trust to the actual political system. Thus the political parties should focus more on youth and listen carefully to their problems by developing dialogue and promoting youth policies

 

Authors: Vasilis Karras, Katerina Tsakanika, Smaro Dalakoglou
E-mail: vasilis.karras@hotmail.com, katerinatsakanika@yahoo.gr, smaro.dalakoglou@gmail.com

The surveys were submitted by the participants of the YouthVoice project from the respective EU Member States. The questionnaires were part of their preparation for the Youth Voice project and each national group had to undertake a small research about youth participation in their country. The organisers cannot guarantee correctness of the answers.