EYC 2020: 8 cities in the running!

The European Youth Capital 2020 competition has officially begun, with eight cities from across Europe putting themselves forward to compete for the prestigious title.

These cities will look to follow in the footsteps of Rotterdam (The Netherlands – 2009), Turin (Italy – 2010), Antwerp (Belgium – 2011), Braga (Portugal – 2012), Maribor (Slovenia – 2013), Thessaloniki (Greece – 2014), Cluj-Napoca (Romania – 2015), Ganja (Azerbaijan – 2016), Varna (Bulgaria – 2017), Cascais (Portugal – 2018), and Novi Sad (2019) in securing the title, and making a strong commitment to prioritise and empower young people.

The cities in the running for EYC 2020 are:

• Amiens (France)
• Ayia Napa (Cyprus)
• Chișinău (Moldova)
• Dornbirn (Austria)
• Klaipeda (Lithuania)
• Tbilisi (Georgia)
• Timisoara (Romania)
• Villach (Austria)

The EYC title is awarded to a different European city each year after they submit an ambitious, engaging plan to prioritise youth and implement exciting projects to empower young people at the city level. The key focus of the EYC project is how municipalities can better involve young people in the cultural, social, political and economic life of the city.

To award the title, the Youth Forum convenes a high-level, independent jury composed of institutional and civil society experts, youth representatives, local and regional authorities, the media and the private sector. The jury members assess the applications, provide detailed feedback to the cities, and then shortlist a maximum of five applicants to proceed to the next round of the EYC 2020 competition.

The shortlisted cities will be announced on the EYC website on April 28th 2017. After further input from the jury and young people, these finalist candidates will be asked to submit a final, updated application by October. The jury will then meet to select the EYC 2020, and the winning city will be announced at the European Youth Forum’s Council of Members in Cascais, Portugal (EYC 2018) in November 2017.

The European Youth Forum is delighted to see so many cities taking steps to make their city youthful and to prioritise young people. We look forward to the next stage of the selection process and wish every city the best of luck with their work on youth.

For any questions regarding the EYC title or the application process, please contact Conor O’Neill at the European Youth Forum’s secretariat: conor.oneill@youthforum.org