The National Youth Council of Macedonia informs all  young people that it is withdrawing from its partnership with the City of Skopje for the candidacy for  European Youth Capital 2027.

We reached this decision after several attempts to establish contact with city representatives who were expected to jointly present the city’s candidacy before the European Youth Capital jury, and numerous requests for a coordination meeting about the presentation.

The failure to establish contact and create a sustainable partnership from the very beginning only showed us that the city is not fully committed to young people, and the candidacy for this title is not motivated by a real desire to prioritize youth. This conclusion is further confirmed by the fact that the city has not shown enough dedication to overcome the obstacles in establishing local youth council, adopting a local youth strategy, or opening a youth center, all of which are the very pillars of the candidacy for European Youth Capital 2027.

The National Youth Council of Macedonia’s core commitment is to advocate for meaningful youth participation. Driven by this, we joined this journey together with our member organizations and partners from student and high school organizations. Unfortunately, the past months have shown us that the city representatives only recognize tokenistic youth engagement in these processes, including the candidacy for European Youth Capital 2027.

We appeal to local and national decisionmakers to actively invest in creating conditions for meaningful youth participation and to work together with young people to create programs and policies that address their real needs. We remain fully available to support such processes.

Despite this outcome, the National Youth Council will continue to seek support so that our vision for Skopje becomes a reality, actively supporting young people and advocating for policies that address their priorities and ensure an improved youth standard and quality of life for young people.

Sincerely,
National Youth Council of Macedonia