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Local Spain
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Local Spain
Why does Spain want to reduce the voting age to 16?
Reports emerged recently that Spain's Ministry of Youth and Children is working on draft legislation to lower the voting age to 16 years old. Minister Sira Rego of the hard-left Sumar party, junior coalition partner to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's ruling Socialists (PSOE), has incorporated the reform into a draft of the future Youth Law, something which is already at an 'advanced stage,' ministerial sources confirmed to Spanish daily El Diario. However the idea has long irked the Spanish right, as well as the PSOE itself. It's far from certain to become law at this point. There's a long way left on the legislative road, but, if finally passed, the reform would significantly expand the electorate to include around one million 16 and 17 year olds. This would mean they could vote in the next general elections, which are expected to be held in 2027 in Spain. Minister Rego has repeatedly expressed her support lowering the legal age for voting as 'a way of expanding democracy in Spain.' 'If young men and women want to vote at the age of 16 in the next elections, they will have my support,' she told the Youth and Children's commission last year. The Spanish right has repeatedly rejected the proposal in the past, considering it 'opportunistic' and 'electioneering.' The centre-right Partido Popular (PP) spokesman in the Senate, Javier Maroto, explained at the time that it was an "electoral trial' to 'try to win the youth vote for the left.' Far-right Vox leader Santiago Abascal has described it as 'social engineering.' Why does Spain want to reduce the voting age to 16? So, why is the government — or rather, part of the government — trying to do this? There are a couple of possible reasons. Firstly, to take the Minister's reasoning at face value, there's the democratic argument. Left-wing parties in Spain have tried on numerous occasions to lower the voting age, not only in Congress from opposition but also from government. Former coalition partner, hard-left Unidas Podemos, had a policy calling for the lowering of the voting age in its electoral programme back in 2019 and Sumar repeated the formula four years later. The argument is essentially that younger people, increasingly disenfranchised from mainstream politics, should have a greater say in decisions that will impact their lives in the long-term. 'It is only fair that those who are going to have their future options limited should participate in the decision-making and in the policies that we are developing now, as they need to face up to those present and future problems in which they are going to play a leading role,' said Sumar's proposal back in 2023. In recent years, several parties have attempted to reform electoral law to this end, although generally with the rejection of the right and accompanied by strong doubts from the PSOE itself. In 2022, for example, the PSOE's abstention defeated an initiative by Catalan separatists ERC that sought to lower the voting age. At that time, Pedro Sánchez's party did not raise any problems about the issue itself but rather said it should be included as part of broader reforms. In fact, youth wings of the PSOE have themselves put forward similar motions. According to various reports in the Spanish media, however, this procedural opposition seems to be coming up again at the cabinet level. Some close to Sánchez have suggested that Rego is not approaching the proposals in the right way, and that the issue hasn't even been discussed beyond the Ministry itself. 'Things are discussed, a minister does not decide freely to put it in a draft bill. If they want to move forward along that line, they talk to the president, they talk to Félix Bolaños [Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts] and decisions are made. It's all very simple: we don't go into the details of the decision, it hasn't been discussed within the government,' a source in the Moncloa told the Spanish press. Left-wing youngsters? Then there's the more nakedly political reasoning — namely the assumption that younger people are more likely to skew left and vote for parties like Sumar or Podemos. By increasing the electorate by a million people, the Spanish far-left potentially has hundreds of thousands more votes to court. This would be tempting for any political party. For the PSOE, however, in its current political situation the idea may become increasingly attractive. As the Sánchez government suffers further wear and tear as it winds down its second legislature, the idea of boosting left-wing electoral forces ahead of the general election, whenever it comes, may become a tempting way to try and stay on for another term by reinforcing the parties to its left and thus improving chances of another coalition. However, it isn't entirely so simple. Though it's generally true to say younger people are more likely to be left wing, it's a somewhat reductionist view and ignores the growing popularity of far-right Vox among young people, especially young men, in Spain. Recent polling cited by Onda Cero shows that Vox is now the most favoured party among 18-24 year olds in Spain, beating Sumar, the party pushing to lower the voting age. Some political pundits in the Spanish media have suggested that the Sumar-backed idea is a response to a growing right-wing, especially far-right, trend among young people, not only in Spain but around the world. It's unclear how effective this would be in rebuffing it. However, sources in the government have so far refused to blame the growth of far-right influence among younger Spaniards as a reason for the PSOE's reticence in backing the idea. Psephologists consulted by the Spanish media seem to believe that the majority of under-18s would, if given the vote, tend to vote the same way as their families.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spain lawmakers approve underage migrant plan to relieve Canary Islands
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish lawmakers approved on Thursday a plan to relocate thousands of underage migrants staying in cramped youth centres, mainly on the Canary Islands, to the rest of the country as its outposts struggle to cope with higher migration flows. The seven Spanish islands off northwestern Africa's Atlantic coast host more than 6,000 migrant minors and the North African enclave of Ceuta over 800, living in overcrowded centres in substandard conditions. The Canarian archipelago is still struggling to absorb an all-time migration peak from 2024, although irregular migration has slowed down by 28% this year. Under-18s who migrate alone to Spain are entitled to government protection and aid by law. The number of children and teenagers arriving in Spain without their parents or tutors more than doubled over the last three years, according to Regional Minister Angel Victor Torres. "It's a humanitarian issue, but also an opportunity. These children will be part of our economic structure, of our labour, social and cultural potential in the future. Let us invest in their future, because their future will be everyone's future," he told the lower house. The plan, which according to Youth Minister Sira Rego could begin this summer, takes into account several factors such as each region's population, per capita income and unemployment. It also factors in how many migrants under 18 every region already handles. Spain's 17 regions had to detail by the end of March how many underage migrants they have under their care and how many they can assist, so the ministry could calculate how to redistribute them. "Today it's Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands, but tomorrow it could be any other territory," Torres said. The Atlantic route is especially dangerous, as the ocean's rough weather can easily capsize the fragile rafts, pirogues and dinghies used by most migrants.
