Youths need to be motivated to become actively involved in events promoting democracy, recently-appointed National Youth Council president Michael Piccinino said this morning.

He was addressing the annual Youth Parliament event at Parliament, during which  young people aged between 13 and 18 presented motions on non-formal education, sustainable development and leisure and security.

Another group, aged 19 and over will be presenting motions on poverty and social justice, accessibility to Gozo and the justice reform this afternoon.

In his opening comments, Mr Piccinino reiterated the council’s stance on the voting age, insisting this should be brought down to 16 to further encourage young people to become active participants in society.

The groups also called for increased efforts to promote non-formal education which, they said, had already taken off in the past few years but still needed to be considered an integral part of the education system.

On sustainable development, the youths called for the protection of green areas also expressing concern at the series of approvals for high-rise buildings making headlines recently.