Austrian flag Since two years young people in Austria can vote from the age of 16 on. Time to change strategies by using Facebook and other social networks. Moreover, three Austrian Ministries together with some partners, e.g. the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions, launched the video contest “Film it!”. Youngsters are called to show why they like or dislike the EU, why they are going to vote or not on June 7th. Tenor: „People should take part in it 'cause it's fun and it's cool.“ You can guess that the organisers expected much more videos than you can find on their website right now. But: contest is open until April 21th... While voting is in progress there is already one video which is on top of the ranking. It deals with a thirsty jogger who later has to... well, check it out here:
Youngsters are allowed to vote

Almost 43 percent of the Austrian voters participated in the last European election in 2004 (detailed results in German) The upcoming European elections are a test for those two Austrian parties which form a grand coalition right now. Their handling of the economic crisis will mostly affect their results. Conservatives (ÖVP ) and Socialdemocrats (SPÖ) have nominated their candidates last week. ÖVP's front-runner will be former Interior Minister Ernst Strasser, SPÖ's top candidate is called Hannes Swoboda. Swoboda is a member of the European Parliament, well-known at European level but not in Austria.