Political Platform

Our political platform document outlines what FYEG stands for as an organisation.  The current version was adopted by the General Assembly in June 2021.

2020 Resolution: Trans Rights Here! Trans Rights Now!

Every person should have the right to live freely according to their gender identity and gender expression, and the right to self-determination and bodily autonomy. Trans people, people who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, are often denied these rights across Europe and reduced to only being seen as "trans", depriving them of the ability to also have other parts of their identity, including their sexual orientation, independently recognised. In most countries this discrimination occurs at a systemic level, where rigid and static norms about gender, bodies, and sexuality uphold legal and health systems which do not recognise, respect or value trans people. In some countries anti-trans laws and practice are enforced through the rise of anti-gender rhetoric, the silencing of trans people, and viciously polarising debates which have an impact on the mental health, safety and everyday lives of trans people. Often the ‘T’ in ‘LGBT’ is overlooked, and the current attack on trans people makes it necessary, now more than ever, to support trans people and fight against anti-trans hostility and violence. It is important to affirm and amplify the voices of trans people - trans women are women, trans men are men, non-binary is valid, and trans rights are human rights!

EGP Resolution adopted at the 32nd EGP Council, 2-6 December 2020

2020 Resolution: Trans Rights are Human Rights

Still in the 21st century, transgender people in Europe and the world are threatened in their daily lives and their rights are attacked. These attacks range from threats to their dignity and safety and escalate to social exclusion, physical violence, and death threats. Police brutality against black trans people is a significant threat in the United States but moreover, Europe has not been protecting trans people either: in 2012 the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights conducted the EU LGBT survey in which they found that 54% of trans people felt discriminated or harassed due to the fact of being perceived as trans, with the indication that the more open the trans person was, the more likely they were to feel discriminated against.

2020 Resolution: Time to open up - a more transparent FYEG

We need to be the change we want to see. FYEG has been on the forefront of the fight for more transparency in political institutions. Over the years, we have kicked open closed doors behind which fossil fuel lobbyists and crooked politicians plot and scheme to destroy our planet all around Europe, pushing for everyone to be able to see and understand exactly what is going on.

2020 Resolution: The Right to Protest

An essential component of democracy is that it is active: it is not just the right to vote but the possibility to constantly influence government decisions. A functioning democracy allows citizens the freedom of thought, expression, assembly and association. If people disagree with the actions of the government, or other forms of governance, it is within their democratic right to demonstrate this in peaceful ways.

EGP Resolution adopted at the 32nd EGP Council, 2-6 December 2020

2020 Resolution: The Legalisation of Cannabis for Medical and Recreational Purposes in Europe

Many policies affect us and everyone around us. As we move forward with pushing for systemic change and more common sense policies it is hard to ignore the impact that the legalisation of cannabis products for medical and recreational use could have on society, from a health, social, and economic perspective. Its legalisation has positive implications both on consumers and the economy, from safety and regulation, to combating organised crime and getting revenues that can be used for better research, prevention, and treatment of cannabis related impacts.

2020 Resolution: Standing Up To Chinese Authoritarianism

The now-withdrawn Hong Kong extradition law which would transfer suspected persons to Mainland China has reawakened protests from Hong Kong’s young people for genuine representative democracy and against meddling from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing, as enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Hong Kong Basic Law.

2020 Resolution: Seventy-five Years of Nuclear Terror

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the American army dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese towns of Iroshima and Nagasaki, killing more than 100,000 Japanese, most of them civilians. Countless people perished from diseases caused by the radiation absorbed during the attacks, and both cities were reduced to rubble in seconds. This massacre marks the beginning of the current nuclear age.

2020 Resolution: Revision of FYEG Political Platform

FYEG Political Platform is a key document for FYEG that reflects the principles the Federation is based on as well as our positions in main political fields. It is important that FYEG’s political platform remains in line with the priorities of European Youth and takes into account the work done by FYEG and its member organisations in defining new concepts and solutions to the crisis Europe is facing.

2020 Resolution: Prioritizing Mental Health

Each year, 58.000 people die from suicide in the European Union - more than from traffic accidents. As the generation with the most common reason of death being suicide, we feel the need to urge every member of the nations parliaments, the European parliament and the European Commission. Mental health is a European topic, we finally have to work on a European solution for this crisis! Actually, in 2005 the European Commission signed the "Mental Health Declaration for Europe", which included mental health as a priority in the European agenda, but since then nothing has really changed! This has to stop: we want a European Union that focuses on the people who live in it and not just on the economy. European solidarity also means European health policy.

