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Close Ad Feedback Close icon Opinion Political Op-Eds Social Commentary More Political Op-Eds Social Commentary Watch Listen Live TV Sign in My Account * Settings * Topics You Follow * Sign Out Your CNN account Sign in to your CNN account Sign in My Account * Settings * Topics You Follow * Sign Out Your CNN account Sign in to your CNN account -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Live TV Listen Watch -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edition US International Arabic Español Edition * US * International * Arabic * Español -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Political Op-Eds Social Commentary Follow CNN * * * * * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * World * Africa * Americas * Asia * Australia * China * Europe * India * Middle East * United Kingdom * US Politics * SCOTUS * Congress * Facts First * 2024 Elections * Business * Tech * Media * Calculators * Videos * Markets * Pre-markets * After-Hours * Fear & Greed * Investing * Markets Now * Before the Bell * Nightcap * Opinion * Political Op-Eds * Social Commentary * Health * Life, But Better * Fitness * Food * Sleep * Mindfulness * Relationships * Entertainment * Movies * Television * Celebrity * Tech * Innovate * Foreseeable Future * Mission: Ahead * Work Transformed * Innovative Cities * Style * Arts * Design * Fashion * Architecture * Luxury * Beauty * Video * Travel * Destinations * Food & Drink * Stay * News * Videos * Sports * Football * Tennis * Golf * Motorsport * US Sports * Olympics * Climbing * Esports * Hockey * Watch * Live TV * CNN Fast * Shows A-Z * CNN10 * CNN Max * CNN TV Schedules * Listen * CNN 5 Things * Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta * The Assignment with Audie Cornish * One Thing * Tug of War * CNN Political Briefing * The Axe Files * All There Is with Anderson Cooper * All CNN Audio podcasts * Science * Space * Life * Unearthed * Climate * Solutions * Features * As Equals * Call to Earth * Freedom Project * Impact Your World * Inside Africa * CNN Heroes * Weather * Video * Ukraine-Russia War * Israel-Hamas War * About CNN * Photos * Investigations * CNN Profiles * CNN Leadership * CNN Newsletters * Work for CNN Ad Feedback OPINION: THIS COUNTRY’S 16-YEAR-OLDS VOTED FOR THE FIRST TIME. THE RESULTS ARE SCARY Opinion by Paul Hockenos 5 minute read Updated 2:37 AM EDT, Wed June 12, 2024 Link Copied! Play Video Ad Feedback Former Italian PM: Europe's problem is the chaos of organizing elections 06:45 - Source: CNN World News 21 videos Video Ad Feedback Video released by Israeli police shows moment hostages are rescued 01:25 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Why Macron's calls for snap election may be a 'big gamble' 02:03 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback What Benny Gantz’s departure means for Netanyahu and hostage negotiations 01:41 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Fareed's Take: How India's PM lost ground in election 05:57 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Former Italian PM: Europe's problem is the chaos of organizing elections 06:45 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Hear former defense secretary under Clinton react to Trump's comments about Zelensky 02:09 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Greek police search for missing tourists 02:25 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Fareed's take: Europe is unable to keep pace with America 05:34 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback What arrival of Russian warships in Cuba means, according to retired US Air Force colonel 02:17 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback See Princess of Wales with royal family on balcony in first public appearance 00:42 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback See inside Russian warship 90 miles away from US coast 02:22 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Child critically injured during an airstrike can't get out of Gaza to get treatment 03:40 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Hear the moments that stood out to CNN reporter about Biden, Zelensky presser 02:21 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Israelis fire weapon that has been hardly used for 500 years 00:29 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Putin ‘flexes his missiles’ by sending warships within 100 miles of US 02:20 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback See brawl erupt in Kosovo parliament after lawmaker throws water at PM 01:00 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback CNN reporter spots nuclear Russian submarine he's never seen before near Cuba 00:59 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback CNN reporter breaks down inquiry accusing Israel, Palestinian militants of war crimes 03:10 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Video: Mexican migrants flee deadly election violence 05:27 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Video shows inside Israel’s deadly operation that rescued four hostages 03:15 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Ukraine says it damaged a Russian stealth fighter jet. See why expert calls it significant 01:20 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Video released by Israeli police shows moment hostages are rescued 01:25 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Why Macron's calls for snap election may be a 'big gamble' 02:03 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback What Benny Gantz’s departure means for Netanyahu and hostage negotiations 01:41 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Fareed's Take: How India's PM lost ground in election 05:57 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Former Italian PM: Europe's problem is the chaos of organizing elections 06:45 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Hear former defense secretary under Clinton react to Trump's comments about Zelensky 02:09 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Greek police search for missing tourists 02:25 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Fareed's take: Europe is unable to keep pace with America 05:34 Now playing - Source: CNN See More Videos Editor’s Note:Paul Hockenos is a Berlin-based writer focusing on renewable energy in Europe. He is the author of five books on European issues, most recently “Berlin Calling: A Story of Anarchy, Music, the Wall and the Birth of the New Berlin.” The opinions in this article are his own. Read more CNN Opinion. Berlin CNN — The last time the European Union voted, five years ago, teenagers across the continent were taking to the streets en masse: demonstrating for serious climate protection policies. They had no say, they inveighed, on decisions that would define their lives for years to come. “We’ll go to school if you keep the climate cool,” they taunted with verve, justifying their audacious skipping of class to protest. Paul Hockenos Hayyan Al-Yousouf Surveys show that young people (usually the 18 to 24-year-old bracket) in democracies on both sides of the Atlantic tend to cast their ballots for more reform-minded, left-of-center parties, rather than those on the