The European Youth Parliament (EYP) is the youth parliament for Europe. Legally an independent educational charity, it is a politically unbound non-profit organisation, which encourages European youth to actively engage in citizenship and cultural understanding. It annually involves around 25,000 youth from across Europe in its events and has around 6,000 active members in 40 countries. It was established in 1987 in Fontainebleau, France, as the first youth parliament in the world.

The EYP operates in 40 European countries, both inside and outside the European Union.. To become a member, a person must either take part in a multi-day session of the charity or pay a fee.

History The European Youth Parliament was founded by Laurent Grégoire (FR) and Bettina Carr-Allinson (NL), initially, as a school project at the Lycée François-Ier in Fontainebleau, to the south of Paris. It is there that three of the first four International Sessions were held, starting in 1988, about a year after the idea took place.

It then developed steadily for a few years until it moved to Witney, Oxfordshire, in 1991, and was legally recognised as the European Youth Parliament International Ltd., a subsidiary of a charity created in 1992 for this purpose, the Fontainebleau Youth Foundation. The organisation experienced enduring growth for the next ten years, its network counting an increasing number of National Committees and its activities becoming both larger and more numerous. The National Committees stretch beyond the scope of countries within the European Union and try to encompass all European countries.

In the years 2001 to 2004, the EYP encountered various problems of financial nature. On 4 November 2004, however, the European Youth Parliament was reborn due to a mutual agreement between representatives of EYP's Board of National Committees, alumni and the Heinz-Schwarzkopf Foundation. The EYP's status since then has been a programme of the Schwarzkopf-Stiftung Junges Europa, and is hosted in Berlin, Germany.

The actual activities of the EYP never faltered during this period.

Since 2004, the EYP has introduced several reforms to introduce more transparency in its institutions and further enlarged its activities.

The COVID-19 pandemic lead to many EYP events moving to a digital platform.

Currently the Charity has two patrons that are members of the Comité d’Honneur of the European Youth Parliament, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission and Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament.

Management At the international level, the EYP is governed by an international board, the Governing Body. The Governing Body has six members elected by the National Committees and by the alumni of past sessions. A representative of the Schwarzkopf Foundation, as well as the EYP's executive director, are also members. The board is largely responsible for the quality assurance of the International Sessions but also takes responsibility for the overall direction of the organisation and the long-term sustainability and protection of the organisation. The day-to-day business of the organisation is administered by a hired manager at the International Office in Berlin. Philipp J. Scharff was the manager from 2004 until 2008, Jan Phillip Beck (DE) from 2008 until 2011, Ville Vasaramäki (FI) from 2011 until 2013, Krista Lagus (FI) from 2013 until 2017 and Lukas Fendel (DE) from 2017 to 2020. Anya Suprunenko was appointed as Executive Director in 2020. In 2022, Pauline Chetail (FR) was made acting Executive Director as Anya went on temporary leave.

The branch of EYP in each country is known as its National Committee (NC). The National Committees are free to choose how to manage themselves, provided they comply with basic democratic principles. The National Committees are responsible for organising and funding sessions of the EYP within their jurisdictions, this includes both regional and national sessions. International Sessions, however, can receive limited funding from the international office. Sessions finances are usually supplemented through partnerships with companies and other organisations.

Apart from the National Committees, there can be Autonomous Committees (ACs) as well, which represent Autonomous European Territory which has been recognized by a majority of the member states of the Council of Europe.

The National Committees meet twice a year for the Board of National Committees (BNC). There they discuss and vote on implementation of proposals put forward by members of the EYP. The event is moderated by the BNC board, consisting of three members of different National Committees elected to the role.

List of National/Autonomous Committees and Initiatives National Committees

Albania Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czechia Denmark Estonia [note 1] Finland France Georgia [note 2] Germany Greece Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania [note 3] Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Türkiye Ukraine United Kingdom

National Initiatives

Hungary Malta Moldova North Macedonia

Candidate Autonomous Committees

Kosovo

Former National Committees

Belarus [note 4] Russia

Former Candidate National Committees

Iceland

[note 1] - this national committee has a different name of Active young people of Estonia, Tegusad Eesti Noored in estonian, to the regular EYP format but is still connected to the wider network.

[note 2] - this national committee is described as dormant on the official network website.

[note 3] - this national committee is still described as a candidate.

[note 4] - this national committee was shut down by the government of Belarus sighting anti nationalist sentiment of the charity.

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Events There are a number of different types of events organised across the network.

Types of Events

Sessions Debate Events within the EYP are generally known as a 'session'. Theses are the main events the charity puts on to help develop skills of citizenship participation.

Regional Selection Conferences (RSC) These are sessions organised in local areas, these are generally smaller and select delegates to progress to a National Selection Conference. They can vary in length from 3 to 8 days. However, notably, in the United Kingdom the vast majority of regional sessions are only one day and more similar in format to a Small Scale Session. Selection can take place at these conferences.