2020 Resolution: Powered by Plant: our Future

It is time to take a radical stance against the consumption of animal products. FYEG is convinced of the necessity of taking action against climate change. There is also a need to end the overwhelming amount of suffering that animals endure in the current system. Moreover, the industry surrounding animal products leads to enormous inequality between the global North and South while at the same time furthering pre-existing social injustice. Therefore, we want to strive for as little consumption of animal products as possible. This is an important step towards a more sustainable and animal-friendly society. The restriction of consumption of animal products is absolutely necessary to achieve these goals to realize a sustainable future for all.

2020 Resolution: Human Rights and the Rule of Law are Non-Negotiable

Over the last years, the world has seen the rise of authoritarian leadership, and Europe also has a fair share of such leaders. They never fail to stir controversy to push through their own ultra-conservative inward-looking values, much at the expense of protection for minorities, separation of powers, and the rule of law.

2020 Resolution: Greening the EU Green Deal: No business as usual!

The EU Green Deal has been hailed as the main policy that will influence and guide the Green Recovery in a post-pandemic Europe. However, the Green Deal should not stay at a level of a big statement or ambition, but be backed by strong plans and action that will lead to a more resilient, united and equal Europe.

2020 Resolution: Free Software For Free Governments

It is hard to date when the first computing program was written. Current computers are different from the ones that were used in the 1950s. Augusta Ada King, known as Ada Lovelace, is considered the first programmer when in 1840, she published the first algorithm showing that computers could potentially do more than simply compute mathematical problems.

2020 Resolution: For an Alternative Security Policy

In the last decades, countries have used citizens’ growing concerns over increasing threats to personal safety to amplify security policies based on endless militarisation, greater surveillance, tighter border controls, higher power for the police and intelligence services. The increasing militarisation is based on the hypothetical belief that an increased military capacity acts as a deterrent from conflicts.

2020 Resolution: Black Lives Matter and Anti-Racism

A wave of protest has flashed across Europe. In the wake of extensive protests in the United States against police brutality and discrimination specifically against black individuals and communities, the Black Lives Matter movement has also proved to be relevant in European countries.

2019 Resolution: Venezuela – shades of grey

Over the last years, the economic, social and political situation in Venezuela have worsen and  turned  into  a  crisis  of  international  relevance  since  the  president  of  the  National  Assembly  of  Venezuela,  Juan  Guaidó,  proclaimed  himself  Interim  President  of  the  Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

2019 Resolution: Towards a Europe that works for all

After the shockwaves of the global financial crisis swept through Europe, indicating the unsustainable nature of lax neoliberal economic policies, the answers ruling decision-makers  gave  to  the  crisis  further  deepened  wealth  inequalities  through  austerity measures. These measures, coupled with other  factors, such as climate change, new technologies, demographic changes, and globalization, have not only led to very high youth unemployment rates in Europe (especially in Southern and Easter  European countries) but also to a stance among political decision-makers that “any job is better than none.” But we need to focus on qualitative indicators of young people and other vulnerable groups’ work experience, instead of having a fixation merely on quantitative indicators. The current generation of young people is worse off than their predecessors, pillars of European welfare states are gradually being deconstructed and labour deregulations coupled with new technologies are taking us even further away from a labour market equally benefiting employers and employees.

2019 Resolution: The future of Young Greens in the Green political movement

The European elections of May 2019 were the climate elections. In the months leading to the  elections  young  people  rose  up  in  unforeseen  numbers.  They  have  been  brave,  they  have been calling out the ignorance of mainstream parties on what are the most crucial challenges  our  societies  are  facing  today.  They  reclaimed  their  future.  At  every  step  of  the journey, we were with them, joining them in the streets, spreading a shared message throughout the continent.

2019 Resolution: From climate emergency to climate neutrality

Climate change is an urgent crisis on an unprecedented scale. Alongside the alarming rate of biodiversity loss (sixth mass extinction), it threatens the very foundations of human civilisation.

