European Liberal Youth in 2025 with LYMEC President Ines Holzegger
Crisis after crisis, the youth need politicians who will not ignore their problems but propose solutions so they can feel […]
Crisis after crisis, the youth need politicians who will not ignore their problems but propose solutions so they can feel […]
Crisis after crisis, the youth need politicians who will not ignore their problems but propose solutions so they can feel they have a future. In such a volatile environment—with wars and COVID still in the back of our heads—security and stability are something that we are all craving.
Ricardo Silvestre (Movimento Liberal Social) talks to Ines Holzegger, resident of LYMEC – European Liberal Youth about the role of liberal youth in the political future of Europe, and the importance of crafting the right political messages to engage young European voters.
Show notes
This podcast is produced by the European Liberal Forum in collaboration with Movimento Liberal Social and Fundacja Liberté!, with the financial support of the European Parliament. Neither the European Parliament nor the European Liberal Forum are responsible for the content or for any use that be made of.
You can find Ines on Instagram.
Hello, hope you’re doing very well and thank you so much for listening to the podcast today. Continuing our welcoming of 2025, we have this time the president of another vital organisation in the European liberal family, which is LYMEC, the pan-European youth organisation of the ALDE Party and Renew Europe Parliamentary Group in the European Parliament.
And for that, no one else is better than the president of LYMEC, Ines Holzegger. To continue also the tradition of having leaders of LYMEC talk to us on the podcast, we go into her vision for the organisation, four great areas of work for the near future, and the importance of messaging to young voters to avoid them voting for radical populists and the extreme right wing. After our main conversation, please stay to hear a little more about the path that Ines took before we had the opportunity to talk on the podcast. Also, this conversation was recorded during the ALDE Party Congress in Estoril, Portugal, and a big thanks to the ALDE Secretariat for helping make it happen. But now, with no further ado, I bring you Ines Holzegger.
I’m here with Ines Holzegger. Ines, thank you so much for coming to the podcast.
Thank you for the invitation.
Oh, it’s great to have you here. And we have this proud tradition on our podcast, which is to have young liberal leaders of LYMEC. We are at the ALDE Party Congress in Portugal, where LYMEC, which is the pan-European youth organisation of the ALDE Party and the Renew Europe Parliamentary Group, plays a very important role, and we’re going to get into that in a minute. But for now, and congratulations for being elected president, tell us what is your vision and what convinced LYMEC to vote for you and give you this very important position.
My vision is that we not only have our great policies that we discuss at our LYMEC congresses, but we share it. We share it with the liberal family, we share it in campaigns, and we just put it out there because these issues are issues that are driven by youth, and I think these can be a solution to a lot of the challenges we face now in our democracies. Election results were difficult, but I do think that youth and the solutions we have can be a way out of a democratic crisis and give us a path towards the future. So this was my main goal and is still my main goal to get our policies out there and propose a solution to the crisis.
We have the machine in place. I know LYMEC quite well and am very happy, naturally, about having over and over conversations about LIMEC here in the podcast and, of course, personally also in the hallways of the ALDE Party Congress in Brussels. And the machine is in place, so the machine is actually functioning well. And we’re going to go into the elections, in particular for liberal and young candidates, but still in there. So what is then, in your opinion, could be different under your presidency? So you’re talking about more outreach, more content production. Tell us a little bit about what will happen for our listeners to follow.
Yeah, so we have four political priorities we adopted as a bureau. We want to focus on digital rights as well as how the digital era is influencing our everyday life, our handling of situations, and our democracies. Let’s not forget this can be a great tool. I myself work in IT, so I know. But it can also be a great threat. So tackling issues in that area, I think, is key for the next years to come if we want to save the way we live now.
Our second area, which will not come as a shock for youth, is education. It’s a key factor. We see that there are, unfortunately, infringements on the funding of Erasmus+ and backstepping on certain policies that we fought for, which give youth, especially a voice and outlook on things. This is where we need to be quite strong to not go back. Even though there are a lot of different crises happening across Europe, youth should not be the place where to save money because it’s the future. And if you save on the future, then a lot of young people will feel left behind and that cannot be our way forward. This will only lead to even more crises, and if worse comes to worst, crises of our democracy, which we will very strongly fight against.
