INITIATIVE

European
Young Leaders

SUPPORT THE 2024 EYL40 PROGRAMME!

The European Young Leaders (EYL40) programme is a community of outstanding young leaders, your community, from across all sectors, with the vision and influence to drive positive change. Excelling and breaking new ground in their respective domains, the EYL40s are collectively building a more forward-thinking Europe — a Europe that can successfully address the myriad social, economic and environmental challenges that we face on this continent and globally. As we navigate hybrid crises — in the current geopolitical context of war, with democracy at risk and autocracy on the rise, and while facing a climate emergency — the EYL40 programme is needed more than ever to help steer Europe and the world in the direction of peace and prosperity.

Friends of Europe has just celebrated the 10th anniversary of the EYL40 programme. Now, owing to the present economic context, we need your financial support to maintain the EYL programme. The annual cost of the programme is approximately €450k. Our goal is to raise these funds through a combination of large and small donations, contributed in an individual and/or corporate capacity.

Please consider making a donation to the EYL40 programme today.

Every contribution helps!

DONATE NOW

EYL TESTIMONIALS

 
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Anne-Solène Rolland

Anne-Solène Rolland
Quai Branly Museum Heritage & Collection Director, 2020 EYL

The EYL40 programme gives its members a unique chance to meet amazing, involved, change-making people from all over Europe, and even beyond. All the exchanges we have—both at the meetings and in between meetings, both in-person and virtual—help me keep in mind what is really important. EYL40 gives me a wider picture of European issues and energizes me with great hope that we can find solutions and build a better future together, and a stronger Europe.

Ayman Mhanna

Ayman Mhanna
Executive Director of the Samir Kassir Foundation, 2017 MENA Young Leader

EYL40 gatherings are the events I look forward to most every year. There are countless youth leadership programs and current affairs conferences, but not one offers the combination of in-depth discussions, human exchange, friendship, and true connections that the EYL40 gatherings do. The diversity of backgrounds and experiences blends into a strong community, dedicated to progress and humanist values. Thanks to EYL40, I have learnt more about AI in the health sector, the intricacies of Brussels policy-making, the power of citizen assemblies, or creativity in the education sector, while also building invaluable global connections. My organization, the Samir Kassir Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting press freedom, has now built a strong partnership with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, also led by an EYL40 member. Three fellow EYL40 members have joined the jury of the most prestigious journalism award in the MENA region. (And I will never forget that a fellow EYL40 member from the US helped me to find baby formula for my newborn son when there was a severe shortage in Lebanon.) I deeply trust that if, one day, some of the most difficult challenges to our democracies and civic values are resolved, EYL40 members will be behind this. Capeless superheros.

Bastian Obermayer

Bastian Obermayer
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, 2018 EYL

Thanks to the EYL programme, I’ve gained insights into many aspects of European life I didn’t have before. It’s helped me as a person to grow. It’s a wonderful programme, offering the opportunity to see many other examples of leadership, so many inspiring women and men who show how to lead and do great things. I derived hope from the program, especially now, with the war in Ukraine that shows how important solidarity is and how crucial it is for Europe to have one voice.

Christel Heydemann

Christel Heydemann
CEO of the Orange Group, 2014 EYL

The EYL40 programme recognizes that we need leaders with vision and the ability to attract and engage people with different opinions. Whatever it says in the books, leadership matters: the need to build trust. The EYL network is a very diverse group of young leaders, all convinced of the need for a stronger Europe, recognizing the challenges that Europe is facing, and asking themselves what they can contribute.

My perspective on leadership has long been shaped by my work experiences – from overseeing human resources at Alcatel through to Orange – but EYL40 has offered invaluable exposure to other European leaders, European construction, opening an understanding beyond what we can access in the media, which is often biased. In my corporate roles, I thrive on regular interactions with EU officials, and the EYL40 programme is a good base for this.

The multi-disciplinary nature of the EYL40 network has strongly shaped my understanding of issues. It brings together businesspeople, politicians, scientist, artists, entrepreneurs, and large companies. It’s very useful, because the programme brings us back to individuals, and understanding each other’s stories and perspectives helps us to understand the environment we’re in.

I’ve always been a convinced European citizen, even if in my daily work life I’m not constantly focused on that. But EYL40 has helped create and strengthen that important background for me as a leader.

