On 17 September 2015, the Congress Monitoring Committee approved the report on “Voting at 16 and consequences on youth participation at local and regional level” which will be submitted for adoption by Congress members at the 29th Congress Session (20-22 October). Austria has already introduced voting at 16 at all levels of government - local, regional and national in 2007. In an interview, Gudrun Mosler-Törnström (Austria, SOC), President of the Congress Chamber of Regions and Vice-President of the State Parliament of Salzburg, underlined this good experience which, she felt, contributed greatly to the awareness of political life in the country. “It could even be a starting point for granting the right to vote to very young people, including in national elections and referenda”, she said. Other European countries such as Germany and Estonia have followed the Austria’s example.
Conference File - 30 years of the Charter of the local self-government