The third one is, unsurprisingly, security and defence, as we have a war at our doorsteps. There are attacks even happening in the EU itself, not physically but digitally, targeting critical infrastructure. This is not something that we can just say, “Oh, it’s happening somewhere else, let’s forget it.” This is a threat to our democracy, and it needs to have the gravitas it should in politics, media, and everywhere, especially for youth. We have three Ukrainian youth organisations where people are at the forefront of the war itself, fighting for their freedom and democracy every day. So for us in LYMEC, it’s extremely crucial to keep this conversation going and not to have it buried under other issues. Security, defence, and, in a broader aspect, EU enlargement are crucial topics we want to tackle.
The last one is sustainability. Not just on an environmental level, which is extremely crucial, but also in ensuring that our systems are more sustainable. Many countries have broad social security and pension systems, but they cannot be sustained as populations age and fewer young people contribute to the system. Giving more spotlight to this issue is something we also aim to achieve within the next mandate.
Very important issue for older users like myself. Exactly. I need you to pay taxes so I can have my pension. This was very comprehensive, and thank you so much for giving us these details. Now, like I mentioned a second ago, I really also want to talk to you about the EU elections and everything that was done by LYMEC at the time. And the last time I talked with someone from your organisation, actually a friend of the pod, which is Laia Comerma. A big hug to Laia. She’s been nothing but very generous with her time talking to me on the podcast and at the time we’re preparing the election, including the podcast about the LYMEC manifesto. We know the results, we don’t have to go through this. This wasn’t just with LYMEC, it was with almost all European liberal organisations. But give us your top-line assessment. Is this a snag? Are we going to have the pendulum shift in five years from now? What can we do better?
I think now is the time for us to start organisational shifts, to start questioning a lot of things within all of our organisations, the way we present our arguments. Certain things might be…I strongly believe that the policies themselves are good; it’s just we need to find a way to transfer them to the people. It’s a stereotype, but sometimes it’s unfortunately true that liberals have great ideas with a lot of expertise, with a lot of numbers, but that’s when we lose people. With more and more politics being done on social media, like TikTok, where you just have a few seconds, that’s not enough to have a comprehensive elaboration on, let’s say, the environmental policy that we want to have as liberals. So, I do think we need to start now to get people back, to find a way to involve them more in policymaking. Especially on the youth side, we need to try to reach that one-third of all youth that voted for the far right and take their fears and problems seriously.
One issue is that a lot of times, the far right points at the problems. They don’t want to solve the problems, though.
Let me interrupt you—they want to run on them.
Yeah, and they don’t want to solve them because then they wouldn’t have issues to run on. Exactly. But that’s an issue. And we liberals, we can be the force that says we see the problems, and we have the solutions. We have the best solutions for you to actually have a future because the far right is just putting more and more gasoline on the problem, and that’s it. I do think within the next five years, we have a great opportunity, and I certainly hope we will take the chance and be stronger next time.
As for young candidates in the EU elections, we tried to highlight young candidates during the campaign. It’s not always easy to get higher up on lists when you’re young because you need to prove yourself. But then an important viewpoint gets lost sometimes. How do people in their early 20s see a certain issue? I myself am a strong believer that politics should not be your whole life. It’s a certain time in your life that you do politics, and then you go somewhere else and give your input there. So why not do it at the beginning of your career and then take a different path?
That was during the campaign, and then after the elections, we wanted to highlight the young new MEPs. There are 15 ALDE MEPs under 40, whom we immediately contacted and connected with. We had meetings with all of them, trying to get a bit of a network going within that group. And I do think it was quite a success and something we’ll do again. Just so it’s something where we as LIMEC can profit, but I do think also the MEPs can get a new point of view from even younger people who are not yet in the European Parliament.
That’s a great point. And I want to stay here for a minute because one thing I’ve been observing through these conversations is the progressive gain of a certain space inside the ALDE Party and even Renew Europe for LYMEC. I remember conversations where LYMEC wanted to be in the room, wanted to be at the table. And that was achieved. Then the demand was for LYMEC to have a voice in discussions, and that too was achieved with a lot of work and dedication. What more can be done now at this institutional level? For example, I was thinking about the age gap of having MEPs of a certain age. Of course, it’s normal in a political party—you’re not going to have an 18-year-old kid replacing a 50-year-old with experience, even if they have merit. But that’s how the system works. So how do we ensure people like you get a seat at the table to bring that much-needed perspective? Does this happen naturally now, or is there still a lot of work to do?