Reuters
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Spain lawmakers approve underage migrant plan to relieve Canary Islands
MADRID, April 10 (Reuters) - Spanish lawmakers approved on Thursday a plan to relocate thousands of underage migrants staying in cramped youth centres, mainly on the Canary Islands, to the rest of the country as its outposts struggle to cope with higher migration flows. The seven Spanish islands off northwestern Africa's Atlantic coast host more than 6,000 migrant minors and the North African enclave of Ceuta over 800, living in overcrowded centres in substandard conditions. The Canarian archipelago is still struggling to absorb an all-time migration peak from 2024, although irregular migration has slowed down by 28% this year. Under-18s who migrate alone to Spain are entitled to government protection and aid by law. The number of children and teenagers arriving in Spain without their parents or tutors more than doubled over the last three years, according to Regional Minister Angel Victor Torres. "It's a humanitarian issue, but also an opportunity. These children will be part of our economic structure, of our labour, social and cultural potential in the future. Let us invest in their future, because their future will be everyone's future," he told the lower house. The plan, which according to Youth Minister Sira Rego could begin this summer, takes into account several factors such as each region's population, per capita income and unemployment. It also factors in how many migrants under 18 every region already handles. Spain's 17 regions had to detail by the end of March how many underage migrants they have under their care and how many they can assist, so the ministry could calculate how to redistribute them. "Today it's Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands, but tomorrow it could be any other territory," Torres said. The Atlantic route is especially dangerous, as the ocean's rough weather can easily capsize the fragile rafts, pirogues and dinghies used by most migrants.
Local Spain
10-02-2025
- Politics
- Local Spain
EXPLAINED: Spain's clampdown on child YouTubers and parent influencers
In the current digital times we're living in, there are thousands of kids appearing in social media videos, either because their parents are influencers and like to document their lives online, or because the children themselves have social media accounts they post on. Studies show that in Spain there are children under 15 years old with more than nine million followers on their YouTube, TikTok or Instagram accounts and many of them started on social networks when they were just five years old. As the digital world grows it is becoming more and more difficult to regulate, but Spain's plan is to aim to introduce more restrictions to protect minors. In an interview with news site 20minutos, Minister of Youth and Children Sira Rego said: "There are many unprotected children, sometimes because families are not aware of the magnitude of the effect that uploading photos of our children to social networks has'. She also expressed her concern about the "monetisation of the image of childhood'. According to lawyer Ana Caballero, who specialises in technology and chaired a group of experts appointed by the government to help solve the situation, when a minor is used on a social media video, it gains 42 percent more likes than if there are only adults. This is attractive to influencer parents who want to show their children even more. But, according to the expert group, this can consequences for the child who at some point will be an adult and will have their entire life exposed on the internet without them being able to do anything about it. The Spanish government's aim is to put a stop to this so-called 'sharenting', when influencer parents put videos and images of their children online in order to gain money from them. While exact details of the draft haven't been released yet, Spain's Ministry of Labour is also planning a reform to regulate the professional work of minors in artistic activities, such as social media. It will mean that children will be employed and have "specific guarantees" in terms of protection. According to sources from the department led by Yolanda Díaz, the new regulations will be added the Workers' Statute and limit the schedule and times minors can 'work' on social media platforms. It will also "guarantee compatibility" with their social and educational life, meaning anyone under 16 years of age will only be able to 'work' when they do not have class, during vacation periods or on weekends. The objective is to prevent child exploitation in the digital environment by some families who end up receiving significant income from their posts. It also means that any money derived from videos of their children must be deposited into a financial institution, in charge of managing that money until the child reaches 18. According to a Harris Poll/LEGO survey, today more children want to be YouTubers than astronauts. Another investigation by the Reina Sofía Center on Adolescence and Youth of the FAD Foundation revealed that one in three young people between 15 and 29 years old would like to make a career online and one in ten is already trying to make it happen. Other countries have already tried to protect minors more online. Australia has introduced a world-first social media ban for under 16-year olds, while France, has a approved a law to protect child influencers and regulate the hours that those under 16 years of age work. Back in April 2024, Spain also introduced its first initiative to regulate the activity of influencers. It means that content creators with income of more than €300,000 per year must follow new restrictions long as they have more than one million followers on a single platform. Spain also has another law under way - the 'Protection of Minors Law', which must still be approved by Council of Ministers and the Congress of Deputies which includes measures such as virtual restraining orders, a reform of the Penal Code to punish deep fakes and grooming, and health tests to detect online addictions.
