<\/a>Troms\u00f8 will be the European Youth Capital in 2026\u00a0\u2013 and the first Arctic city to be awarded this title. The announcement came on Monday evening in Lublin, Poland, which is this year’s youth capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n“This is wonderful! The other four cities were strong competitors and had good applications, so it is very fun that the jury has chosen our “True North \u2013 Troms\u00f8 2026″ concept as the winner,” says Troms\u00f8’s Deputy Mayor Sigrid Bj\u00f8rnhaug Hammer (22) from the Socialist Left Party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other finalists were Izmir (Turkey), M\u00e1laga (Spain), Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Vila do Conde (Portugal).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troms\u00f8 convinced the jury with its commitment to promoting young people’s active citizenship and strengthening their contribution to societal development, according to the European Youth Forum. The application reads that the city will do this by cultivating creativity, experimentation, and interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The True North concept also emphasizes sustainability and the visibility of indigenous identity, which the jury found particularly encouraging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Important process<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Troms\u00f8 is Norway’s “youngest” city, where nearly half of all its inhabitants are under 35 years old. The city has demonstrated commitment to investing in its young people in the application, states the aforementioned forum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is confirmed by Luna Drecker, leader of the Troms\u00f8 Youth Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe process of applying for the title has had a big impact on youth participation in our city. The input from young people became the priority for Troms\u00f8 and 18 out of 43 elected officials in our city are under 35. We will show that young people from the arctic are of key strategic importance for Europe,\u201d says Drecker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project will contribute to stronger youth participation not only in Troms\u00f8 but in the entire region, the youth council leader insists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The aim is to make the whole of Northern Norway a better place for young people and young adults to live and create,” she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troms\u00f8 youth’s merit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In the first round, Troms\u00f8 applied to become the European Youth Capital in 2025 and reached the final, but Lviv in Ukraine came away with the victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The application process has been a large collaborative project between public and private actors throughout Northern Norway and the Arctic. Youth councils, youth organizations, and young volunteers have been central throughout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is the merit of the youth in Troms\u00f8, and I am so proud! Congratulations to everyone and especially to the Troms\u00f8 Youth Council who were behind the initiative. Troms\u00f8 shall be a world-class youth municipality,” says Mayor Gunnar Wilhelmsen (Labor).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
European Youth Capital<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 The European Youth Capital is a title awarded by the European Youth Forum designed to empower young people and boost youth participation in all aspects of city life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Since 2009, 14 European cities have been able to showcase their innovative ideas and projects to promote active young citizenship. In total, more than 10,000 events have been carried out, and the cities have secured tens of millions in additional funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 The European Youth Forum represents over 100 youth organizations vis-\u00e0-vis the EU and other international institutions. It is financed by the Council of Europe and the EU program Erasmus+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Troms\u00f8 in Northern Norway has been awarded the title of European Youth Capital 2026 with the concept “True North”. “We will show that young people from the Arctic are of key strategic importance for Europe,” says Luna Drecker, leader of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cooperation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1113"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1115,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions\/1115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}