Voters in this month’s European Parliament elections should elect MEPs that believe in children’s rights and child participation in EU decision-making, President Emeritus Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said.

In a keynote address in her capacity as President of Eurochild at the first EU Children’s Summit held in Bucharest under the Romanian Presidency, Ms Coleiro Preca said EU states should place children’s rights at the top of their agenda and work harder to make Europe “a model of child participation that other regions can follow”.

“Child participation in decision-making needs to become a reality today and not in the future… It is essential that the European Union listens to children, and ensures they can influence decisions that directly affect them and all of us,” Ms Coleiro Preca said.

According to the Europe Kids Want survey conducted by Eurochild and UNICEF, only eight per cent of child respondents feel that adults listen to their opinions when making decisions in their community.

Eurochild, a children’s rights advocacy network with 176 members in 34 countries, published the EU Children’s Declaration at the summit to guide European leaders on the way forward after conducting an extensive exercise to gather the views of children and experts on child participation in public decision-making.

Two Maltese children – 14-year-old Sharon Cilia, member of the Young People’s council and former member of the Eurochild Children’s Council, and 10-year-old Scarlett Engerer, who is a member of the Children’s Council – also took part in the summit.