'Hope for a better future is essential': how Scholz aims to win back young people from far right

The best way to win back young voters from the far right is to give them hope, security and respect so that everyone "from an untrained Amazon worker" to "Elon Musk's son" can live without fear of the future, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said.

- Deborah Cole and Kate Connolly

After young people voted for the far right in large numbers at the recent European parliamentary election, Scholz said it was necessary to closely address their anxieties.

"We have to work very hard to give security to people about the future and we have to tackle all the relevant questions that are important for them."

These included labour rights, global security, climate protection, a world shaped by artificial intelligence and an "international order... which is something you can rely on".

Scholz was speaking on a panel with Lea Ypi, a professor in political theory and political science at the London School of Economics, that was chaired by the Guardian's editorin-chief, Katharine Viner, at a summit of progressive politicians and thinktanks in Berlin yesterday.

Scholz said in opening the vote up for the first time to people as young as 16 in some countries, including Germany, it was "wrong" to presume "that they are completely different to their parents and grandparents" and would reject the far right.

"I think that it is not surprising that we will find every political position ... that you find with older people," he said at the Progressive Governance Summit.

Scholz said that "in a time where there are a lot of uncertainties and where we see a lot of scepticism about the future" that "reducing uncertainties and developing something you can hope for" was essential for progressive politics.