Are young people doing too much partying and not enough parenting?

In Austria, the education Minister Elizabeth Gehrer recently caused uproar by suggesting that young people are more interested in partying than having children. Austria has one of the lowest birth rates in the EU and the minister's statement sparked a debate on partying, pensions, and whether young people are taking life seriously.

Young, free and having fun. Young Viennese are partying in the city's nightclub district. Most of these young people say they will have a family one day, but right now they're interested in getting an education, finding a job and....having fun. Recently the government had been telling young people they would enjoy less pension benefits than their parents because of the aging population. Now, being told by the education minister, that they're doing too much partying and not enough procreating, seems to have hit a raw nerve.

PERSON 1. "Well obviously she doesn't know what's going on. I mean everyone party's - it doesn't matter what age you are - so I don't know what her problem is."

PERSON 2. I think it's a very impolite and undiplomatic statement and I don't like it. It's also stupid.

The Education minister put the question - what makes life worth living - rushing from party to party? She then went on to say - the future is secure if a country has children. And that seemingly innocent quote has divided a nation along generation lines. The minister later went on national television to explain that she wasn't criticizing young people...

" I was not critical. Rather I put the question - what makes life worth living? It can't just be fun and material values - there are other worthwhile things. I know young people like to party - I like to as well - it's a part of life. But a discussion of values - what makes life worth living - that goes a bit further."

But few agreed with Mrs Gehrer that more babies' and less fun made life worth living. Olaf Kapella from the Institute for Family Studies says he can understand the uproar.

" Well if you as a whole generation have just been spoken to like - you just would like to have fun - and you don't care for your life - and I don't see that, we have very high education in young people. And you can't just put it like that - you just want to have fun. I mean this is just not true."

The debate has widened to include what Austrians refer to as "the Generation Contract". An unwritten agreement that the young - through their hard work and taxes - will care for the old once their working life is over. Many young people believe the minister accused them of breaking that generation contract. They in turn accuse an older generation of taking fat pensions and leaving them in the lurch.