Whenever election season rolls around, Malta turns into a giant billboard. Faces everywhere. Slogans everywhere. And every time, the message towards people my age is the same: “Go vote. Have your say. Your future depends on this.”
I’m 20. And if I’m honest I don’t believe in politics enough to pretend I’m excited about any of it.
It’s not that I don’t understand how the system works. I studied it. I sat through the classes on the European Parliament, listened to teachers talk about “active citizenship,” memorised what the Commission does and the Council does and the Parliament does. I can list EU pillars and institutions like a robot. But knowing the structure doesn’t mean you trust it. And it definitely doesn’t mean you feel represented by it.
If I’m being blunt, the biggest reason I don’t believe in politics is because nothing about it feels designed for people like me.
Politicians talk in a language that sounds like it’s been polished, filtered, approved by five advisors and spun until it loses meaning. They argue about things that don’t feel connected to my life. They show up when they want something.. votes, photos, validation… and the rest of the time the whole machine feels miles away.
Growing up in Malta, you see politics long before you’re ready to understand it. You see the fights, the shouty debates, the two sides who hate each other but pretend they don’t. You notice who gets favours and who doesn’t. You notice that speaking up often gets you labelled rather than listened to. And eventually you think maybe it’s safer not to care.
The EU does make an effort with youth consultations, surveys, workshops… I’ve been to some. They’re always well organised, polite, and full of people writing feedback on sticky notes.
But then what?
What happens after the sticky notes?
If you ask the average Maltese young person what the EU has changed because of youth input, most won’t even know where to begin and not because nothing has been done, but because nobody explains it in a way that matters to our everyday reality. And perhaps, if political systems shifted the conversation from “Vote for this person” to “Vote for this concrete change”, maybe things might look different.
if I ever show up at the polls whether Maltese or European.. it won’t be out of duty. It’ll be because I finally see a system that sees me back.