European Youth Capital 2029: we know the 5 finalist cities
2026 belongs to Tromsø, it's the year where Northern Norway puts youth participation and creativity in centre stage. The spotlight will then move south to Parma (Italy) in 2027, before landing in Podgorica (Montenegro) in 2028.
But what about 2029? The wait is over. The shortlisted cities are in and the race is officially on.
After receiving applications from 8 amazing 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) 👏
- Euregio, Germany & The Netherlands 🇩🇪🇳🇱
- Kielce, Poland 🇵🇱
- Pernik, Bulgaria 🇧🇬
- Trnava, Slovakia 🇸🇰
- Umeå, Sweden 🇸🇪
All five finalist cities have shown their commitment to investing in and engaging young people. So, who’s it gonna be?
Although not shortlisted this time, we would like to recognise the commitment of all candidates 👏:
- Bursa, Turkey 🇹🇷
- Kalamata, Greece 🇬🇷
- Selçuk, Turkey 🇹🇷
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 all of 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 18 June 2026.
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 7 October 2026.
After that, the finalist cities will have the opportunity to convince the European Youth Capital 2029 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 2026.
A big thank you to the independent European Youth Capital 2029 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 on Youth of the Council of Europe, ALDA, Centre for European Volunteering (CEV), Committee ot the Regions, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the CoE, Council of European Municipalities and Regions, CULT Committee - European Parliament, DYPALL, Eurodesk, Europe Goes Local, European Disability Forum (EDF), European Economic and Social Committee, European Youth Card Association, European Youth Forum, European Youth Parliament (EYP), and OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
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