Eneko Atxa

Eneko Atxa
Chef at three-Michelin-starred restaurant Azurmendi, 2017 EYL

The EYL40 network is a forum to listen, to share and to know that our society has enormous potential based on the ideas of talented young people who really do dream of being able to transform Europe into a territory that is at the forefront of solidarity and social commitment, of sustainability, of health. In short, to work towards the creation a better future. On a personal level, joining the EYL40 network has enabled me to meet different people, from other disciplines, with very often absolutely different visions that allow me to look at the world in a different way.

The EYL40 programme has helped me reflect on my approach to leadership and shaped my outlook in sometimes unexpected ways. It has given me an understanding that knowledge-sharing is the most important tool we have to transform our world, giving us the capacity to make our work available to society in areas of maximum global concern. More generally, EYL40 also gives me a better understanding of the European Union and its relationship with Europe in the wider sense and the world. To summarize the EYL40 programme, I’d choose the words ‘plurality’, ‘solidarity’, and ‘avant-garde’. A better world is definitely being built.

Ivan Štefunko

Ivan Štefunko
Founding Chairman of Progresívne Slovensko, 2015 EYL

Running a newspaper from the age of 22, I was used to managing people, but the EYL40 network greatly expanded and deepened my idea of what leadership is and should be. Through EYL40, I have met many people who have become role models to me: I admire and learn from their strength, courage and intellectual capacity. What we have is not just a working relationship but a sort of family, united behind a shared vision. Leadership is about reminding each other daily of that vision. And, of course, aside from the great professional benefits of the EYL40 network, I have made some true friendships.

My optimistic ‘European’ outlook dates back to even before the fall of the Berlin Wall, when I had the unusual opportunity to travel across the continent with my engineer father. But my stint as a European Young Leader was a real milestone, personally and professionally: it enriched me intellectually and helped me to understand many other international positions, far beyond Slovakia. The programme is interdisciplinary, so you learn a lot very fast. People need to go outside their bubbles, and EYL40 makes that happen.

My favourite phrase to describe EYL40 is “political altruism”

I’m eternally grateful to Friends of Europe and its supporters for this initiative. As an entrepreneur, I know there are products that bring a profit and others that don’t. This one only has a long-term return.

Denis "Jaromil" Roio

Denis “Jaromil” Roio
Founder of Dyne.org Foundation, 2013 EYL

EYL40 is a unique initiative: it has brought home to me that Europe is made up of people: so many faces and voices and hands, everyone busy working to improve Europe, day by day. For 10 years now, EYL40 has built a solid network of young leaders that gathers talent together and helps to turn criticism, enthusiasm and passion into a productive force. Unity in diversity is a core value for this initiative and people at Friends of Europe are the best possible facilitators to help us realize a dream of democracy without borders. My fellow EYL40 members make me hopeful about Europe and its future, even beyond that of member states.

Kaja Kallas

Kaja Kallas
Prime Minister of Estonia, 2017 EYL

A vital principle for any leader is to treat every person with respect. It’s important to meet others, approach them with an open mind and really listen, so you can gain perspective. The European Young Leaders programme is invaluable precisely because of the opportunities it gives you to meet and learn directly from other participants. Reading books and articles can open your mind, but (as Henry Kissinger recognized) in-person learning, for example through personal conversations, is a route to real wisdom. As leaders, we need to find ways to remain open to new ideas and perspectives, and the EYL network is ideal for this.

Most powerfully: the EYL network stays with you. This sustained support is the kind of tool that we Estonians have traditionally lacked. Many European countries already have networks that help them navigate institutions and structures, but because Estonia and our neighbours were behind the Iron Curtain, we didn’t have those.

The EYL40 programme is also eye-opening because we all come from different backgrounds and sectors. This range of experience and approaches helps make the picture bigger. In the real world, everything is connected, and bringing perspectives and areas of knowledge together is critical.  EYL40 has given me a lot of new and interesting ideas – and very many book recommendations! If I had to summarize it in one word? “Enlightening”.

Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke

Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke
Founder & CEO of Women’s Worldwide Web (W4), 2012 EYL

The EYL programme fosters dialogue, debate and the co-creation of solutions to challenges that we all face, locally, in Europe, and globally. The cross-sectoral, multi-disciplinary approach – bringing together experts and professionals with non-experts, politicians with citizens – has enabled me to better understand how my own work to protect girls’ and women’s human rights, to promote digital equity and gender equality, fits into the bigger, European and global picture and is inextricably linked to a whole host of other crucial issues. In the current, challenging geopolitical situation, and while the war in Ukraine is playing out globally as a conflict between democracy and autocracy, I’m deeply grateful for the EYL programme: it offers a precious community of friends and colleagues and the opportunity to collectively work toward peace.

