Yesterday evening, the winner of the “Youth Capital of Europe 2025” competition was announced in the Albanian city of Tirana. This title was awarded to Lviv, along with all other cities of Ukraine, because it was a joint application.
The main idea of Lviv’s presentation at the pan-European competition is that young people, communities, all cities of Ukraine are the guardians of freedom not only of our country, but also of the entire civilized, democratic world (Molo mission now: we are Freedom Guards).
“The results were just announced in Tirana – Lviv received the status of the European Youth Capital of 2025. And together with Lviv, all Ukrainian cities won – from Lviv to Mariupol, from Kherson to Kyiv. After all, this is a joint application. Ukraine won!
This victory is a tribute to all Ukrainian youth, to all those who defend independence – to defenders, volunteers, entrepreneurs, to all those who bring victory closer! To each and every one! Our main victory is ahead,” said Andriy Moskalenko, the first deputy mayor of Lviv, the city’s representative at the competition.
The European Youth Capital is a title awarded by the European Youth Forum, designed to empower young people, increase youth participation and strengthen European identity. Every year, a new European city gets a chance to showcase its innovative ideas, projects and activities aimed at raising the voice of young people and introducing a new youth perspective into all aspects of city life.
“This is the fourth time Lviv has applied for this competition, it is the second time it has reached the finals. This year we applied 2 days before the full scale invasion. After February 24, our application was completely radically changed, so now we represented all cities, towns and villages of Ukraine.
This victory is another element of unification with Europe, a moment of consolidation of European efforts to expand opportunities for young people. It is about additional investments in the youth sphere, about the exchange of experience, about the development of youth infrastructure, about many different events and activities that will take place in Lviv in 2025, and about the participation of young people in the life of the city, the country of Europe,” said Oleg Malec, director of the youth spaces of TVORA!, which are the initiators of the application for participation in the “Youth Capital of Europe” competition.