right. This was why European conservatives had long opposed giving 16 and 17 year-olds the vote — even though older teenagers are legally permitted to work, drive vehicles and pay federal income taxes. And, indeed, in the 2019 European Parliamentary elections, the youngest voters turned out in droves, expressing their concerns about global warming in what observers called a “Green wave.” A third of Germany’s young people voted for the Greens. Ad Feedback Fast forward five years, and it’s a very different story. This European Parliamentary election, which wrapped up on Sunday, was the first in which Germans as young as 16 were eligible to votesince the age was lowered from 18. And in Austria, Belgium, Malta and Greece, 16 or 17-year-olds had the right to cast their ballot. These minors finally had a say on those issues that will affect them for years, if not decades, to come. Ad Feedback What a shock then – and coming days after the 80th anniversary of D-Day - that many German first-timers threw their votes disproportionally behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Paul Hockenos What a shock then – and coming days after the 80th anniversary of D-Day — that many German first-timers threw their votes disproportionally behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. In this election, 16% of 16 to 24-year-olds voted AfD — up 11 percentage points from five years ago. (To be sure, the majority of teens didn’t vote for the far right. But the increase in the number who did is nonetheless alarming.) The AfD, whose members repeat banned Nazi slogans and tout barely veiled racism and Islamophobia, claimed almost as much of the youth vote as the victorious Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) alliance, and far more than the Greens. Exit polls show that the topic of migration swung many voters —– of all ages — to the right. A full 95% of German AfD voters said Germany should limit the flow of foreigners and refugees into Germany. Nearly as many said they don’t care if the AfD is an extreme right-wing party, as long as it addresses the most important topics. The latter assertion is the more unnerving as the AfD has made no secret of its extremist credentials. Just before the election, on May 20, the party’s lead candidate, Maximilian Krah, announced that members of the Nazis’ notorious paramilitary troops, the SS, weren’t automatically criminals. (Hitler’s elite forces were integral to carrying out the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered, as well as brutally stifling domestic opposition to the dictatorship.) The AfD responded by pulling Krah from the campaign trail but leaving him atop the slate. On Monday, as other scandals around him mounted, it decided to remove him from their new list of EU parliamentarians. The remark was so offensive – and in general the AfD’s politics so much more radical than those of its far-right peers in Europe – that the European Parliament’s Identity and Democracy group, an alliance of populist right-wing parties that includes Marine Le Pen’s French National Rally, expelled the AfD from its ranks. High school students demonstrate against global warming on March 1, 2019 in Hamburg, Germany. Adam Berry/Getty Images/File This year, the AfD’s menagerie of scandals seemed to grow longer by the week. The party is under surveillance from Germany’s intelligence service for the threat it poses to democracy. The agency could recommend that it be banned completely from politics. And then a recent German investigation found that 28 AfD members serving in German legislatures had been convicted of violence-related crimes, including verbal violence and incitement to hatred. Not exactly the credentials of a party you would think would appeal to the next generation of German voters. But this about-face of Germany’s youngsters doesn’t come out of the blue. German surveys show a general unhappiness with the post-pandemic economic and political conditions. “It seems as if the coronavirus pandemic left [young people] irritated about our ability to cope with the future, which is reflected in deep insecurity,” concluded the authors of “Jugend in Deutschland 2024.” The issues most responsible: personal finances, professional opportunities, the health sector, housing and social recognition. The AfD addresses none of these issues directly but rather posits the termination of migration, and less EU control, as a cure-all for all of them. And it’s not restricted to Germany either: in recent elections in Portugal, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, and France, the youngest voters threw their support behind extreme nationalist and eurosceptic parties in greater numbers. Play Video Ad Feedback Thousands protest against far-right in France following EU election 03:02 - Source: CNN Certainly, say experts, the pandemic and social media play a key role in this, above all TikTok, a medium that the far-right has exploited to its advantage. GET OUR FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER * Sign up for CNN Opinion’s newsletter * Join us on Twitter and Facebook This shift in attitude among Europe’s young people — and especially Germans, who are confronted with the crimes of the Nazi dictatorship in history class —– is extremely worrying. But it’s still too early to conclude, as the BBC does, that “the image of the radical-right voter – typically white, male, non-graduate and, above all, old” has changed long term. Young people can be especially impulsive, emotional, and are on a steep learning curve. Their dissatisfaction with the sluggish economic recovery, a pandemic that unfairly punished them (for nothing), and the world’s confluence of other crises is understandable. But they must vent this pique constructively, as the extreme right has no answers to these problems (which, oddly, I’ve heard hard right voters say they recognize.) This rightist rebellion is a temper tantrum that impedes democracy from addressing its own shortcomings. Casting a protest vote for a dangerous party can have profound consequences — among them a future that is even less propitious than the one these young people seem to fear so much. UP NEXT The far-right is set to make huge gains in EU elections. 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He’s not the only one New York’s highest court leaves Trump gag order in hush money case in effect Scammers tried to steal Graceland. Here’s how to make sure they don’t get your home How the Supreme Court could decide Trump’s blockbuster fight for immunity George Strait tops one of the most successful live bands in history to set new US concert attendance record Biden announces new executive action protecting some undocumented immigrant spouses and children of US citizens MORE FROM CNN The far-right is set to make huge gains in EU elections. It could define the ... Jun 6, 2024 An unexpected generational realignment is scrambling the ... Jun 15, 2024 European Parliament elections: What’s at stake in the ... Jun 6, 2024 Ad Feedback NEWS & BUZZ Justin Timberlake charged with DWI, released from police custody Dr. Anthony Fauci says empathy motivated his medical career ... Steve Bannon won’t be spending his prison term in a ‘Club Fed’ as he ... 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