Youth and young adults interested in politics attended the eighth Youth Session of the Liechtenstein Parliament (Landtag) on Saturday September 23 to work on proposals regarding “Energy and Night Out”. UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein supported the Youth Session for the first time this year.
The Liechtenstein Youth Council has been presenting the annual Youth Session since 2015. This project aims to present the opinions of young people to the Liechtenstein Parliament. This year, participants discussed the topics of “Energy and Night Out”. The Youth Council invited the experts Markus Büchel of Open Youth Work Liechtenstein (OJA) and Michael Meirer of the Liechtenstein Association for Environmental Protection (LGU) to present a brief overview of these topics.
This was followed by a discussion of various problems and ideas that can lead to solutions, and the drafting of specific demands in several small discussion groups. Among others, four representatives of Young List and four representatives of Young FBP participated in the drafting of the proposals.
The afternoon saw the participants meeting in the plenary hall to discuss the proposals. Under the moderation of Michael Schädler, President of the Youth Council, they voted on which proposals to present to Parliament. Seven members of the Parliament and three government representatives, including Prime Minister Daniel Risch, followed the discussions and voting as spectators. Florian Hadatsch was also there as representative of UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Thematic focus
Two of the eight proposals concerned the topic of “Night Out”. The applicants are demanding the free issue of strips to test drinks for date rape drugs at nightlife establishments. For many young participants, however, the main thematic focus clearly fell on the climate: most of the energy proposals focused on climate protection. It was therefore hardly surprising that the “Energy Self-Sufficiency” proposal by Young FDB received the most votes as the petition to be submitted to Parliament.
After the closing speech by Manuel Frick, Minister of Social Affairs and Culture, participants and attendees celebrated a constructive day at a drinks reception. Everybody was most happy with the success of this year’s Youth Session. “I was impressed by the speed at which the young people were able to prepare a number of proposals,” said MP Dagmar Bühler-Nigsch. PM Daniel Risch underlined the importance of this event: “We have to find solutions for the problems of the future now.” MPs Franziska Hoop and Daniel Oehry were also very excited about the engagement shown by the young people. “I hope to see even more young people attending the event next year,” said Franziska Hoop.
The Youth Council is looking forward to continuing this rewarding project in the coming years in order to further the political participation by young people in Liechtenstein.
