Research by the TUI Foundation also includes Greece. Young Greeks say they have a “hybrid identity”, they are not satisfied with the level of democracy and representation. Shortly before the European elections, a new survey by the TUI Foundation in collaboration with the polling institute YouGov conducted in Germany, France, Greece, Spain, Italy and Poland to young people from 16 to 26 years old, it captures the image, thoughts and concerns of the new generation about the European edifice, its present and its future. The positive thing is that the survey shows the following: three out of five young Europeans from the above countries feel “European”.

According to the analysis of the resulting data, this is a generation that has internalized fundamental European values, which previous generations probably had not yet deeply embedded. They value the basic principles of the EU, such as majority democracy, but at the same time identify weak points, say they are not adequately represented by politicians and are concerned about a range of current political, economic and social issues for the future.

Europe… of studies and travel

As a key, tangible advantage of ‘belonging’ to the EU, they see the ability it gives them to study and travel freely within the EU, but also the ability to use mobile phones without high roaming costs, as was the case in the past. They also understand the importance of the EU in safeguarding peace, democracy and human rights.

Furthermore, according to the survey, the evaluation of young people is generally negative regarding whether they feel they are adequately represented by politicians in European institutions. Only 17% overall consider that they are “strongly” or “very strongly” represented in the European Parliament.

At an overall level, again based on the average of data from all the countries that took part in the survey, young people in Europe consider immigration to be the most pressing problem, followed by climate change and then education policy and digitization follow.

“European Greeks” feel in Greece

Of particular interest, however, are the individual data concerning Greece. When asked how they define themselves in terms of their identity, Greek youth show more evidence of a “hybrid identity”, that is, they consider themselves either first Greek and then European or first European and then Greek. In any case, an overwhelming majority of 64% identify with both identities, compared to 27% who identify themselves only with the Greek identity.

Greek young people generally appear to have an ingrained European consciousness based on the survey and do not differ much from their peers in what the most important opportunities the EU offers them. 55% see freedom of movement within the EU as the most important advantage , followed by participation in European educational exchange programs such as Erasmus, followed by 49% freedom to work in another member state and then participation in the Eurozone and the common currency by 41%.

For Greek youth, Europe together means: freedom of work and study by 15%, freedom of movement by 14%, while 14% also consider fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law to be important features of the EU. 47% of Greek respondents also consider Greece’s participation in the European project “positive”, compared to 14%, who consider the opposite.

Dissatisfaction with the state of democracy

However, it is also interesting to see the main issues that young people in Greece consider to be “problems” today: in first place they rank immigration and asylum issues with 34%, then economic and fiscal policy issues with 31% and finally with 30% combating unemployment.

Indicatively, in Germany, their peers also consider immigration management as the main problem by 46%, followed by the protection of the climate and the environment by 33% and followed by foreign policy and defense with 32%.

In the question about whether or not they are satisfied with the state of democracy, 39% of all respondents state that they are “probably” not satisfied, with this percentage in Greece being the highest at 61%. Only 11% of young Greeks say they are “rather happy”.

Regarding the question of whether the politicians in each country represent the interests of the younger generations, 35% of the total consider that they “probably” represent the interests of the older generations. In Greece this percentage amounts to 39%. Specifically in the case of Greece, only 16% consider that politicians represent their interests.