Applications are now open for young people aged between 18–35 residing in the EU or candidate countries to join workshops on cocreating democratic European futures. The workshops will take place in 19 cities across Europe, with travel and accommodation covered.

What will Europe’s democracy look like in 2040?  

Through creative foresight and scenario-building activities, participants will explore pathways for European democracy, integrating diverse perspectives, practicing conflict mitigation, and co-creating resilient visions. Most of the workshop will be conducted in a national language and host around 30 participants,  their travel and accommodation covered by the project.  

The YouthDecide 2040 project builds on EU-wide efforts to enhance participatory democracy, embedding citizen foresight into policymaking structures across Europe. The workshop methodology was tested during the first five Regional Workshops in 2025, now expanding the conversation to the national level in 19 countries.  

The National Workshops will run from March to late April 2026, hosted in 19 cities:  

• Albania (Tirana) – 21–22 March 2026 
• Austria (Vienna) – 17-18 April 2026 
• Belgium (Brussels) – 11–12 April 2026 
• Bulgaria (Sofia) – 14–15 March 2026 
• Croatia (Zagreb) – 17–18 April 2026 
• Czechia (Prague) – 7 March 2026 
• Denmark (Copenhagen) – 23–24 April 2026 
• France (Paris) – 28–29 March 2026 
• Germany (Karlsruhe) – 18–19 April 2026 
• Hungary (Budapest) – 28–29 March 2026 
• Italy (Florence) – 21–22 March 2026 
• Moldova (Chișinău) – 14–15 March 2026 
• Montenegro (Podgorica) – 21–22 March 2026 
• North Macedonia (Skopje) – 17–18 April 2026 
• Poland (Warsaw) – 28–29 March 2026 
• Romania (Bucharest) – 25 April 2026 
• Slovakia (Bratislava) – 7 March 2026 
• Spain (Barcelona) – 14–15 March 2026 
• Ukraine (Kyiv) – 17–18 April 2026 

The project welcomes applicants from diverse places and backgrounds, bringing different lived experiences and viewpoints. The selection aims to ensure a balanced mix of genders, education levels, professions and places of living. Applicants should apply to one workshop only – in the country they reside in. 

All constructive voices are encouraged to apply; no prior experience is required and no expertise on the subject either. Workshops will follow a clear code of conduct to ensure respectful dialogue, inclusion and equal participation!  

How youth voices will contribute  

YouthDecide 2040 will engage nearly 600 young people through immersive participatory activities that foster learning, cooperation, and innovation. The findings will help understand intergenerational expectations of democracy, guide innovation in line with citizens’ values, and strengthen the stable conditions that healthy democracies need to thrive. Why apply? 

• To co-create the future: Participants will help shape a shared vision for European democracy in 2040, generating insights from their own perspectives that can inform actions by civil society and government on how democracy can thrive across Europe. 
• To learn by doing: Participants will gain hands-on tools for collaboration and dialogue through immersive, creative foresight activities. 
• To be part of something bigger: Participants will join one of 19 workshops with nearly 700 young people in a Europe-wide process amplifying youth voices and contributing to policy ideas shared with European institutions, national governments and civil society. 

Share this open call and help bring more diverse voices into the process. Apply now or help others do so by spreading the word! 

Interdisciplinary, cross-sector research expertise 

YouthDecide 2040, a Horizon Europe initiative, is on a three-year mission journey to co-create visions for the futures of European democracy. Bringing together 11 leading partners across research, youth advocacy, and strategic foresight, the project places youth at the heart of designing resilient, inclusive democratic pathways for Europe in 2040.  

The consortium — including the European Democracy Youth Network (EDYN), Strategic Design Scenarios (SDS), WeDo Project Intelligence Made Easy, Missions Publiques, Fraunhofer ISI, Polish Academy of Sciences, European Partnership for 

Democracy (EPD), European University Institute (EUI), European Youth Forum (YFJ), Make.org, and AIT Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) — leverages interdisciplinary expertise to democratise foresight processes, using methods like seeds-based scenario development.  

Building on decades of European efforts to enhance citizen participation in democratic futures, YouthDecide 2040 draws on experiences such as the Conference on the Future of Europe and participatory foresight initiatives by the Joint Research Centre, the consortium advances participatory democracy research, aiming to institutionalise these methods within policymaking processes. With partners like EDYN, YFJ, and EPD, the project is well positioned to ensure that visions developed through YouthDecide 2040 become actionable policy realities. 

Applications are open until January 31st 2026. 

Apply at: https://youthdecide2040.eu/national-workshops 

Follow the Project social channels: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/youthdecide-2040/  
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/youthdecide2040.bsky.social  
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youthdecide2040/. 

Press & Media Contacts 

For further information about the National Workshops or any interviews / clarifications requests, please contact: 

Jeanne Perreul – National Workshops Coordination (Missions Publiques) jeanne.perreul@missionspubliques.com 

Jorge Gutiérrez – Communications Management of YouthDecide 2040 (WeDo 

| Project Intelligence Made Easy) jorge@wedo-projects.com 

Please note that exchanges should be conducted in English.