Your Europe, Your Say! Young Europeans shape next EU Youth Strategy

Schools from Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine took part in this year’s annual event ‘Your Europe, Your Say!’ (YEYS), held by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 19-20 March, in Brussels. The aim of the event was to explore the theme of ‘Meaningful Connections, Active Participation and Democratic Engagement’. 

The event brought together almost 140 participants, including secondary school students and their teachers, and young adults associated with youth organisations. They reflected on how young people could engage in stronger democratic participation and inclusive dialogue at YEYS’ interactive workshops, networking activities and collaborative discussions.

“Youth participation is a key priority of my mandate. At the EESC, we believe that young people must be at the heart of shaping Europe’s future. Creating spaces where they can meet, exchange ideas, challenge perspectives and build solutions is vital,” said Séamus Boland, EESC President. 

The youth groups presented proposals at the closing session of the YEYS, which will be passed on to the European Commission to inform its work on the next EU Youth Strategy, due to be published in March 2027. 

“Youth has been a political priority for the European Commission since the very first day of this term,” said Glenn Micallef, Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport, in his video message.

From 515 school applications and 2,596 individual applications, coming from all 27 EU Member States, nine EU candidate countries, and the UK, the YEYS team selected 37 schools (one per country) and 43 individual participants. Georgia was represented by Green School Dighomi (Tbilisi), Moldova by Theoretical Lyceum ‘Ion Creanga’ (Floresti), and Ukraine by Lyceum (Kyiv).

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Press release