Call for Young Candidates
Following the success of the Young Candidates Platform in 2019, the FYEG is happy to announce the opening of a call for Young Candidates to the European Parliament in 2024.
The Young Candidates Platform is a space for training, exchange, growth and support for young people running for the European Elections. The selected Young Candidates will be the face of the Young European Greens’ campaign.
The objectives of the YCP are:
Getting Young Greens on the lists of Green parties and in electable positions
Training and equipping Young Candidates with tools and methods to build a community of voters and to campaign
Campaigning for the Young Candidates, through the mobilisation of volunteers
Offering a safe space for exchange and mutual support
Selection criteria
The Young European Greens are looking for candidates fulfilling specific criteria.
Required criteria. Candidates must:
Be younger than 35 years of age on the first day of the European Elections (6th June 2024). Important note: FYEG MOs have diverse age criteria for their membership. However, FYEG will support candidates who are above the age limit to be a member of their MO and below 35 years of age, provided that their MO provides a letter of support (check criteria 4 of this list).
Have a confirmed spot on the list, or have enough reason to believe that they will be placed on the list (especially for parties where list-building is only finalised in 2024)
Identify with the values of Young Greens, and subscribe to the FYEG messaging and slogans
Represent an FYEG Member Organisation or having their candidacy endorsed by a Member Organisation, whenever an active FYEG MO is present in the country they are running in
Agree to seat with the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament, if elected
Actively participate in the Young Candidates Platform (defined below)
Preferable criteria. Candidates with the following profile will be prioritised:
Belonging to a gender, sexual or romantic minority, or identify in one non-male or queer gender
Belonging to a racialised group, or have an immigrant background
Belonging to an ethnic, linguistic and/or religious minority
Having a disability and/or neurodivergence
Running in a country where young people are underrepresented in the lists
Running in a country in the Southern or Eastern region
Running in a country with acclaimed rise of far-right and right-wing parties
Running with a party with limited capacities and support
Only candidates who fulfil all required criteria will be taken into consideration for selection. Priority will be given to candidates who fulfil one or more of the preference criteria.
What you can expect from the Young Candidates Platform
As a Young Green Candidate, you will:
Receive support for the confirmation of your candidacy and building of your international profile
Through visibility on FYEG social media, and occasionally EGP and Greens/EFA social media, or at in-person events
Through lobbying your party membership and leadership in key moments of your campaign, e.g. FYEG can draft a support letter
Be trained on what you need
Join online training addressing the campaigning skills you feel you are lacking
Access to two in-person training weekends (the first one on 9-10 December in Brussels, the second one at the beginning of March 2024 in Italy, date and place TBC)
Receive support in digital organising, such as through the use of a CRM for building your list of potential voters
Have access to a resource toolkit
Get practical campaign support
FYEG will support in the organisation of in-person events to promote you
FYEG will mobilise the volunteers of the Green Base for your campaign
FYEG will organise a Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign
Be part of a safe(r) space for exchange with peers who are candidates in other countries
Through a digital space
Through shared resources
Through social gatherings
What you are expected to give
The YCP is a community of practice that grows thanks to the participation of the people in it. The aim is to create a space that has regional diversity and where both first-time MEP candidates and candidates who have already run in the past are represented.
As a Young Green Candidate, we will ask you to:
Contribute to the learning of everyone else in the platform through the sharing of your knowledge and experience
Be an active part of FYEG campaign, by spreading our political positions and visions for Europe, our campaign messaging and slogans
Lobby for youth demands to be included in your party narratives
Join at least one of the two in-person trainings
Application process
To apply you should fill out the application form at THIS LINK and ask your Member Organisation (if applicable) to send a letter of endorsement to cristiana.cerrigambarelli@fyeg.org within a week after submitting your application.
Please note that to accommodate the timelines of the majority of parties approving their candidate lists, this call will stay open until February 2024. If you think your candidacy might be approved later than this date, please get in touch and let us know.
Do you have any questions? Drop an email to cristiana.cerrigambarelli@fyeg.org!