The average age of the outgoing European Parliament is 54 years. To balance out the years of experience of the veterans, there is a rise in younger talent proving that age is not a criterion for winning a place in Europe.
In 2019, Kira Marie Peter-Hansen broke the record of becoming the youngest MEP elected at the age of 19. Now, at 24, Dane is returning to Brussels for the Danish Socialist People’s Party and its “green” agenda. Jordan Bartella is the face of the former National Front (now the National Union) reviving its image and Marine Le Pen’s Benjamin. The Frenchman also returns to the European Parliament, taking with him the title of leader of the party that won these European elections in France. Lena Schilling leaves Austria for Belgium as an MEP at the age of 23. He brings with him the agenda of the Austrian Green Party and the experience of opposition and controversy. We highlight three young promises who will join Sebastião Bugalho in the group of under-30 stars in the new European Parliament.
When Kira Marie Peter-Hansen was elected to the European Parliament in May 2019, she became the youngest person to be elected as an MEP. He had turned 21 three months earlier and was still an economics student at the University of Copenhagen. She dethroned German Ilka Schröder, who had held the youth record since 1999, by less than a month. For a political website She said the youths played some tricks on her, such as the guards mistaking her for an apprentice and taking her to a different entrance, but added that she expected “more resistance as a young woman” than she got.
Kira represents the Danish Socialist People’s Party (Socialist Folkepartie), which belongs to the so-called “Green Left”. In these 2024 elections, he headed the list and was once again one of the three elected candidates to the European Parliament. There he will rejoin the Green Committee, of which he has been vice-chairman for the past five years.
After a five-year cycle in the European Parliament He gave an interview for that company’s magazine in February 2024. “I am a normal person who does not climb mountains, do extreme sports or travel to unknown places,” he said. They asked him which language he would like to learn immediately, given the chance, and it would not be difficult to choose French. He admits that he loves making pasta at home, but finds it difficult to find time to study. “Some people see the European Parliament as a building of bureaucracy, but I think it’s a wonderful place, with very dedicated and talented people doing everything they can to make the world better”, said the young deputy. “I find it very inspiring, and it keeps me motivated when politics is frustrating and I feel like giving up.”
In 2019, he traveled to Brussels determined to fight the climate crisis and save on air travel. On the night of June 9, 2024, he used his Instagram account to thank the Danes for the new decree. Through this social network he shares his reasons with 14.5 thousand followers The fight against textile wasteIn it he says he has already passed various laws that will “force the clothing industry to be more sustainable and make it much easier to recycle clothing and footwear than it currently is,” he writes.
Jordan Bartella is 28 years old, and those who haven’t heard his name yet better not forget that. He is the leader of the Union Nationale, Marine Le Pen’s French party, which is running in European elections in France. Le Pen has already said that if she becomes president of France in 2027, she will make Bartella prime minister. For now, the young politician will head to Brussels, or return for a second term as an MEP. He was the leader of the list and the star of the party, and his result doubled the votes of President Macron’s party, Renaissance, leading to the dissolution of parliament and new legislative elections in France.
Bartella studied geography at the prestigious Sorbonne, but switched to politics. He joined the party in 2012, when he was 16, and was, according to him, “more for Marine Le Pen than the National Front”. A decade later he was already one of the leaders of the party. He started gaining early positions and his rise was rapid. Marine Le Pen has sought to reshape the image of the far-right party, moving it away from the racist stamp left by her father and other well-entrenched traits. Bardella has been one of the key partners in this mission, or the face of change. Critics blame it on little substance, but young people seem to be largely successful.
Jordan Bartella is a supporter of far-right leader-elect Marine Le Pen
Bardella has transformed the image of the National Union, combining his youthfulness with a talent for staying away from the party’s divisive causes. Suits and well-cut hair will significantly help your impeccable image. between 601 thousand followers on Instagram And with 1.2 million on TikTok, Bardella seems to be getting his message across. “I am not anti-Europe. I am opposed to the way Europe works now,” he declared.
“Revolutionary in Sugar. Activists, because we have a world of success. This is how Lena Schilling describes herself on her Instagram account. The 23-year-old political science student at the University of Vienna is about to make her debut in the European Parliament. He was the head of the list and one of two people elected by the Austrian environmental party Die Grünen. She was a climate activist in the movement Fridays Do Future (the same movement Greta Thunberg popularized) and published a book about the importance of protests. As a candidate, he declared his support for a “climate-friendly democratic Europe”.
In the weeks leading up to the election, the candidate was embroiled in a scandal. The newspaper Der Standard accused him of sending a message to a friend late last year, saying he “didn’t hate anyone as much as the Greens” and had discussed leaving with “several people”. Family to left unitarians in European Parliament – says what Schilling will deny Parliamentary Journal. The story caused a lot of ink, but it did not affect the party’s results in the election.
On election night, the stage where Green politicians were to speak was occupied by pro-Palestinian activists, but they were promptly removed from the venue. Later, there was no shortage of praise for the young candidate: the party leader confirmed that the decision to bet on Lena was “correct”, while current minister Alma Zadiq said she “can fight like a lion”, and then spoke herself. Applause sound as described The Courier Newspaper. “For the next five years I will fight for climate protection every day with the same energy and passion,” Lena declared gratefully. He pledged “for more public transport, for real environmental protection across Europe and for climate protection that takes into account those with less money”.
“Hardcore explorer. Extreme communicator. Professional writer. General music practitioner. Prone to fits of apathy.”