Nagybánya/Baia Mare has been shortlisted as one of five cities running to become the European Youth Capital 2022, the European Youth Forum has announced.
A dozen cities have submitted their applications for this reputable title, with campaigns focusing on a wide range of issues presenting their approach on youth participation. Although it didn’t shortlist their application, the jury was impressed with the submissions of Bilbao (Spain), Leiden (the Netherlands), Lviv (Ukraine), Veszprém (Hungary), Gdynia (Poland), Ribeira Grande (Portugal), and Ulyanovsk (Russia).
Nagybánya and Kazan (Russia), Poznań (Poland), Tirana (Albania), along with Varaždin (Croatia) will be required to submit more detailed applications of their cultural, social, and political events and activities involving youth.
Nagybánya’s Mayor, Cătălin Cherecheș, emphasized his joy after the official announcement was made and thanked the youth of the city he leads, saying this is their achievement, and underscored his support for the team working on the application.
The city’s submission is focused on a concept called Urban Youth Circle, which stands on three pillars: youth, city, and sustainability. The program coordinators aim to develop a model scalable on a European level that could serve as a pattern for every European city dealing with challenges similar to Nagybánya.
The city currently holds the title of Romania’s Youth Capital, and is already invested in youth, involving them by allowing them to co-manage and participate in a one-year-long youth program. Applying for the European Youth Capital 2022 title is the natural development of this national program, they say. The latter application is a joint work of the youth association managing the Nagybánya Romania’s Youth Capital program, the FONTMM, and the PONT Group. The latter successfully coordinated Kolozsvár/Cluj Napoca’s application for the same title, and Kolozsvár became the first Romanian city to win this prestigious European Youth Capital title, in 2015.
Title image: the finalists for European Youth Capital 2022
