BRUSSELS — Youth leader Rareș Voicu remembers like it was yesterday when he went to the polls five years ago for the European Union elections in his Romanian hometown of Brăila.
The problem was that he was 16 years old at the time and not eligible to cast a ballot. Once his family went into the voting booths, he knew he could not.
''I had done so much research on the parties and on the candidates, and I knew who I would have voted for,'' Voicu said. ''So I know firsthand the frustration, and how frustrating it can be as a young person when you're 16, when you're 17."
Now 21 years old, Voicu is leading a drive to make sure as many 16- and 17-year-olds as possible go to the June 6-9 polls in the five member states of the 27-nation bloc that allow them to vote. In the other nations, the minimum voting age still stands at 18, like it is in the United States.
The voting age is set at 16 in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Malta and 17 in Greece. In Belgium, voting is mandatory.
Nateo Carnot from Celles in southern Belgium, who is 16, won't have to deal with the issue Voicu had, but he knows that teens like him will have to step up and overcome political apathy, even helplessness.
''Youth sees politics as something from up high — men in big ties in big cars that won't listen. So there is a disinterest,'' he said. ''Whatever we do. It won't change anything. They won't listen,'' is the reasoning of many.
Yet lowering the bar to 16, as Belgium did for these elections, shows improvement, Carnot said. ''It shows politicians start to show interest in us and realize that we are mature enough to express our voice."