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European Youth Capital 2025 finalists are nervous, excited and happy

17/11/2022

Which city will be the European Youth Capital 2025? With the award ceremony in Tirana getting closer, excitement is increasing! Let's hear from the finalists to find out what they are up to.

What is happening in Fuenlabrada, Izmir, Lviv and Tromsø just a week before we get to know the winner?

Would you like to know more? Get in touch!

Ivan
Ivan Neirotti

The time has come. Four cities and the whole of Europe are waiting to know who will be the European Youth Capital 2025. We will finally find out... in less than a week!

Tirana, the European Youth Capital 2022 has the pleasure of hosting the European Youth Capital 2025 Award Ceremony in the very heart of Albania, in the city of young people, opportunities and endless energy. Are you not in Tirana? Don't worry, make sure to join us for this moment from wherever you are by joining the Facebook live stream on Wednesday, 23 November 2022, at 18:30 CET.

In the meantime let's find out how the finalist cities are getting ready! 👀

Fuenlabrada, Spain

Fuenlabrada faces the final stretch of the candidacy process with great enthusiasm and with the feeling of having done a good job during the year to make their proposals known.


In the past weeks, taking advantage of the good weather, we've created a significant street presence to further enhance the visibility of the project among our young people to also increase their involvement in it. We believe that this has been the main achievement of the work carried out throughout the year by the candidacy team, to get the whole city excited, making our citizens feel that they are the most important part of the project, as well as to get the most relevant Spanish institutions involved in our initiative, making Fuenlabrada's candidacy a national candidacy”, said the Fuenlabrada's team.

The team of the Fuenlabrada candidacy to the European Youth Capital 2025 wants to express the excitement of arriving in Tirana after all their hard work and sharing this beautiful moment with their colleagues from Tromsø, Lviv and Izmir.

Izmir, Turkey

The Turkish city of Izmir went through a busy application process for the European Youth Capital 2025 Candidacy.

And it's outcome? For the first time, the city made it to the list of finalists!

The application process was exemplary for working together and creating common ground between different institutions, including youth organisations, the municipality and various groups of young people.

“As youngsters, we felt so excited that Izmir made it to the list of the finalist cities with the application form that we co-created. This is tangible proof that the city’s success depends on valuing young voices and fostering harmony between different institutions. We followed the same process with our presentation at the jury meeting in Brussels”, explained the European Youth Capital team from Izmir.

Now, it is the time for Izmir to show the whole world that teamwork and participation are the best way to success,

“We are ready to hear from Tirana, it is important for us to be there, and to represent our projects and the city with other candidates who are chasing the exact same goal to increase young voices in their province and the world as well“ added the Izmir's team, who is convinced that whether the city will win the title or not, it will continue to work together with the young people of Izmir, try to find more inclusive solutions, and make the city more sustainable for everyone.

Lviv, Ukraine


This is the second time that the city of Lviv participates in the final round of the European Youth Capital contest. But, this time, everything is different.

“The war has changed us and made us more mature, conscious and even more united. Freedom is our only choice and highest value. And we can surely say that our biggest achievement of the whole year as a finalist of the European Youth Capital 2025 is protecting our land and right to freedom and peaceful life“, said young people from Lviv.

This year, Lviv’s application doesn’t focus on the city’s young residents, but also on all those young people volunteering all around our country and abroad, fighting at the forefront, collecting humanitarian aid all around the world, spreading the truth about Ukraine and sharing common democratic values. “This year it is not only about such a desirable victory, but also about gratitude for support and solidarity as only together we can face challenges.”

Despite the war, Lviv fights to survive and live in a new reality. The team manages to seek and create opportunities for investment in the young people, who are rebuilding Ukraine “We chose freedom and all of you have chosen it together with us. So let’s stay together, fight the darkness and celebrate the year of youth in Ukraine in 2025. Everything will be MOLO, everything will be Ukraine!“

Tromsø, Norway

Winter has arrived in Tromsø.

Did you know that Tromsø experiences 2 whole months without any sun every winter? “Even though the winter darkness has set, the Northern Lights give us a lot of energy in the final stages of the process to become European Youth Capital 2025,“ said the team.

The project team and all the other young people involved in the project have worked so hard all year, running workshops, collecting inputs, making the pitch for the jury – and making the video that will be shown at the Award Ceremony in Tirana.

It has been an open and very collaborative process to which many different people and groups, especially young people, have contributed. “We are now very nervous, excited and happy to present our concept for European Youth Capital 2025 in Tirana.“

We are happy to see that this year has transformed the city when it comes to youth participation and created so many new meaningful connections and collaborations between the partners in the project!

Regardless of the outcome of the selection process, Tromsø is proud to have managed to guarantee a high number and a diversity of young people who were involved in the process, securing the support of the national government and the Sami Parliament. What’s more, the new Municipal Action Plan 2023-2026’s main heading is “We put young people first” and the city now plans its mission on a national level: to design innovative youth participation processes in developing and revising new laws.

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