Passing the baton at the close of the European Year of Youth
The ambassador network reunited in Rome to reflect on a year of youth participation, share its experience with Minister Andrea Abodi, and carry its momentum into the European Year of Skills.
On 24 February 2023, the European Year of Youth Ambassador Network met again in Rome for With young people, with Europe, the Italian closing event for the European Year of Youth.
Held at the Acquario Romano, the event was both a review of what had happened during 2022 and a conversation about what should continue. It brought young people, institutions, and organisations together to discuss the priorities that still needed attention in national and European youth policy.
Looking back at a year of participation
The European Year of Youth had created space for mobility, active citizenship, European opportunities, skills, inclusion, and democratic participation to receive greater public attention. The 40-person ambassador network helped carry those themes into different parts of Italy through events, schools, local communities, and direct exchanges with other young people.
For me, the closing event connected the individual moments of the year: the launch at the Ara Pacis, the institutional visit to Brussels, conversations about Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps, and the work of making European opportunities understandable outside institutional settings.
A conversation with Andrea Abodi
The event took place in the presence of Andrea Abodi, Minister for Sport and Youth. The ambassador network shared the experience accumulated during the year and formally passed forward the perspectives, priorities, and expectations gathered through its work.
That handover mattered because a designated European year should not end as soon as the calendar changes. Its real value depends on whether the relationships, lessons, and forms of participation it created continue to influence future programmes.
From the European Year of Youth to the European Year of Skills
The closing ceremony also marked the transition towards the 2023 European Year of Skills. The connection was natural: participation is linked to learning, confidence, employability, mobility, and the capacity to turn experience into meaningful action.
The end of the programme cycle did not feel like the end of the responsibility. It reinforced the importance of continuing to share opportunities, build bridges between institutions and communities, and create conditions in which young people can contribute rather than simply observe.
Read the official event overview and the National Youth Council report.