Matthew Caruana Galizia

Matthew Caruana Galizia
Investigative Journalist & Lead Engineer for the Paradise Papers Investigation, 2020 EYL

Being in the EYL programme has given my organisation’s fight for accountability and integrity a framework for bringing our mission, which is both highly personal and globally necessary, to the European level. The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation’s business puts us head-to-head against those involved in serious crime, who use their influence to attempt to sideline us. There’s no better way to respond to that than being a part of this network which offers a place to learn and be supported in our mission.

Meghan Milloy

Meghan Milloy
Co-Founder & Executive Director of Republican Women for Progress, 2017 North American Young Leader

As an American who has lived in Europe, who works with European companies in my day job and works on progressive women’s politics in the US in my “night job,” being in the EYL program has allowed me to make lasting connections with the highest caliber of young Europeans from across a range of backgrounds and industries. EYL40 makes me a better transatlanticist, gives me a deeper understanding of other countries’ politics so I can take best practices back to my own country, and provides a platform from which I can learn from so many brilliant, passionate minds. Our meetings have helped to put into perspective what is really important and what is actually realistic as we seek to achieve change. Perhaps above all else, the EYL40 program has given me lifelong friends from all around the world.

Viktoria Modesta

Viktoria Modesta
Bionic pop artist & futurist, 2019 EYL

EYL40 has given me a great, general feeling of community. But it also brought me the life-changing opportunity to re-establish ties with Latvia, my country of birth. My meeting with Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, a fellow EYL, who was parliamentary secretary at Latvia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led me to visit Latvia for the first time in decades—and I came away full of plans for initiatives. It was a huge shift, pulling together my past, present and outlook, and made me think about what conversations I could have. It gave me ideas for the future. Thanks to EYL40, I have this new connection with political and government bodies; if I want to influence things now, I have a better idea how to do that.

Sometimes, when travelling in and thinking about Europe, you can feel intimidated by the wealth of history and culture. This backdrop of so much stuff: it can stifle free thinking. But when I arrived in Europe through EYL, I was really pleased. We were in a room having deep conversations, with both experts and non-experts contributing, and I thought: ‘I’ve found my place.’ It gave me motivation, discovering and communicating with people who are thinking about these subjects.

The EYL40 programme is very well-organised, like a well-curated dinner party – although less formal. Trying to sum it up in a word, I’m torn between “tapestry” and “kaleidoscope” to most vividly convey the diversity and colour of the EYL experience.

Rokhaya Diallo

Rokhaya Diallo
Journalist, Writer & Filmmaker, 2013 EYL

The EYL40 programme has not only helped me to reflect on my own approach to leadership but has also helped me to shape my views on political leadership in general.

The EYL network offers, above all, a space to meet, in person and virtually, and to be open to different people and problems and subjects. For me, as a journalist, this is invaluable. And, of course, the cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary nature of the EYL40 network has been a huge benefit. More than once, I’ve gleaned important information from other EYL40 network members, sometimes quoting them in an article or report of mine. Naturally, as a journalist I am already in contact with a wide range of people but creating and maintaining links through EYL has helped me to better understand an array of issues and perspectives.

I hope the network will continue to grow to include future Young Leaders in regions historically closely connected to Europe, but physically remote from Europe’s current decision-making centres. I’ve seen so many people’s careers benefit greatly from being in this network: if I had to describe the EYL40 network in one word, I would choose “dynamic”, to reflect the multifarious and at times unpredictable benefits of being a part of the EYL40 family.

Valentina Diouf

Valentina Diouf
Professional athlete, 2022 EYL

The quality of human relationships is at the centre of what I want for the future of Europe. The goal is to feel like a European citizen, while having strong mutual respect across our ethnic and other differences. The EYL40 programme has helped me to build a role for myself in shaping this future, as a public speaker highlighting the need for diversity in companies and institutions. The network has encouraged me and made me super-motivated. At the first EYL seminar, I wondered, why did they choose me? I’m just a volleyball player. But, after that, everything changed: EYL helped me to find my way when I was leaving my first career, as an athlete; inspired by the network, I’ve signed high-profile professional contracts and I also go into schools to give pep talks, which makes me super proud.

The EYLs I’ve met are already friends; I like talking with people who have had so many different experiences and I’m learning a lot from them. Meeting with them has made me more aware of how complicated political, social, and economic issues can be. At the same time, they’ve inspired me to share my own experience in terms of leadership, team building, diversity, and inclusion.

EYL40 is a kind of superpower: you can count on all these people to help you—and if you have good connections, you can do everything.

