Status: 07.10.2021 2:04 p.m.
For one day, 16 to 24-year-olds are allowed to take over the official residence of the Federal President and his Instagram channel. Young people are not “politicians enduring” but want to make a difference, said Steinmeier.
Normally, Bellevue Palace in Berlin-Tiergarten is the official residence of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. But this morning 150 young people were allowed to take over there. For one day, Steinmeier gives 16 to 24 year olds a platform for their concerns.
“Young people are not passive sufferers of politics,” said Steinmeier at the symbolic handover of the keys. “That is why they do not belong on the political grandstand, but should participate, right in the heart of the republic.”
Steinmeier: Big questions about the future
The young adults were allowed to decide in advance on the topics they would discuss on that day. They opted for inclusion, climate protection, Europe, digitization, discrimination and education. “You have put big questions about the future on the agenda,” said Steinmeier.
They work out the topics in groups and present the results to the Federal President. In addition to the official residence, the 16- to 24-year-olds also took over the Federal President’s Instagram channel. The motto of the event is “Takeover Bellevue”.
Steinmeier welcomed the participants at the start of the “Takeover Bellevue” campaign in front of the official residence of the Federal President.
Image: dpa
Finding a hearing in politics
“I also want to help shape my future myself,” says 16-year-old Marisol Ferreira Lopes, who came from Karlsruhe as part of a twelve-person youth committee from Unicef. It is clear to her that not everything can be implemented. “But I hope that at least we will be heard.”
Steinmeier said in his speech to the young people: “A future federal government will have to find answers to the questions you ask.” He hoped that the elected parties would see and hear them. The young adults would have his support.