ABSTRACT
Schools are claimed to have a potentially even more powerful function both in terms of learning skills and knowledge related to the EU and in promoting European identity. The young Europeans closely follow how European governance structure manages to avoid poverty, climate change, corruption, and other societal dysfunctions. There are good reasons for focusing on schools and their unique role in developing a civic culture throughout European countries. The low levels of voting in European parliamentary elections may be at least be partially possible to explain with reference to the absence of young candidates to vote. An improved legitimacy of the EU in the eyes of the young people is no guarantee for a greater willingness by the youths to appreciate and make use of their vote in European elections. For good and bad, depending on the reader’s normative preferences, large parts of the future legitimacy of the EU seem to lie in the hands of the EU institutions themselves.