I do think there’s a lot of work to do, but I think it’s on a national level more with the parties directly. One thing that could make it easier is transnational lists, of course. And as LYMEC, we do want them. Let’s see when they happen, if they happen. We certainly hope they will because that would be a good way to not infringe on the party’s list creation but, on the other hand, also give some people that might not be listed high enough in their own countries but could have an interesting take on certain issues. So I do think, in the future, the whole EU election process might need some revamp, and transnational lists would be one of the solutions.
I think that’s a fantastic point, and I couldn’t agree with you more. As we’re getting into the end of our time together, I still have a couple of challenges for you, actually two of them. You just mentioned it, but I wanted to go a little deeper. So, this is a really fast-paced changing world. An old man like myself, sometimes I see it, and I’m like, “What the hell is happening?”
But even myself..
I wouldn’t be too surprised. Even someone just being born today might say, “This is going too fast.” But on a more serious note, we have this fast-paced changing world. We have all these challenges that go from protecting democracy, minorities, women—to all of this happening. But I want to focus on two points. One of them has to do with what you mentioned, which is this slice of the young vote that finds it appealing to vote for extreme radical populist leaders. Let me give you just a quick example because it will set your answer. In Portugal, we just had elections for the parliament, and the extreme right-wing, which is kind of FPÖ, Fidesz kind of thing, they actually had a big slice of the Portuguese young voter. And when you look at those young kids, you ask, “Why do you vote for them?” And they say, “Oh, because I think he’s funny.” Ines, without trying to solve everything in the world right away, I’m very worried about this. How can we explain to these young voters that they have no idea how easy it is to lose everything they have? Just look at Hungary, for example, or what is happening in Slovakia. Please expand.
Yeah, I think it again has to do with communication. I have a positive example. We were talking about the Austrian elections, and within NEOS, we have an MP, Yannick Shetty, who has done a tremendous job in reaching youth through TikTok, Instagram, and explaining issues very much in their own words and with the language they’re used to, with short videos. And there we reached 14% of youth, which is, for a party that has a bit over 9%, quite high. So I do think it’s not that we need to lecture youth on “You could lose everything,” but again, take the language that is closest to them and explain issues, take the problems seriously, and give solutions.
Because I think one thing that youth really needs right now, after crisis and crisis and crisis, is people who not ignore their issues but propose solutions for them to actually have a future in the end. Because I do think, with a very volatile environment—with wars and with COVID still in the back of our heads—security is something that they crave. And if the far right is the one that says, “Well, vote for us, then you’re secure,” both of us know this is not true, but this is the way they might go. But if there are people who can explain, “Hey, there’s a different way. There’s a way where you can keep your rights, because that’s what the far right wants to take from you, and be secure,” then I do think it’s the way to go forward.
In a light, funny, open, good-spirited way. That is also a recurring conversation that liberals can be very technocratic and very formal, and younger generations, and it pains my heart to say this, they see someone being different, and that can be appealing even if the message behind it is just horrible. So this will be my suggestion to you as a thank-you note for coming to the podcast.
Now, a couple more minutes because I really have to talk about this. You’re from the IT world. We just mentioned the fact that there’s so much digital in our lives. What is the onslaught of digital in politics and particularly reaching out to young people? What is coming that we haven’t been seeing? Do you also lose sleep on this?
If only I knew! My LYMEC communication officer comes with a new trend every other week, and I work in IT, but I’ve never heard of anything in that regard before. It’s… it’s difficult to say. But on a more serious note, I think right now artificial intelligence is something where the hype is over, and now we see what AI can really do and what it cannot do. A few years ago, people thought everything with AI was the future, and then we saw, well, this is actually just a marketing gag. I do think politics needs to also prepare for this. It should have prepared a few years ago. It didn’t. So we are kind of a bit behind there to protect ourselves from what AI can do, the harm it can do. Again, there are a lot of cybersecurity issues that we need to tackle. There have been a few EU laws. The judgment is still out there on whether they’re enough to keep Europe safe.
