Congress of Young Europeans

In early October 2025, over 80 young participants from across Europe and beyond gathered in Tirana for the Congress of Young Europeans to explore a pressing question: where does Europe "end", and what should it stand for today?

It has been more than four months since I took part in the workshop Reading the Peripheries as part of the Congress of Young Europeans 2025, hosted by the local office of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung in Tirana. Since then, time has passed for the experience to detach itself from the hectic pace of the congress and return as a sequence of scenes, encounters, observations, and moments of reflection that together continuously form an image of Kamza I had not expected beforehand.

The Congress of Young Europeans has grown into one of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s most dynamic initiatives for youth participation and cross-border dialogue in Europe. Its history reflects not only the evolving challenges facing the continent, but also the commitment of young people to address them through critical debate, collaboration, and action. While the themes vary each year, the congress always revolves around a shared goal: advancing a more just, democratic, and ecological Europe with the active participation of its youth.