Mayor of Rohožník Peter Švaral shared a best practice example of how to get young people more involved in politics, and it comes in the form of a Youth Council. Its creation in the Slovakian village of Rohožník is now even officially included in the municipal law.

Members of this council are young people and can range in ages 15 to 25, and are elected by other young people. These elections are part of the elections to the municipal self-government bodies. Mayor Švaral was pleased to announce that the Youth Council currently counts a total of five members.

The success of the Youth Council lies in its competence to express itself and make proposals and cooperate with the village management in matters related to youth, and they are already invited to negotiations on the preparation of the village budget and other documents accepted by the village council. "We believe that they will use this space and their mandate to contribute to improving the conditions for the lives of young people in our village", concluded Mayor Švaral.

The speech was part of a wider CoR debate on the European Year of Youth 2022, which took place in the last plenary session of the year.