European Youth Capital 2027: we know the 5 finalist cities
Excited about what's to come? While 2024 undoubtedly belongs to Ghent, let's turn our attention to the future and uncover who the finalists are for European Youth Capital 2027. Are you ready? 👁️
The competition is really heating up! 🔥 After receiving thrilling applications from 11 cities across Europe, the European Youth Capital independent jury has now narrowed it down to our final five contenders 🏆
👏 Let's give a HUGE round of applause to (in alphabetical order) 👏
- Chișinău / Moldova
- Fuenlabrada / Spain
- Málaga / Spain
- Parma / Italy
- Skopje / North Macedonia - Updated 12/11/2024: Skopje withdrew its candidacy.
All of the finalist cities have shown a great commitment to investing in the potential of young people and amplifying opportunities for their active engagement. So, who’s it gonna be?
The European Youth Capital offers a unique platform for young people to actively participate in shaping their communities and have a more significant influence on decisions that impact them. From the initial stages of the application process, cities are encouraged to highlight their collaborative efforts with young people, ensuring that the upcoming title year really reflects their ideas, interests, and perspectives.
Although not shortlisted this time, we would like to recognise the commitment of all candidates 👏:
- Aarhus (Denmark)
- Eskişehir (Turkey)
- Gratwein-Straßengel (Austria)
- Nea Smyrni (Greece)
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain)
- Tata (Hungary)
We hope that each of these cities will continue to boost youth participation in their community. Following the European Youth Capital application process, each city will receive feedback on their application from the independent jury. We encourage you all to reapply in the future, and we look forward to continuing to work with you all.

Are you ready for the next steps?
Now the finalist cities have time to submit a more detailed application outlining an extensive programme of youth-related cultural, social and political events and activities for the whole year until 11 June 2024.
The finalists will then receive further recommendations on their detailed applications from the independent jury and a focus group. Finally, they will submit their final and updated applications on 1 October 2024.
After that, the finalist cities will have the opportunity to convince the European Youth Capital 2027 selection jury why it should be them who should be awarded the title at the jury meeting which will take place prior to the official Award Ceremony in November 2024 ️🎊
A big thank you to the independent European Youth Capital 2027 jury for dedicating their time and effort to thoroughly and fairly assess all the applications 🙌
Our jury is composed of representatives of the following institutions and organisations (in alphabetical order):
Advisory Council of Youth of the Council of Europe, Centre for European Volunteering - CEV, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Council of European Municipalities & Regions, EURACTIV, Eurodesk, Europe Goes Local, European Association for Local Democracy - ALDA, European Committee of the Regions, European Economic & Social Committee, European Parliament - CULT Committee, European Youth Forum, Open Society Initiative for Europe, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe, & Social Platform.
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