Despite the aim of the Paris Agreement to keep global temperature rise to 1.5 and at least well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, government reactions have been mainly timid and overdue – and at times utterly negligent. At best, we have seen individual pockets of action addressing the crisis…

Adopted by the EGP Council, Tampere, 8 - 10 November 2019

2019 Resolution: European Train network of the Future

Cross borders, meet people, get together.

European citizens are becoming more and more mobile. We are going out more often, we are going on holiday more frequently and further than ever. That is really amazing from a social and cultural perspective. However, there is a downside to this: the frequency and the impact of flying, notably, is increasing significantly over the years.

2019 Resolution: Europe is not only the Mainland

Despite the inactivity from governments all over Europe, climate change is imminent. Many of these governments represent insular countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Malta or Cyprus, as well as states with insular territories and outermost regions, such as Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Croatia or Greece, among others.

2019 Resolution: Climate Emergency – We Can’t Just Stop at Declarations!

By  the  summer  of  2019,  more  than  790  local  councils  across  the  globe  as  well  as  the  governments of the Republic of Ireland and the UK have issued a declaration of climate emergency.  Carried  forward  by  the  increasing  awareness  of  the  climate  crisis,  we  can  expect that the movement demanding similar declarations will grow in the coming years. While  we  in  principle  welcome  these  developments  for  providing  an  accurate  label  of  the  situation  and  a  concrete  frame  for  taking  action,  we  believe  they  also  raise  several  questions.  We  believe  that  for  the  concept  of  climate  emergency  to  prove  successful,  the  climate  movement  needs  to  work  intensively  towards  specifying  the  demands  for  measures which should follow any climate emergency declaration.

2019 Resolution: Building Pan-European Solidarity – Perspectives from Eastern Europe

The  2019  European  Elections  demonstrated  that  Greens  have  become  a  considerable  political power in the EU and we have Green Wave materialized in some EU Member States as well. With the climate crisis being fought for becoming a priority in the EU and outside, also major established political parties falling short on people’s expectations, it is projected that Greens will gain more traction in the foreseeable future. This year Greens group in the European Parliament has 75 MEPs that gives them more leverage to engage and further Green agenda on the EU and Member States levels as well as outside the Union. Especially, Green MEPs that are subscribed to the relevant committees working on the EU external policies  will  be  able  to  position  themselves  and  contribute  to  the  policy-making  for  the  non-EU countries. And hopefully, with the coming years, Greens will be able to significantly shape and influence the decision-making in the EU institutions.

2018 Resolution: Palestine: Towards The End of Occupation, an Establishment of Peace

For almost three generations, Palestinians have lived in occupied territories where each day, more and more land and resources have been confiscated by settlers, and where the Palestinian inhabitants have endured constant humiliation and violation of their human rights. As the Israeli government continues to mistreat Palestinians and their culture and history, it is not an option to remain silent. At the very end of 2016, United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 was passed, demanding the end of Israeli settlement activity on Palestinian territory. Nevertheless, the Israeli government legalised 4000 houses of settlers in Palestine in February 2017. This FYEG resolution is not aimed to put an end to internal discussions on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Rather, we call for an increased effort to fight for equal treatment, security and freedom in the region. As long as the power dynamics are unequal, sustainable peace cannot be established. To create this equal playing field the steps that are presented in this resolution are needed. It is beyond the scope of this resolution to describe the full extent of all the steps that have to be taken to solve the conflict. We condemn all war crimes from both sides. 

2018 Resolution: License to Heal

A third of the world’s population has limited access to essential medicines. Also in developed European countries the costs of new and expensive medicines can cause problems of accessibility. High prices of drugs threaten every patient’s’ right to treatment.

2017 Resolution: Towards a comprehensive protection scheme for Climate Refugees

As stated in the resolution “Hot air or climate justice? The COP21”, adopted on May 28, 2016 during the General Assembly in Prague, Czech Republic, rights of climate refugees are currently not being discussed during the Conferences of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conferences. This despite the fact that according to the United Nations, by mid-century one in 30 people could be displaced as a result of climate change.

2017 Resolution: Time to give young citizens the right to vote

A basic idea of democracy is that all people in society should have the same right to influence political decisions, no matter who we are. Public governance is not just for the smartest, those with the best education or the most mature; it is for everyone. The more excluded from the right to vote, the more distorted becomes our representative democracy.

