Young Slovaks do not feel part of the county, lack trust in state institutions and are frustrated, reads a survey of Slovak Youth Council (RmS), conducted in the Visegrad four countries (Czech republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia). "We expected some frustration. However, our findings were literally alarming about fatal frustration and distrust in the main state institutions such as parliament, government, courts and similar. This phenomenon can be seen all across the region, however, in Slovakia it is the worst by far," said Katarína Čavojská of RmS. She also added that young people feel excluded and not invited to take part in decisions which impact them. "We see the solution in including young people in political decision-making. Discourse at schools will not be enough, we will need to go after the deeper causes, which stem from the setup of the system," stated Čavojská.
The survey also indicates that a third of young Slovaks plan to emigrate abroad permanently. 43% believe they have no influence on the operation of the state and its institutions. On the other hand, they find activities in civic initiatives outside the political system meaningful. As many as 69% of them have trust in youth and student activities. According to Čavojská, this situation favours the growth of extremism and no change took place after the general elections in 2016, when a far right party was elected to the parliament. Therefore, the Slovak Youth Council plans to talk to experts and youth about the situation.
The survey was conducted at the beginning of summer 2017. In Slovakia, 714 people aged between 15 and 24 took part in it.
