Far-right leaders seek to sway young voters via social media for EU elections
Many populist or far-right parties want to attract the younger generation to join their elders and reject traditional parties.
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00:00 Political parties are targeting young people ahead of the European elections.
00:05 Many populist or far-right parties hope that they will join their elders in rejecting traditional parties.
00:11 I think that young people, they look at the future and the future looks grim for them.
00:17 How can they have trust in the European Commission?
00:20 How can they have trust in these traditional parties, the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats, the Liberal Democrats,
00:26 who have been governing us for decades and who have brought us into this mess of uncontrolled borders,
00:32 of mass migration, of insecurity, of Islamic terrorism.
00:36 To do this, the European far-right is targeting young people on social networks, including the Chinese platform TikTok.
00:43 In Belgium, the Vlaams Belang posts frequently on social networks and spends huge sums on trying to attract young voters.
00:50 Italy's Matteo Salvini, Portugal's Andre Ventura and France's Jordan Bardella regularly publish short videos,
00:58 a format popular among a youth sometimes described as disillusioned with politics.
01:04 I think there is a partial interest of the youth because we think that it is the politicians at the top,
01:12 the men with their ties in their big berlin, who will not listen to us.
01:19 So we feel a little disinterested, we say to ourselves, whatever we do, it will not change anything, they will not listen to us.
01:26 Yet the 2019 European elections had seen record turnouts thanks to young people.
01:32 62% of all the people polled believe that joining the European Union is beneficial,
01:38 which rises to 67% if only 18 to 29-year-olds are considered.
01:43 Fighting rising prices, reducing social inequalities and unemployment, supporting economic growth and fighting climate change
01:51 are priorities for the majority of young people, according to a recent Neuronews/Ipsos survey.
01:58 (audience laughing)