YoungAction for YouropeVision
world after Japan, that politics is made for the
majority of the electorate - and that majority is
over 50 years old.
What is to be done?
Not even at school anymore? Then the quality of
education will soon no longer be a priority.
Not that we misunderstand each other: Of
course it is right and democratically legitimate
for politicians to orientate themselves towards
the interests of their electorate.
As the saying goes: "We have only borrowed the
earth from our children." Unfortunately this is
not yet a guiding principle of politics.
The intertemporal generational justice is based
on a broad concept of generation. It means that
only one generation lives at a time.
A distinction is made between past, present and
future generations. While it is difficult for us to
do something for past generations in retrospect,
we can already influence the lives of our
descendants today.
Environmental and climate policy is a prime
example of this: weak climate protection can
already today violate the right of those born in
the future to an intact environment. The rights of
future generations must therefore be protected
by the present generation already now. The
room for manoeuvre of future generations must
not be restricted by political measures that are
decided by those living today.Generational
justice in everyday political
life? No way!
Many parents want their children to be better off
than they are. One could therefore think that a
tendency towards generationally fair behaviour
is already anchored in our society. In politics,
however, the situation is different: Democracy
has a structural problem - those who want to be
elected or re-elected base their policies and
election campaigns on the interests of the
voters.
Future generations do not yet have a voice today
and the younger generation may only make its
cross when it is at least 18 years old.
Consequently, we are seeing in Germany in
particular, the second oldest country in the
28
But it becomes problematic when issues such as
pension policy and internal security move up the
agenda and future issues such as education,
climate and digitalisation fall by the wayside.
For this not to happen, strong participation of
young people at all political levels on the one
hand, and institutional representation of future
generations in today's political life on the other,
e.g. through a council on the future or an impact
assessment, are needed.
This can block draft legislation in parliament if
it does not meet the requirements of
intergenerational justice and sustainability.