The League of Young Voters encourages youth political participation… even from Space!

After spending a year in space, the badge of the League of Young Voters is now back from its odyssey and was handed back today to the President of the European Commission Jose-Manuel Barroso by astronaut Luca Parmitano.

The story started on 30th May 2013 at the launch ceremony of the League of Young Voters, an initiative led by the European Youth Forum to raise political awareness among youth in Europe. On that day, Mr Barroso symbolically handed the badge to astronaut Paolo Nespoli on the esplanade of the European Parliament in Brussels.

The badge flew to space with astronaut Luca Parmitano at 10 000km/h and beyond 400km above earth and stayed for a year at the International Space Station (ISS).

Luca Parmitano handed it back today to the President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso. The astronaut underlined the importance of youth political participation nowadays in Europe and saluted the great work of the League of Young Voters, comparing it to the European Space Agency in terms of its investment in the future of Europe.

The League aims to tackle the ever-decreasing youth participation in elections in Europe by becoming a platform for young people to re-engage with decision making in Europe. It increases the level of available youth-related information about elections and also encourages political parties and candidates to directly engage with young people in their campaigns.

The Youth Forum would like to thank the European Space Agency, Paolo nespoli, and Luca Parmitano for supporting our initiative.

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For some images of the trip of the badge to space, you can check out video below.