Katarzyna Nawrot

Katarzyna Nawrot
Member of Polish Academy of Sciences Committee for Future Studies Poland 2000 Plus, 2017 EYL

Unity in diversity of nations, cultures, professions and passions shared by European Young Leaders while bond by shared values of equality, respect for ‘the Other’ and concern for the shared future not only of Europe and Europeans but of the World at large is the immense value of the European Young Leaders Programme and creates unique platform for changemakers, long terms strategic thinkers and dreamers who indeed make dreams a reality while constantly inspiring, motivating and supporting each other in professional and private life.

Lukasz Dziekonski

Lukasz Dziekonski
CEO and Managing Partner of Montis Capital Fund, 2015 EYL

The EYL40 programme has been for all the years since I joined an eye-opening opportunity on Europe and the world . Every seminar that I attend offers an intellectually stimulating dialogue on our state of affairs. All discussed among a group of good and reliable friends.

Mary Fitzgerald

Mary Fitzgerald
Non-Resident Scholar, Middle East Institute, Trustee of Friends of Europe, 2013 EYL
The EYL40 programme’s greatest asset is its diversity. There are few better ways to breathe new life into the conversation about Europe, its future, and its shared challenges than to bring together such a wide range of experience, expertise and perspectives. This is what makes the EYL40 programme unique. I joined EYL40 in 2013 and continue to actively engage with the network. I have initiated collaborations through EYL40 – such as the Capital of Europe, Women of Europe project – and developed professional contacts as well as lasting friendships. To me, the EYL40 programme is an inspiring example of unity in diversity.

Jamila Aanzi

Jamila Aanzi
Member of the Appeal Advisory Committee on Childcare Allowance, 2014 EYL
Over the past ten years, I have met the most diverse and brilliant group of people through the EYL40 program! The in-person meetings with both the current class and members of the alumni network are enriching, fuel working on projects together, and have taught me a lot about fields of work I am less familiar with.

SUPPORT THE EYL40 PROGRAMME IN 2024!

From €5 to €5,000

Every contribution (minimum €5), no matter how modest or large, will be of huge support! Thank you on donors’ list & all main EYL40 annual events’ communications

€5,000 - €25,000

Personalized thank you on EYL40 page of Friends of Europe website, thank you message on donors’ list & all main EYL40 annual events’ communications

€25,000 - €50,000

Thank you on EYL40 “Wall of Fame”, personalised thank you message on EYL40 page of Friends of Europe website, thank you message on donors’ list & all main EYL40 annual events’ communications, plus mention as an EYL40 programme supporter in State of Europe high-level roundtable communications

€100,000 & above

Thank you on EYL40 “Wall of Fame”, personalised thank you message on EYL40 page on Friends of Europe website, thank you on donors’ list & all main EYL40 annual events’ communications, plus mention as an EYL40 programme supporter in State of Europe high-level roundtable communications

DONATE TODAY & YOUR DONATION WILL BE MATCHED!

We are delighted to have received donation pledges* already, including a “matching funds donation” to the amount of €25k. Donate today and your donation will be matched:

  • If you contribute €500, your donation will be matched, so the EYL40 programme will receive €1,000
  • If you contribute €5,000, your donation will be matched, so the EYL40 programme will receive €10,000
  • If you contribute €25,000, your donation will be matched, so the EYL40 programme will receive €50,000

*We are seeking the support of EYLs who can make larger donations, in an individual/institutional/corporate capacity: if 18 EYLs were able to pledge €25k each, we could meet our yearly fundraising goal and ensure the sustainability of the programme!

PLEASE MAKE DONATIONS PAYABLE TO:

Friends of Europe asbl

Transparency register number: 99436366768-45

Square de Meeus 5-6

1000 Brussels BNP PARIBAS FORTIS

BE 27 0013 9093 8873 – BIC GEBABEBB

Communication reference EYL40 2024

If you have any questions, please contact: nathalie.furrer@friendsofeurope.org and natasha.ibbotson@friendsofeurope.org

A WARM THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS!

 
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Ana Antunes

Thank you
Ana Antunes

Mary Fitzgerald

Thank you
Mary Fitzgerald

Jaromil Roio

Thank you
Jaromil Roio

Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke

Thank you
Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke

Justas Janauskas

Thank you
Justas Janauskas

Francesca Cavallo

Thank you
Francesca Cavallo

Samir Abdelkrim

Thank you
Samir Abdelkrim

Dimitris Tsingos

Thank you
Dimitris Tsingos