The First Youth Policy Dialogue

EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy & Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP) Kaja Kallas hosted the first EU Youth Policy Dialogue on EU Foreign Policy on 6 March 2025 in Brussels, Belgium.

For the first dialogue, 25 participants aged between 19-30, from both within the EU and elsewhere around the world, attended an interactive three-day event, from 4 until 6 March. The participants took the opportunity to share their views, express their ideas, and engage in active discussions with high-level EU representatives, policymakers and  HR/VP Kaja Kallas. 

The First Youth Policy Dialogue, held at the House of European History, marked the beginning of an annual series of discussions. These exchanges ensure that the voices of young people are reflected in our work.Preparatory meetings allowed participants to co-create the agenda for the dialogue, ensuring their priorities were reflected in the discussions. 

The programme focused on youth engagement in EU foreign policy and global challenges, featuring participatory workshops with policymakers and community-building activities. 

The discussions were based on the mission letter sent to HR/VP Kaja Kallas by President von der Leyen.

Initial set of proposals from First Youth Policy Dialogue

The result of the First Youth Policy Dialogue is a document with an initial set of proposals that represent the views of a group of 25 young individuals on the following topics:

• The EU and its geopolitical priorities
• Peacebuilding & Conflict Resolution
• Human Rights & Democracy
• Global & Climate Diplomacy. 

The goal is to incorporate the youth perspective into policy-making and suggest practical methods to integrate youth voices into EU foreign policy. This document is a work in progress and will serve as a foundation to be further refined through additional dialogues and youth engagement initiatives. 

We are confident this dialogue and its outcome will evolve into a structured, recurring process, where young people remain engaged as valuable partners in shaping the EU’s external action.

This first dialogue is part of a wider process to meaningfully engage, empower, and connect young people in EU’s foreign policy in line with the Youth Action Plan in EU external action for 2022-2027.

Download the proposals via the links below:

• Proposals from the Youth Policy Dialogue with HR/VP Kaja Kallas
• Visual depicting proposals from the Youth Policy Dialogue