National Selection Conferences (NSC) These sessions typically take delegates selected from RSCs and gathers them in one session. These sessions can vary from anywhere between 4 and 8 days. They are typically more upscale and prestigious than a country's regional sessions. Some sessions also field for individual delegates. The National Committee of the United Kingdom is an outlier in that they have two National Sessions.

International Sessions (IS) International Sessions are often referred to as the EYP's flagship sessions. They are the most prestigious events that the network runs. They are hosted by a country but unlike the others involve help from the International Office and Delegates from a range of other countries that have been chosen from there NSC.

Each international session starts with a two-day Teambuilding part. This is followed by four or five days for Committee Work. A member of the European Parliament or some alternative expert will generally visit once to answer questions and quickly discuss the topic with the Committee.

As of Summer 2025, 103 international EYP sessions have taken place (taking into account the Extraordinary International Session of EYP in Lillehammer, Norway, Winter 2010).

Past International Sessions include: 1st International Session in Fontainebleau, France, 1988 2nd International Session in Fontainebleau, France, 1989 3rd International Session in Thessaloniki, Greece, 1989 4th International Session in Fontainebleau, France, 1990 5th International Session in Lisbon, Portugal, 1990 6th International Session in Kronberg, Germany, 1990 7th International Session in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1991 8th International Session in Barcelona, Spain, 1991 9th International Session in Oxford, United Kingdom, 1992 10th International Session in Strasbourg, France, 1992 11th International Session in Ghent, Belgium, 1992 12th International Session in Budapest, Hungary, 1993 13th International Session in Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 1993 14th International Session in Fontainebleau, France, 1993 15th International Session in Berlin, Germany, 1994 16th International Session in Brussels, Belgium, 1994 17th International Session in Holstebro, Denmark, 1994 18th International Session in Gothenburg, Sweden, 1995 19th International Session in Dublin, Ireland, 1995 20th International Session in Milan, Italy, 1995 21st International Session in Helsinki, Finland, 1996 22nd International Session in Munich, Germany, 1996 23rd International Session in Nicosia, Cyprus, 1996 24th International Session in Thessaloniki, Greece, 1997 25th International Session in Barcelona, Spain, 1997 26th International Session in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 1997 27th International Session in Granada, Spain, 1998 28th International Session in Brussels, Belgium, 1998 29th International Session in Vienna, Austria, 1998 30th International Session in Rome, Italy, 1999 31st International Session in Weimar, Germany, 1999 32nd International Session in Hämeenlinna, Finland, 1999 33rd International Session in Athens, Greece, 2000 34th International Session in Bern, Switzerland, 2000 35th International Session in Oxford, United Kingdom, 2000 36th International Session in Stockholm, Sweden, 2001 37th International Session in Dubrovnik, Croatia, 2001 38th International Session in Porto, Portugal, 2001 39th International Session in Riga, Latvia, 2002 40th International Session in Ghent, Belgium, 2002 41st International Session in Turin, Italy, 2002 42nd International Session in Prague, Czechia, 2003 43rd International Session in Dublin, Ireland, 2003 44th International Session in Tallinn, Estonia, 2003 45th International Session in Durham, United Kingdom, 2004 46th International Session in Tábor, Czechia, 2004 47th International Session in Berlin, Germany, 2004 48th International Session in Stavanger, Norway, Spring 2005 49th International Session in Basel, Switzerland, Summer 2005 50th International Session in Bari, Italy, Autumn 2005 51st International Session in Paris, France, Spring 2006 52nd International Session in Ventspils-Riga, Latvia, Summer 2006 53rd International Session in Kyiv, Ukraine, Autumn 2006 54th International Session in Potsdam, Germany, Spring 2007 55th International Session in Białystok, Poland, Summer 2007 56th International Session in Dublin, Ireland, Autumn 2007 57th International Session in Prague, Czechia Spring 2008 58th International Session in Liverpool, United Kingdom, Summer 2008 59th International Session in Rennes, France, Autumn 2008 60th International Session in Stockholm, Sweden, Spring 2009 61st International Session in Leuven, Belgium, Summer 2009 62nd International Session in Helsinki, Finland, Autumn 2009 63rd International Session in Tromsø, Norway, Spring 2010 64th International Session in Frankfurt, Germany, Summer 2010 65th International Session in Lviv, Ukraine, Autumn 2010 Extraordinary International Session in Lillehammer, Norway, Winter 2010 66th International Session in Athens, Greece, Spring 2011 67th International Session in Grenoble, France, Summer 2011 68th International Session in Zagreb, Croatia, Autumn 2011 69th International Session in Istanbul, Turkey, Spring 2012 70th International Session in Tallinn, Estonia, Summer 2012 71st International Session in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Autumn 2012