5.4 Young people's participation in policy-making
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Formal Mechanisms of Consultation
In Italy there is no obligation on the part of the government to consult young people on specific issues that concern them. However, Law 145/2018 defines the National Youth Council (Consiglio Nazionale Giovani - CNG) as a "consultative and representative body" and establishes that "it is heard on the issues that the President of the Council of Ministers or the delegated political authority deems appropriate to submit to its exam". Similarly, all the Ministers can request the opinion of the CNG on "matters and policies that have an impact on the younger generations".
Moreover, the CNG promotes the dialogue between institutions, youth organizations, with a view to overcome the obstacles to the participation of young people. It also collaborates with public administrations by elaborating studies and preparing reports on the condition of young people, and it formulates proposals on the legislative acts initiated by the Government.
At national level, the Department for Youth Policies and the Universal Civic Service promotes thematic consultations with young people also through the National Youth Card, which is part of the EYCA network and reaches over 3.5 million youngsters. In 2024, the Card was used to promote a survery on prycological well being, in 2025, to promote the survey of the European Youth Dialogue. The latter reached over 12.600 young people, which represents an extraordinary result compared to previous dialogue cycles.
Moreover, the Department set up the National Council for the Universal Civic Service, a permanent body that allows young volunteers to express their opinions regarding the programme.
Always at national level, the “Open Government Platform” (Piattaforma di Partecipazione-ParteciPa) allows citizens to participate in discussions, suggest policy changes, and express their opinions on issues that affect their communities. Therefore, it allows young people to engage in the political process, particularly for consultations on local government policies.
At regional and local level, the landscape varies. Some Regions support the creation of Forums/Councils and other youth representation bodies.
Actors
Relevant youth actors in case of consultation are the National Youth Council ; Councils/forums established at a regional level ; Provincial student councils; Youth and student associations (Cf. 5.3).
The main public actor represented in youth consultation processes is the Department of Youth Policy and the Universal Civic Service, as well as Regions and local governments. In the past, ad hoc consultations have been promoted by sectoral Ministries such as the Ministry of Education and Merit, the Ministry of University and Research, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, the Ministry of Environment, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Other relevant actors for specific target groups are:
- Migrants' Youth Networks: Several youth-led migrant networks and organizations, such as the National Coordination of New Italian Generations CoNNGI (Coordinamento Nazionale Nuove Generazioni Italiane), an organisation of social promotion representing young people with migrant backgrounds;
- ASGI (Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration): ASGI focuses on the legal rights of migrants and refugees, and although it doesn't focus solely on youth, its work often involves advocating for young migrants’ rights, particularly in areas like citizenship, access to education, and integration policies.
Information on the extent of youth participation
Considering that consultation procedures are not formally established, there are no available statistics keeping track of data on attendance or diversity except for ad hoc consultations such as the above mentioned National Youth Card surveys.
Outcomes
There is no record of the outcome of the specific consultations held by the CNG, but on their website it’s possible to find all the observations submitted to different bodies, the latest of which are those regarding the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
Large-scale initiatives for dialogue or debate beetween public institutions and young people
At present, the only large-scale recurrent initiative for dialogue between public institutions and young people is the EU Youth Dialogue. In June 2025, the Department for Youth Policies and the Universal Civic Service and the Italian Youth Agency organised a youth side event at the second edition of the UNESCO Naples Conference on Cultural Heritage in the 21st century. The event was aimed at collecting youth perspectives on the valorization of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.