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Fiscal policymaking is central to the interests of young people – from climate protection to good education or digitization. We empower young people to discuss financial policy issues and support them in forming a strong public voice. At the same time, we stengthen young people's interests in the discourse and developments of fiscal policy.
Strengthening the voice of young people:
In exchange with political decision-makers
Fiscal policy is a key policy field for future generations. Across the party spectrum, all political parties, justify their fiscal policy measures on the same argument: intergenerational justice. However, young voices are rarely heard and included. Therefore, FiscalFuture builds bridges not only accross generations, but also accross political parties in order to strenthen the voice of young people in the debates on fiscal policymaking. As a non-partisan and non-profit organization, we are in a trusted exchange with relevant stakeholders and political decision-makers from all democratic parties in Parliament.
As an example, following the vote on the new financial package in the Bundesrat on 21 March 2025, Daniel Günther, CDU Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein, visited our office. We discussed the adoped package, the challenges of the following legislative term and the interests of young people in financial and economic policymaking. How can we ensure economically-reasonable investments now? What is the future of the debt brake?
Empowering Communities:
The 2024 Youth Dialogue on Fiscal Policy
About 200 young people participated in the Financial Youth Dialogue, our signature event, on 23 March 2024 in Berlin. Among the participants were numerous youth representatives from civil society organizations, grassroots and political movements, including Juso national chairman Philipp Türmer. They voiced their demands in times of multiple crises and distrust in political decision-making to leading economists and politicians.
The event took place under the slogan “Financing the future, defending democracy!”. The participants discussed the interconnection between the current rise of anti-democratic narratives and right-wing parties and the financial policy decisions of recent years. What are the economic and social consequences of austerity? How can these be adressed, and which financial policy changes are needed now? Among the speakers were high-level experts like Ricarda Lang (Greens), Christoph Meyer (Liberals), Kevin Kühnert (SPD), Yasmin Fahimi (DGB) and Adam Tooze.
It was sponsored by the Berlin State Agency for Civic Education (Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Berlin) and took place in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (party-affiliated foundation of the Social Democratic Party).
Providing Expertise on Fiscal Policy:
Parliamentary Hearings, Speeches and Education
FiscalFuture is frequently invited to contribute to parliamentary hearings at both the federal and state levels. Additionally, we engage in technical exchanges and panel discussions, deliver speeches, and conduct workshops for other youth organizations. Through these efforts, we aim to connect with a diverse range of relevant audiences and advocate for fiscal policies that meet current as well as future challenges.
Shaping and Shifting the discourse:
Intergenerational Justice in Fiscal Policy
In the public media discourse, we frequently provide our expertise in fiscal policymaking as well as our unique perspective, representing the interests of future generations in this central field. We publish op-eds or give interviews commenting on the newest developments in German fiscal policymaking, the role of investments for future generations or the interplay between German and European fiscal rules. Our presence in the public debate allows us to amplify the interests and voices of young people where they would not be heard otherwise.
Addressing politics and the public:
Budget cuts endanger our future!
Together with our civil society partners, the German Federal Youth Council, DGB Youth, Fridays for Future, Green Youth & Jusos, we stress: our generation does not need budget cuts, but massive public spending in order to meet the investment needs of the green and social transition! Together, we represent six million members. As youth associations, we emphasize that the planned cuts in the federal budget 2025 are not in the interest of young people. Instead, we call on the federal government to suspend the debt brake and abolish it in the long term! Our open letter was spread by various German mainstream media and gained a great degree of attention in the context of the budgetary debates in the German government :
Spiegel - Lage am Morgen: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/news-wahl-in-grossbritannien-haushaltsstreit-ausschuss-zum-akw-aus-a-dc527b3c-2887-4025-a033-99db8edb1af5
Zeit Online: https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2024-07/haushalt-2025-christian-lindner-neuverschuldung
Tagesschau: https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/jugendverbaende-geld-100.html
Furthermore, we conducted a rally in front of the Chancellor's Office and the German Parliament, in order to express the youth's protest against the planned budget cuts. Images and videos of the intervention, showing activists masked as Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (Liberals) swinging hammers representing budget cuts repeatedly made it into German mainstream media (RTL, ntv, Bild, taz).