Well, this is a fascinating topic amidst other very important issues that we tackle here. So LYMEC is in good hands, and youth liberalism is in good hands with you. And you’re always welcome to come back, and let’s keep this conversation going.
So, Ines, tell us a little bit about yourself. What was the path that you took to the point that we’re now talking on the podcast?
Well, I was always quite politically interested. I grew up in Austria in the countryside, but I did not really feel comfortable with any of the political directions that we had. We had Social Democrats, we had the Austrian People’s Party—pretty much. Then I moved to Vienna and started studying there, and there was this small group called the Young Liberals Students where I thought, “Yeah, I get what they’re saying. This makes so much sense.” I started slow, becoming active within that group, and then slowly but steadily, as it always is, I took on some responsibility and became Vice President there. That’s actually where I got interested in international politics. So that’s when I visited my first LYMEC Congress. Back then, I was like, “What’s LYMEC?” Now I know!
We’ve been doing our job here on the podcast to let people know what LYMEC is.
Amazing, amazing! And yeah, then I got very fond of a lot of people internationally that were just fighting for the same causes, that had different challenges in each of their countries, but in the end, we were all fighting for the same cause. It was quite amazing to see how different people tackle the issues that are burning under our nails at the moment. And yeah, then I ran for LYMEC Bureau member, I was elected. Then I thought, “Well, I still have much to give, so let’s run for Vice President.” And in March this year, I ran for LYMEC President, and I have not regretted it yet.
Of course, you’re not going to regret it ever! This is going to be a springboard also for your future political career, which we’ll be following very closely here on the podcast.
Now, you mentioned something that was very interesting, and that is you went to Vienna, you started your studies, and then you got interested more in international politics. But was the beginning of this process you, by your studies, starting to study politics, or was this just a coincidence, and then all of a sudden, everything made sense?
Actually, I wasn’t studying politics. I was studying English and History to become a teacher. So, initially, I was also teaching in schools before I went a completely different route to go into the IT sector. But no, the interest in politics was always quite strong, also, I think, on an international level, but mainly on a national level. Austrian politics—there’s a lot going on, a lot not going very well, I have to say, unfortunately. So this is where I became politicised. And then, with the contact of others in NEOS Youth—so JUNOS—I realised there’s even more outside than just the national politics and the international politics we see on the news, on social media.
And that’s where I got more interested in it because even when you’re interested in international politics, you don’t see everything. Like, you don’t see the smaller issues on different national levels. And this is actually where it gets very interesting for me to investigate: What are some common causes? Where can we get into problem-solving.
A very liberal thing, by the way. I didn’t want to bring this up, but since you opened the door, it’s the second time that I hear, in particular, an Austrian woman telling me, “I had to get out of the sidelines because of what I’m seeing in my country,” particularly with the growth of FPÖ. What is your, let’s say, biggest fear of what could happen to your country now that we had—and as we record this, we just came out of the elections in Austria—so tell us a little bit: What is your intuition about what will happen in your country?
There are two scenarios, which I’m not quite fond of. One scenario is that we get a right-wing government where there will be a lot of backsliding on women’s rights. We’ve seen it in federal states where the Austrian People’s Party, together with the right-wing FPÖ, have put policies in place that make it more difficult for women to participate in everyday life because there are fewer childcare options, etc.
Also, when it comes to the rule of law, we’ve seen what can happen. We’ve seen that Austria has been eyed very cautiously from other partners we have internationally, where there’s not more information sharing for security reasons. And this makes me very worried that a party, namely FPÖ, which has a friendship contract with Putin’s party, is now in the number one spot.
On the other hand, we have the option of the Austrian People’s Party together with the Austrian Social Democrats, which we’ve had for almost a quarter of a century in Austria, where there’s just not much new happening. And I was really hoping that we could have a chance for reform. We’ll see if it can still happen, but yeah, it’s a difficult situation to start out coalition talks, I think.
Anyway, Austria is in good hands with young liberal leaders like yourself. This is all for now. I’ll be back soon with more podcasts. You can always visit the website Liberalforum.eu to know more about the activities of the European Liberal Forum. So, until the next episode, let’s keep making the world a better place.