This study takes a comprehensive approach to understanding the reasons why young people abstain from voting in large numbers in elections to the European Parliament.

It considers both the sociological profile of young abstainers and the offers that political parties make.

The study contains three main findings: first, absenteeism by young people is related to socio-economic factors; second, there is mutual distrust between political parties and young people; third, political parties have yet to take into account changes in young people’s forms of political activism and means of communication.