EYP Spain will participate in a debate with Timothy Garton Ash, organized by the Princess of Asturias Foundation

Barcelona, October 2, 2026

The “Youth, Democracy and Europe” project will organize five debate hubs (in-person and digital) during the month of October.

The initiative is inspired by the thought of Timothy Garton Ash, winner of the 2026 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, and will culminate in a final meeting in Asturias.

SPAIN — The European Youth Parliament in Spain (EYP Spain) will participate in a debate with Timothy Garton Ash, winner of the 2026 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, organized by the Princess of Asturias Foundation in Oviedo during the second half of October.

In preparation for this event in the preceding weeks, EYP Spain will launch the “Youth, Democracy and Europe” initiative this October. This deliberative project aims to create a space for critical thinking and pluralistic debate among young people on the challenges facing liberal democracies and the future of the European Union.

Inspired by the work and theoretical contributions of Timothy Garton Ash, the program frames democracy not merely as an institutional structure, but as an ongoing conversation among citizens in which younger generations must take a leading role.

Throughout October 2026, the project will organize five thematic sessions (hubs) in small-group deliberative formats to foster an in-depth exchange of perspectives:

• Barcelona (Hub 1): Europe: unity, nationalism, and the future of the European Union.
• Madrid (Hub 2): A healthy democracy: populism, authoritarianism, and the crisis of liberal democracy.
• A Coruña (Hub 3): Freedom of expression in an online world.
• Digital Hub 1: Control of the individual: surveillance, memory, and the personal archive.
• Digital Hub 2: The historian of the present: testimony, digitization, and journalism.

The two digital hubs will feature young participants from various European and international countries, adding a transnational dimension to the analysis of key issues such as privacy, disinformation, and the impact of technology on the public sphere.

To conclude the initiative, a representative from each debate panel will travel to Asturias to attend a final in-person meeting. This session will bring together the insights, questions, and proposals formulated at each venue, consolidating the perspective of young people on the continent’s political and social transformations.

About EYP Spain

European Youth Parliament Spain (EYP Spain) is a non-governmental, non-profit, and non-partisan organization managed entirely by young volunteers. Comprising over 270 active members across 16 Spanish cities, it promotes non-formal education, parliamentary debate, and European civic awareness among more than 1,400 students each year.

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