European Alternatives

European Alternatives is a youth-led non-profit association established in 2007 and registered in Paris, France (Association loi 1901, SIRET 532 871 449 00023). EA was founded by young people from across Europe under 25 years old in 2006 informally and in 2007 legally to work for a future beyond nationalism, beyond exploitation, chauvinism, xenophobia, extractivism and climate crisis. After its first activities in London, it developed over the past 20 years to be active in every part of Europe, with offices in Paris, Palermo, Brussels, Barcelona and Berlin. It has become a unique organisation influencing European affairs while maintaining grassroots activity on the ground. As the organisation has grown, it has always sought to keep young people at its centre - in its staff, in its governance and in all programme participation. European Alternatives’ mission is to empower people to act across borders for democracy, equality, culture and social and climate justice. Its vision is a Europe that works systemically to promote sustainability, solidarity and creativity, where democracy, free expression, and care for people and the planet are guiding values. European Alternatives has an annual turnover of approximately €1.5 million and extensive experience managing EU and foundation-funded projects (Creative Europe, Erasmus+, CERV, Horizon Europe, DEAR). Governance is transparent and participatory: a transnational board with youth representation oversees the work, while the annual General Assembly during Transeuropa Festival publicly reviews strategy and budgets.

Its core values are:

Democracy and participation: shared decision-making and civic engagement at all levels.

Equality and inclusion: gender balance, anti-racism, accessibility and intersectionality.

Care and sustainability: wellbeing as a collective responsibility and condition for civic participation.

Creativity and courage: cultural practice and imagination as essential tools for change

Target groups:

Youth aged 15–25 facing economic precarity, unemployment or limited access to cultural and civic participation.

Migrant, racialised, Roma, LGBTQIA+, and disabled young people.

Students, early-career artists, and young activists motivated by democracy, ecology and equality.

European Alternatives is active throughout Europe and runs extensive youth programmes at Garibaldi Theatre in Palermo, located in the historically under-resourced neighbourhood of Kalsa. These include cinema discussions, assemblies, sustainable-food workshops, theatre of the oppressed, and the annual Earth Day Med: the Mediterranean’s largest environmental festival. The theatre serves as a permanent base for youth civic and artistic engagement in Southern Europe.

European Alternatives has a unique programming methodology realised through five interconnected streams:

Imagine

Experiment in self-expression, using artistic innovation to create and play with new narratives, imaginaries, and representations, and offer diverse formats for learning and being together.

Train

Increase the capacity levels of participants in areas relevant to opening the civic and political space at the level of Europe and to the promotion of alternative narratives about Europe

Assemble

Hold spaces for deliberation, decision-making and first hand experience of democracy at community-level.

Act

Carry the demands of activists, social movements, to exert influence on decision-makers at local, national & european-level.

Learn

Ensure research-informed learning of transnational trends, dynamics, needs, risks and opportunities, within European Alternatives, among the wider ecosystem, and in political institutions.

Flagship and ongoing activities include:

Transeuropa Festival: the flagship artistic and political festival held annually in a different city, engaging thousands of participants through debates, trainings, exhibitions, and performances. The next editions will take place in Athens (Autumn 2026) and Prague (Spring 2027). Recent editions include Paris (2025), Venice (2024), Cluj (2023) and Porto (2022).

Youth Movement & Campaign Accelerator (YMCA): annual eight-month training programme for 20 to 50 young activists to develop leadership, campaigning and communication skills.

TACKLE – Migrant Youth Against Discrimination: a campaign and capacity-building programme with over 40 young migrant-origin advocates, four university legal clinics, and 15 sub-granted youth organisations led by migrants, working together for equality and anti-racism.

Critical Change Labs (CCL): a partnership with nine universities developing democratic-education models for 12–18-year-olds. The model is now tested in over 70 schools across 21 countries.

Earth Day Med: the Mediterranean’s largest environmental festival, organised in Palermo’s Garibaldi Theatre, combining sustainable food workshops, theatre of the oppressed, assemblies, and cinema for youth engagement.

Speak Out: a transnational youth-led programme that empowers young people to use creative campaigning, storytelling and advocacy to address social inequalities and democratic challenges in Europe.

Democratic Odyssey: a transnational initiative that set out to test whether a travelling People’s Assembly for Europe could actually work in practice -and it showed that it can. Bringing together over 170 citizens from more than 15 EU countries in assemblies held in Athens, Florence, Vienna and online between 2024 and 2025, the project created a shared space where people from diverse backgrounds could meet, deliberate, and imagine the future of Europe together. What emerged from this process was a Citizens’ Charter outlining ten principles for a more inclusive, resilient, and participatory European democracy. At its core, the Democratic Odyssey is driven by the belief that democracy must be rethought as something deeply participatory and rooted in everyday life. It places people - not institutions - at the centre, framing democracy as a collective act of care. The experience of the assemblies demonstrated that when individuals come together with respect, empathy, and openness, it is possible to deliberate across differences without falling into polarization, and to co-create meaningful political visions.

The EA journal is a space to imagine alternatives beyond the nation-state. It contains think-pieces, articles, artistic and cultural contribtions, podcasts, videos and more on a broad range of topics and themes spanning democracy, culture, equality, decolonisation, social movement organising and more. Print editions.

Democratic Digital Commons: a Europe-wide initiative that responds to the growing impact of AI and digital technologies on everyday life,while highlighting the lack of meaningful citizen participation in how these systems are governed. From surveillance and discriminatory algorithms to automated welfare systems and deepfakes, the project starts from the premise that these are not just technical issues, but deeply political ones that require democratic oversight. To address this, DDC will organise a series of 10 citizen assemblies across Europe between April and November 2026, both in-person (in cities like Prague, Cluj, Budapest, Athens, and Lisbon) and online. These assemblies are open, free and accessible to anyone, regardless of expertise. Each session follows a structured process: participants first learn about a specific topic related to AI and digital governance, then deliberate together, imagine alternative futures, and ultimately contribute their ideas and demands to a collective outcome. The central goal of the initiative is to co-create a Citizens’ Charter for AI, to be published in November 2026. This charter will serve as a living advocacy document, reflecting the voices and perspectives of participants across Europe and aiming to influence EU-level debates and policies. It is positioned as a response to the current situation, where major digital regulations - such as the AI Act and Digital Services Act - have largely been developed without direct citizen input, often excluding those most affected, including marginalised communities.

Over the past two decades, European Alternatives has trained more than 10,000 young activists, been active in over 30 countries, connected hundreds of civil-society organisations, influenced EU policies on media freedom, and run successful transnational campaigns on Roma rights, housing, abortion, LGBTQIA+, and labour equality.

All programmes are free of charge, multilingual and barrier-free, with hybrid formats to include participants balancing study, work or care responsibilities. Mental health and wellbeing are prioritised through mentoring and peer-support systems, ensuring accessibility and psychological safety. Digital access tools such as online trainings, shared learning platforms and remote interpretation further reduce geographical and financial barriers, ensuring equal participation regardless of location or status.