Awareness of what the European Union represents and how it works has seen a steady decline in Malta in the recent past. Since the referendum on accession and election campaigns way back in 2003, we seem to have shifted to the state of the comfortable detachment of today.

Less informed citizens are more likely to misconstrue anything EU related and tend to fail to see its relevance to Malta. One pointer to that is the evolution of voter turnout in European elections. While still the highest in the EU, the voter turnout in European elections in Malta in 2014 was a significant 15 per cent lower than the turnout in general elections.

The phenomenon of having sections of public opinion adamant on lambasting the EU and all that it stands for on every possible occasion is not alien to us either. Comments on social media and online commentary boards are, at times, replete with fundamentally wrong assumptions that reflect a lack of basic awareness. A thorough explanation of all the figures and the democratic decision-making process of the EU has little impact on the pundits whose die is cast without appeal against the EU.

This situation puts Malta squarely within the fold of many other member states in the midst of a post-truth era. In this context, the European Parliament cannot but strengthen its resolve to reach out to citizens. This effort cannot overlook the past failures of communicating the EU well enough. At the European Parliament, we believe that part of this failure may be that we are not communicating enough with our younger generations.

We have a duty to ensure that future citizens obtain a basic understanding of the EU, even if simply to place it in the correct context of the country’s political framework. In their formative teenage years, our young citizens need the necessary tools and information to be able to form edu-cated opinions.

This disposition to connect with and engage youths is reflected also in policymaking at the European level. Ensuring free Wi-Fi access in all public spaces and the possibility of giving youths a free inter-rail voyage are only a couple of examples that have been recently discussed in the European Parliament. This rationale is now also giving birth to the European Parliament Ambassador Schools programme.

We have a duty to ensure that future citizens obtain a basic understanding of the European Union

The programme is designed to engage students in secondary schools by providing them with practical experience of what the EU is all about. It delves into its history, its values, its structure and workings and its policies.

Most importantly, it aims to engage youths in a constant discussion on how the EU impacts their daily lives and how it ought to live up to their aspirations.

This programme takes the shape of a number of classroom activities with schools on the basis of a commonly shared curriculum to be rolled out in all 28 member states. Malta is at the forefront in deploying this initiative, which already includes six schools, 50 teachers and 500 students. So far, feedback from the very proactive teachers has been very good.

Students are given the opportunity to become Junior Ambassadors of the European Parliament as a recognition of their commitment to the programme. The ambassadors from each participating school will now be coming together to devise a new learning module on the EU and Malta, which will be added to the learning modules for the participating schools next year.

The teachers from the participating schools, or so-called Senior Ambassadors, will be invited to visit the European Parliament in Brussels, where they will experience the institutions first hand.

It is also envisaged that the Junior Ambassadors will eventually visit the European Parliament in Strasbourg to see for themselves the workings of the European democratic process through the well-established Euroscola ini-tiative. For the past 12 years, Euroscola has involved up to nine post-secondary schools in Malta and Gozo annually.

The European Parliament Ambassador Schools programme is now open to all interested schools for this academic year. The ultimate objective is to contribute to the formation of informed and critical youths equipped with a basic understanding of the EU as a key to future opportunities and a truly active European citizenship.

Peter Agius is head of the European Parliament Office in Malta.