Lviv, European Youth Capital 2025

First of all, I would like to say how happy I am to be here in Lviv today.

I can tell you there's a lot of jealous people back in Strasbourg, because, if you believe in young people, if you believe in Ukraine and if you believe in Europe, Lviv is the place to be tonight. And I am the one with the honor to convey to you the message of the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, and all my colleagues in the Council of Europe.

And that message is, you're not alone. You will never be alone.

And tomorrow the Deputy Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Bjorn Berge, will be here to participate in the big public opening of the Lviv 2025 on Saturday.

I'm happy to be here with the delegation that we brought together with the European Youth Forum, and I'd like to congratulate the European Youth Forum for selecting Lviv as a 2025 youth capital of Europe, because I think it reinforces that same message that young Ukrainians are not alone,

That they will never be alone.

I welcome the presence of high representatives of the European Union, Commissioner Glen Micallef, and the distinguished member of the European Parliament, Nela Riehl, because I think it is reinforcing that common message of European solidarity and support for Ukraine.

I'm happy to be here with the Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi, and our long-standing partner, Minister for Youth and Sport, Matvii Bidnyi.

We have been cooperating for quite some time and will be launching very soon a new phase in our cooperation projects, aimed at supporting young people of Ukraine.

And finally, my message of support and congratulations goes to Lviv 2025 Organizational Committee for the fantastic work they have done to make all this possible.

And of course, a message of support to the young people of Ukraine and all Ukrainians.

And I'd like to honour the memory of Yarina Bazilevich, who was tragically killed, together with her mother and her sisters in September last year, and of course, also the memory of all the victims of this horrible war of aggression.

When I was 25 years old, many, many years ago, I returned to my country from studies abroad.

My country at the time, just for a few days more, was the former Yugoslavia.

And I remember that warm, nice night in June when I went to bed after celebrating my country's independence and then woke up next morning in a war, a war waged by a military machine controlled and led by nationalist authoritarians who felt threatened by the prospects and commitment to democracy, human rights and rule of law in their neighbourhood.

And I'm sure this is something that rings a bell with people in Ukraine.

And I will not pretend that that experience helps me to understand what Ukrainians are going through.

After all, the war I experienced only lasted for 10 days.

And that pales compared to what the people in other parts of Yugoslavia had to go through after that and pales even more compared to the horrors the Ukrainians are going through now for 11 years already.

But nevertheless, it does help me to understand certain things that I think are relevant here today.

The first one is that cold, sudden understanding of how thin and fragile is the line between seemingly normality and total chaos.

Between waking up in the morning and looking forward to the future and fearing for your life and the life of your loved ones.

Between peace and war.

It made me understand how peace is fragile, how it can disappear immediately, suddenly.

And how peace and security is something that has to be nurtured and protected.

This is something that Ukrainians have learned the hard way, but it's also something we all Europeans should be aware of.

And my third point, based on that experience, is that all nightmares come to an end.

And the end of the nightmare of Ukrainians is long overdue.

But I hope, sincerely hope, and I believe that that day will come soon and that you will be able to enjoy peace, a just peace and a safe peace.

And until then, the Council of Europe will continue to support you, including when it comes to the needs of the young people, helping you to support them through that evolving realities and traumatism of war conditions, in all aspects, through youth work and youth policies related to young veterans, IDPs, minority youth, access to housing, education, public health information and other areas.

And when peace comes, hopefully soon, and that gargantuan task of reconstruction begins, we will be there to reinforce our support and help you to put young people at the center of that reconstruction process, both as beneficiaries, but also as one of its driving forces.

I have a long conclusion to explain in detail what we've been doing so far and what we'll be doing in the future, but I will not do so. Let me simply assure you that we have done a lot together and we shall do even more.

I will finish with a short message.

Being here in Lviv today made me understand even more how important it is to continue to support and reinforce our support to Ukraine and young Ukrainians.

But it also made me understand even more how important it is for Europe to have Ukraine, to have young Ukrainians on board with us, because we can benefit from their resilience, from their determination, from their courage to go on, even when it is not easy, from their creativity, sheer will and the commitment for the values of democracy, human rights and their law, which they are not only defending rhetorically, they are defending it against a ruthless aggressor for them and for all of us.

So simply, thank you.

You are not alone.

You will never be alone.