European Young Leaders

Initiative

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Bold leadership, ground-breaking ideas, unparalleled passion …

For almost a decade the European Young Leaders (EYL40) programme has brought together the brightest minds and outside the box leaders to put their innovative thinking to work at building a more forward-thinking Europe that is a global champion for a better world. The European Young Leaders represent a new generation of leaders, able to tackle the increasing disconnects between citizens and political elites, to rebuild the trust that is vital to democracies.

These promising and established leaders come from a variety of backgrounds including politics, business, civil society, arts, science and the media.

The 2020 Class of European Young Leaders:

Meet the class of 2020

Learn more about the EYL40 programme

Tune in to the EYLs on Friends of Europe’s Leading Views podcast

Leading view

Joss Garman on the climate crisis: how bad is it (bad!) and can we get out of it (yes!)?

Joss Garman

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Leading view

Negar Mortazavi on Europe's role in the US-Iran dispute, the Trump factor and the role of media

Negar Mortazavi

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Leading view

Una Mullally on abortion rights, marriage equality and galvanising a generation for change

Una Mullally

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Listen to more Leading Views podcasts

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Meet the EYL40

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Beatrice is an Italian curator, critic and cultural strategist with a background in Asian studies and fifteen years of experience in developing programmes with an urban and social impact. In her current position, she works on the operational aspects of the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon for which she foresees a form of “meaningful provincialism”. She was previously based in Beijing for 17 years where she served as creative director of Beijing Design Week, China’s largest and internationally reputed design and architecture event. She was also the creative director of the urban regeneration plan for Baitasi historic district in Beijing, shaping stakeholders’ relations across the private and public sectors. In 2017 she co-founded B/Side Design an inclusive organisation which established The Global School, the first independent institute for design and multidisciplinary research in the PRC.

As a Democratic Party Leader in the Italian Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, Lia has been one of the rising stars of Italian politics. In her work, Lia focuses on human rights, developing economies and Africa, and has worked for the Mozambique Government as an economist and policy development analyst. Lia is President of the Italian Chapter of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA), the Italian section of the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) and of the Italian section of the Women in International Security network (WIIS). In 2016 she promoted the creation of the Young European Legislator Network to create a united front on young people’s policies in Europe.

Currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Antonio oversees the philanthropic arm of Thomson Reuters, leading on communications, monitoring and evaluation activities as well as the development functions of the organisation. Prior to his present role, Antonio worked as the Executive Producer at Bloomberg Television where he was in charge of news, factual programmes and documentaries for Europe, Middle East and Africa. He is also a member of the Pioneers Class at Stanford Graduate School of Business for the LEAD Program in Corporate Innovation.

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Brain-to-brain II: EYL peer-learning exchange

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Selection process

The EYL40 programme is a unique, multi-stakeholder programme which aims to promote a sense of European identity by bringing together forty of the brightest European leaders every year and engaging them in initiatives that will shape Europe’s future. We aim to select 40 European Young Leaders of diverse backgrounds in order to enable a broad exchange of ideas, creating the basis for a new generation of engaged European leaders. Additionally, in 2020, the programme will include 6 Young Leaders from the Western Balkan region. In doing so, we aim to promote structural dialogue across the continent that will foster better mutual understanding.

Since the launch of the programme in 2012, we have gradually taken steps to ensure the diversity and exceptional quality of its selection process. We have made sure that its comprehensive and competitive nature ensures the identification and selection of remarkable individuals. Candidates can either apply or be nominated for the selection process of the programme.

Selection criteria:

Candidates must be between 30 and 40 years of age;
Candidates must be a national of an EU member state or of one of the 6 Balkan states currently on the path to EU integration (Serbia, Kosovo*, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro);
Candidates should have established themselves the highest levels of their chosen profession, or be on track to do so;
Candidates must be committed to serve society at large through noteworthy contributions and have demonstrated a record of significant achievements and outstanding professional experience;
Candidates are also evaluated based on their ability to contribute to the enrichment of the programme as a whole;
Candidates are required to be fluent in English as it is the working language of the programme;
Candidates must commit to participating in at least one seminar during the programme year.

Due to Covid-19, no European Young Leaders class will be selected for 2021. Application for the class of 2022 will open in the spring of 2021.

*references to Kosovo in this document are used without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UN Security Council resolution 1244/99 and the International Court of Justice Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

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