On 27 March the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Regional Programme Political Dialogue Asia (KAS PDA) organised an event in cooperation with the German European School Singapore (GESS) to address the School’s students on the EU elections this upcoming June. For the first time in the history of the EU Elections, some member states lowered the voting age to 16 (Germany for instance) which would allow a remarkable amount of students to be eligible for voting this year. 

After a quick welcome from the School’s organiser Mr. Martin Schmitt, Mr. Andreas Klein gave a small introduction addressing the formation of the European Union and the background of Konrad Adenauer, the first chancellor of the federal republic of Germany, who himself was a visionary leader for the European project. He remarked what a wonderful endeavour the EU is, as there are for example no border controls. Most pupils and Singaporeans here are reminded every day of the struggle to cross from Johor Bahru into Singapore. Since most of the more feasible accomplishments of the EU (data roaming, single market, common currency) are sometimes taken for granted, it is our civic duty to constantly remind ourselves of the importance of the EU, also in other areas like security nowadays.   The introduction was followed by a small poll regarding the students’ knowledge and opinions on the EU (e.g. what do you identify as the most pressing issue in the EU?).

The main part of the event included a presentation by Dr. Riccardo Corrado, Associate Professor, American University, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Dr. Riccardo focussed on the structure of the European Union (EU), the importance of participating to the upcoming EU election, and the relationship between EU and ASEAN in terms of technology, collaboration and regulations. He also briefly tapped on the leading role of the EU being a standard-setter for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), AI Act, and briefly explained the concept of a single telecom market for ASEAN, to which the EU lends its technical support. 

Moritz Fink, Policy Officer of KAS PDA went on to explain the voting mechanisms in Europe, the existing parties and elaborated further on “Youth Participation and Eligibility” within the EU. Mr. Fink and Dr. Riccardo both took questions from the audience afterwards where discussions around mandatory voting, dual citizenship and degressive proportionality emerged. In addition to the points provided, the two stressed the importance of the students doing their own research before going to the polls. 

Lastly, two of School’s students illustrated how registering as a foreign inhabitant works to ease the process for their fellow students in the case of Germany. A poll in the end suggested that the overwhelming majority of students significantly increased their knowledge on the upcoming elections of the European parliament.