On 30 July 2026, European Commissioner for Democracy Michael McGrath addressed the High-Level Conference on Listening to Children and Young People in Dublin Castle, calling for children and young people to be meaningfully involved in decision-making and highlighting EU initiatives on child-friendly justice, online safety, and digital fairness. McGrath stressed that youth participation is a personal priority and a shared aim with the Irish Presidency of the Council, grounded in Article 24 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which enshrines children's rights to protection, care, and to have their views taken into account.
McGrath outlined several concrete initiatives under his portfolio. On child-friendly justice, he noted that the EU adopted the Brussels IIb Regulation on cross-border family matters and agreed a revision of the Victims' Rights Directive at the end of 2025, providing more support services. He announced that the upcoming EU Strategy on Victims' Rights, to be presented later this year, will have a strong focus on children's rights. On participation, he referenced the EU Children's Participation Platform, established in 2022 to give children a structured way to feed into EU decision-making. On online safety, McGrath highlighted the report of the Special Panel on Online Safety for Children, presented earlier in July 2026, which recommended safety-by-design principles and a starting age for social media access. He said the Commission is spending the summer studying the report and considering how to act on its recommendations. McGrath also mentioned the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act, which aims to protect users from unfair marketing and addictive design, and noted that nearly 5,000 12-to-17 year olds across the EU were surveyed for their views.
a new Victims' Rights Strategy with a children's focus, follow-up on the online safety panel's recommendations, and the Digital Fairness Act. However, specific timelines and numerical targets beyond the strategy's presentation later this year were not provided. McGrath's remarks shift EU policy towards greater youth participation and stronger online protections, with a conciliatory approach that emphasises listening to children rather than imposing top-down measures. The conference, co-organised with the Irish Presidency, includes sessions on barriers to participation and children in justice settings, with McGrath pledging to take the discussions' learnings back to Brussels.