Launch of the European Charter for Youth and Democracy
The European Committee of the Regions & the European Youth Forum join forces to bring young people closer to the EU!

2022 is the European Year of Youth, putting a spotlight on young Europeans and their important role in our society. For current and future generations of young people we need to build a more inclusive democratic society, where every young person, regardless of social background, race, gender, sexual orientation, belief or aspiration, feels they are truly empowered and represented.
That's why we partnered up with the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), the EU's voice of regions and cities to establish the European Charter for youth and democracy.
The Charter will strive to build and consolidate a youth friendly democratic space to ensure the voices of young people are formally, continuously and permanently represented in the European Union.

The co-creation process of the Charter was launched during the 9th Summit of Regions and Cities in Marseille, and will take place until the end of 2022. To fulfil its goal to empower and include young people in decision-making, the proposals for the Charter will be collected through participatory processes like workshops and online consultations to allow young people to express their ideas and debate with local and regional representatives and other stakeholders.
The Charter will put forward concrete recommendations relating to the democratic participation of young people in social, political, and civic life at three levels of governance: the local and regional level; the national level; and the European level.
A final signing ceremony will be held in December 2022 at the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions. Read more at the CoR's webpage here.
Related articles & publications

The protection of youth rights and support of young political prisoners of Belarus
The European Youth Forum recognises the urgent need to protect youth rights and support young political prisoners in Belarus, stands in solidarity with RADA and pledges to support their efforts.

Young people deserve to #BeSeenBeHeard
The Body Shop and the European Youth Forum launch a petition calling on all European governments and the European Parliament to lower the voting age to 16 for all local, regional, national and European elections.

European Youth Forum priorities: Defence of Democracy package
The Defence of Democracy package serves as an opportunity to safeguard democracy and overall civic space in the EU. However, the package’s potential ‘foreign interference’ directive has raised concerns among civil society across the European continent. The European Youth Forum has put forward the following priorities in response to the process.