2017 Resolution: Take active initiative towards Israeli-Palestinian peace

In order to facilitate the reconciliation process between various Member Organisations of the Federation of Young European Greens [FYEG], the General Assembly calls on all parties involved in this issue to consider this resolution. Without a proper debate, this resolution does not necessarily fulfil the needs of all Member Organisations and can hence only be understood as the starting point for a discussion. It is understood that this paper cannot be seen a final position, but rather as a sign of good faith and trust in the possibility of a good debate between all parties that results into an end of the damaging debate between MOs at the next reasonable opportunity: 

2017 Resolution: Stop fighting the humanitarian smugglers, create safe passage instead!

The fight against refugee and migrant smuggling has evolved into a central paradigm of EU asylum and migration policies in the past several years and has played a pivotal role in the public discourse ever since the adoption of the EU Agenda on Migration and the Action Plan on Migrant Smuggling in 2015. We consider the policy prerogative of fighting smugglers misconceived in several ways.

2017 Resolution: Reinventing our agricultural policies

In 1957, European leaders decided to start a Common Agricultural Policy to commonly face challenges such as the low income of farmers, the dependence of Europe from foreign production, the instability of market and the high prices of food. Sixty years later, European Agriculture is once again stuck in a deep systemic crisis and faces new challenges. Because of the too low prices, many farmers cannot live from their production. Industrial agriculture keeps on using too many chemical inputs and pesticides threatening both our health, our soils and climate. 

2017 Resolution: Progressive municipalities to change Europe

The rise of national populism in Europe is mainly caused by the lack of citizenry empowerment and neoliberal policies and others. One element that contributed to the multiple societal challenges we are facing is a lack of citizenry empowerment at the transnational level. Instead of reacting progressively to these challenges, the European Union is pressing the member states to comply with the demands of capitalistic structures to continue with neoliberal policies as if nothing happened. This left the vast majority of people behind. The continuation of neoliberal policies and the lack of democracy at the European level are only some of the causes that led people to consider the false solutions proposed by the far right.

2017 Resolution: A harm reduction approach to drug policy

In many European states, narcotics policy springs from the view that drugs should never be present in a society. Based on this ideology, the goal becomes a simplistic one: minimising the demand for narcotics. This is typically done by stigmatising drug users, believing that less people will use narcotics if you make them suffer for it.

2017 Resolution: A brighter future for Southern European Youth

Europe’s Southern countries experimented a great political, social, cultural and economic progress since their entry in the European Economic Community during the eighties (with the exception of Italy). Nevertheless, despite the period of growth and stability in these countries within the context of a buoyant Europe, their structural problems concerning its productive systems and administrations weren’t faced by the EU. What is more, this growth was built upon low skilled employment, bank credits, large infrastructure investment, etc.

2016 Resolution: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia: European comeback wanted

The European Union project has been recently challenged by international situations for which member states would have to stand all together, politically reflecting the values and ideals the European construction is supposed to be based on, in order to fulfill their role as a global player. Unfortunately, they have not always been able to appear as unity to the international community, as the ongoing inability to cooperate for the sake of refugees’ rights tragically shows every day. One reason for this are the discrepancies between European governments’ political stands and the apparently nearly impossibility to find a consensus or an internal arrangement regarding important political topics. Particularly, in the central Europe region, the Polish, Hungarian and Slovakian governments showed in the last months a rather questionable political shift towards right-wing authoritarian populist attitudes and policies.

2016 Resolution: Motion for the federation of young european Greens policy and action on basic income

With a notion to Federation of Young European Green’s values of green social economy and in light of our 2008 Resolution on Basic Income, we, the member organisations of FYEG, demand a European basic income to protect European’s social rights. Taking action for this matter is more important than ever, especially in the light of the economic crisis.

2016 Resolution: Is there a form of life in Europe?

Fortress Europe has during the past year manifested its’ exceptional brutality, exposing the face of those who defend it. Fear and selfishness. Demagoguery and fascism. Whatever the motivation, the result is the same.

2016 Resolution: Hot air or climate justice? The COP21

The Paris Agreement is a two sided medal: Ambitious for what was possible, catastrophic with regard to what is needed. The inclusion of the 1.5°C goal is a success for the Global South and the climate movement. The universality of signatories and the rhetoric leaders used at the COP21 were unprecedented and this agreement is the most ambitious up to now, in addition to it being legally binding. The deal makes reparations for losses & damages caused by the climate crisis impossible. Human Rights and other principles are not ensured. Necessary support for the Global South is not provided. The failure of Paris leaves the planet with a manifestation of global injustice and a poisoned 1.5°C goal.

