From Bratislava to Oslo, with YouthDecide 2040, 600 young people from across Europe are co-creating scenarios and strategies to strengthen democratic institutions. Michael Bernstein, project coordinator at the Austrian Institute of Technology, explains how this participatory approach places young people at the heart of the visions and decisions that will shape the future of European democracy..
Missions Publiques. Can you introduce yourself and explain your role in YouthDecide 2040?
Michael Bernstein. I am a researcher and coordinator of the YouthDecide 2040 project, led by the Austrian Institute of Technology. My role is to ensure overall coherence: planning the different phases from research to workshops, ensuring smooth cooperation between partners, and maintaining close ties with the European Commission, which funds this Horizon Europe project. I make sure that every activity (creative meetings, workshops, online consultations) contributes to a common goal: co-building with European youth visions and strategies to strengthen our democracies by 2040.
Missions Publiques. YouthDecide is described as a research project. What exactly does it involve?
Michael Bernstein. In 2023, the European Commission launched a call to explore the future of democracy in Europe. Together with Missions Publiques, we saw a unique opportunity to combine scientific research with citizen participation. We created a consortium of experts in democratic governance, youth engagement, foresight, participatory design, communication, and advocacy. Over nine months, we developed an ambitious proposal to involve 600 young people from the 27 member states in a collective process of reflection and action.
It is a project funded by Horizon Europe, so it is research-based, but it also has a very practical dimension. We combine scientific analysis (data, trends, risks) with citizen co-creation. The research team first reviewed hundreds of publications to identify threats and resilience factors for democracies. This knowledge informs the next steps: workshops with youth, the creation of tools to imagine scenarios, and finally strategic recommendations. The idea is to link academic rigor with collective intelligence.
Missions Publiques. What are the main lessons from this first phase of analysis?
Michael Bernstein. Four key challenges emerge from this analysis:
- Fragility of the democratic fabric: citizen disengagement, polarization, and disinformation weaken participation. By contrast, trustworthy media, sturdy civic education, and governments capable of meeting public needs strengthen confidence.
- Economic inequalities and elite influence: economic inequality fuels political inequality, creating a vicious cycle that undermines institutions. Robust social and economic policies and active citizenship are needed to counter this.
- Institutional weakening: democracy relies on equality before the law, free and fair elections, and strong checks and balances. Transparency and legitimacy in public action are essential to maintain trust.
- Lack of long-term vision: policies need to better consider the needs of future generations, particularly regarding resources and the environment.
"Democracy is not only a heritage to preserve, but a collective construction, in motion, that must constantly be reinvented
Michael Bernstein
Project coordinator at the Austrian Institute of Technology
Missions Publiques. How are young people involved at each stage?
Michael Bernstein. From the very beginning. Two European youth organizations—the European Democracy Youth Network and the European Youth Forum—participate in the project’s governance. Young people helped design the deliberation documents and the scenario co-creation toolkit. In summer 2025, regional workshops from Bratislava to Oslo tested this methodology. In 2026, around 600 young people will participate in national workshops to imagine concrete scenarios. These outputs will then feed into open consultations for all generations, but with youth at the forefront of validating proposals
Missions Publiques. How do you ensure that these proposals don’t just remain on paper?
Michael Bernstein. We designed YouthDecide 2040 to maximize its political impact. Our partners, the Europe Partnership for Democracy and the European Youth Forum, already represent citizens’ voices in Brussels. We work to ensure that the project’s recommendations feed into their advocacy efforts and can be presented to European institutions or adopted by other public actors. At the same time, we provide an open toolkit and methodology so that any group—municipalities, associations, universities—can reproduce this approach after the official end of the project in 2027. The idea is that the momentum generated doesn’t stop with the end of the funding.
Missions Publiques. What inspires you most about this process?
Michael Bernstein. Seeing young Europeans from very different cultural and political backgrounds invent concrete solutions together for the continent’s democratic future. Their energy and creativity are a source of hope. They remind us that democracy is not only a heritage to preserve, but a collective construction, in motion, that must constantly be reinvented.
