EU Youth Conference: Where resilience means democracy
From 2-5 March 2025, the vibrant city of Lublin, Poland - holder of the European Youth Capital 2023 title - once again demonstrated their commitment to meaningful youth participation. More than 300 young people from across Europe gathered for the first EU Youth Conference of the 11th cycle of the EU Youth Dialogue. This conference marked the kick off for the new trio Presidency of Poland, Denmark and Cyprus. Together, they launched a new chapter of collaboration, dialogue and youth-driven policy at the European level.
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As the first step in the two-stage process of the EU Youth Dialogue, the Lublin conference set the tone for the whole cycle. During the first nine months the focus lays on gathering input from young people via consultations taking place in each member state. Then, for another nine months, the young representatives transform the input they’ve gathered into concrete implementation recommendations. The purpose? To guide national and European policy efforts. With national consultations on the horizon across all EU countries, the Lublin conference gave participants the chance to get a first impression. It offered a space to reflect on what it really means to connect the EU with young people, and how to make this connection more meaningful, inclusive and lasting.
from resilience to trust
In ten different working groups, youth representatives and policymakers came together to discuss how to better connect the EU with young people. The core focus? Building on this cycle’s thematic priority, European Youth Goal #1: “Connecting EU with Youth”. This, paired with several field visits to organisations working on the ground in Lublin, offered the chance for participants to exchange their ideas on what needs to be done to improve young people’s opinion and trust in European institutions.
Inspired by the urgency of today’s political climate and the shared responsibility to protect democratic values, participants formulated a set of forward-looking policy recommendations. These directly fed into the Council Conclusions of the Polish Presidency on “a community of young people in Europe based on European values for a common and safe Europe.” The concrete policy recommendations developed at the conference were shared directly with the ministers of the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council, who adopted them in their most recent meeting on 12 May 2025.
At the heart of these recommendations lies one clear message: the necessity to increase young people’s hope in a safe and democratic future. This can only happen by reinforcing their trust in the European institutions, fostering resilience and actively contributing to peace building. To achieve this participants called for an improvement of intersectional and systemic youth engagement processes, including through the further promotion of the Youth Check, and ensuring transparency and accessibility in all legislative processes. In times where trust in democracy and the European institutions is declining, open processes that take into serious consideration the voices of young people are crucial to regain young people’s interest and passion for European values.
Among the standout recommendations was a call to designate a European Year of Resilience, aimed at equipping society to face current and future challenges. As Europe struggles with growing security threats and social polarisation, young people highlighted the urgent need to build, together, a resilient and secure society that is able to adapt to the current crises.
what’s to come?
Today, the Polish Presidency comes to an end. Coming up? The torch of youth participation is now being passed to the Danish Presidency. The core of the Presidency will build on the results of the consultations taking place with young people across Europe. An additional focus will be placed on the future of EU Youth Programmes, like Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps. Considering the upcoming renewal of the EU’s long-term budget, the future of these programmes will be defined in the next months. The message is loud and clear: to safeguard an EU that is truly one with its young people, also in the years to come, it is essential to guarantee the independence and continuation of youth-centred programmes and their unique youth-focus.
The work that started in Lublin is only the beginning!
want to find out more?
The EU Youth Dialogue (EUYD) is Europe’s biggest participatory mechanism and the institutional method for including young people’s voices in the EU. The current cycle of the EUYD (led by Poland - Denmark - Cyprus) focuses on European Youth Goal #1 “Connecting EU with Youth” and is consulting around 30,000 young people on how they think the EU could better reach out to young people and what the next EU Youth Programmes should look like. This work is accompanied by EU Youth Conferences, bringing together youth delegates from all over Europe.
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