2015 Resolution: How to End the Crisis

Ever since 2008, the world economy has been shattered by aftershocks of the mortgage crisis in the US. The crisis made its way across the Atlantic and throughout the world taking the form of a banking crisis in the European Union. The Heads of EU States swiftly bailed out the banks with public money turning the banking crisis into a debt crisis. The eurozone, an elliptic system of monetary union lacking a common economic policy was the first to show symptoms of this failed political attempt to avoid an implosion. The crisis has shown how tightly interconnected and interdependent our economies really are, as well as the weak spots of our Union.

2015 Resolution: Freedom for the Western Sahara

As Greens we have always supported the anti-colonialist struggles of those who have been under the control of often European countries. Even today, colonialism is still visible on the maps. The Western-Sahara, under Moroccan occupation, is one of these cases, whose liberation has been demanded on countless occasions by the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation. We the Greens in Europe demand the freedom of Western-Sahara and an end to this case of colonialism just outside our borders.

2015 Resolution: Building Bridges

FYEG believes that freedom of movement is a human right, migration is not a crime and no human is illegal. We strive for the complete abolition of borders and the unquestionable right for everyone to choose a place of residence and of work.

2015 Resolution: A Europe that saves lives

The same scenario repeats over and over again: Boats filled with refugees trying to reach Europe, yet drowning, unidentified, in the Mediterranean instead. The European strategy has been one of indifference and cruel cynicism for all too long. We are ashamed of Europe that lets people drown at its shores in order to prevent others from coming. We are ashamed of European leaders for whom more than 20.000 dead in last 15 years were not enough to take the necessary actions to finally protect lives of refugees and migrants at High Seas. Europe cannot and must not let people die at its doorsteps. A Europe that leaves people dying at its shores is not the Europe we want and not the Europe we need and we can live in.

2015 Project Outline: Olive Tree Branch

The last General Assembly (Strasbourg, July 2014) voted the resolution Olive Tree Branch, mandating FYEG to promote training and further discussion between all its structures on the issue of the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. To take this forward taking into account the range of positions existing within the Federation, the EC has put together the attached project outline proposal.

2014 Resolution: Our Rights are not for trade – Smash TTIP and CETA!

2014 Resolution: Olive Branch

2014 Resolution: For A Europe of Diversity, Inclusion and Openess: We Counter the Far Right!

2014 Resolution: Financial management within FYEG

2014 Resolution: A better election process

2013 Towards Economic Democracy

2013 Roma inclusion policy paper

2013 NO to shale gas extraction in Europe

2013 Let’s discuss European solidarity, not European identity!

2013 Election Campaign Manifesto for the 2014 elections

2013 Campaign plan for the 2014 elections

2012 Political Platform

The political program of FYEG is our most important political document.

2011 “Support of the campaign for UN parliamentary assembly”

2011 “For a local and ecological agriculture”

2011 “Fight against patriachal violence”

2011 “End of nuclear energy”

2011 “Direct democracy”

2011 Policy paper on debt and austerity

2010 “Towards A Mandatory European Cruelty Free Standard: Right To Know, Right To Choose!”

2010 “A Green Perspective on European Youth Policy”

2010 Post Copenhagen Resolution

2009 “The Roma Minority In Europe: A Nomad Path To Exclusion”

2009 “More Regionalism - More Europe”

2009 “Legalize Abortion - Give Women The Right To Decide”

2009 Paper on Drug Policy

2008 Young Green Manifesto: A Green Europe Or No Europe

2008 Statement on Green Social Economy

2008 Resolution On Basic Income

2008 Paper on the European Union

2008 Paper on EU External Relations After The Lisbon Treaty

2006 Statement on Migration

2006 Resolution on contraction by Chiche

I. Why infinite growth is a myth

II. Why economic growth is not a desirable policy goal

III. What about “zero” growth as advocated by the club of Rome in 1972?

IV. And Jobs? How will we create enough employment?

V. Why not sustainable development?

VI. What kind of society would we like to live in?