Oradea, October 27, 2025 – The Europe Today: The municipality of Oradea has been selected as Capitala Tineretului din România 2027 (“Youth Capital of Romania 2027”), following a national competition managed under the programme **Capitala Tineretului din România”, the country’s major initiative dedicated to youth and participatory urban development.
The announcement was made at a special event in Vaslui, the city that currently holds the title, where Oradea’s delegation was represented by Vice-Mayor Teofil Filimon.
Under the slogan “Oradea O’Clock”, the city’s candidacy emphasises its ambition to become “a city where young people set the pace,” viewing youth involvement as the central mechanism for urban dynamism and innovation.
Key pillars of Oradea’s plan include:
- Extensive consultation with youth, through public surveys, to identify priorities such as youth-friendly mobility, open community spaces, applied learning opportunities, direct links between employers and young talent, mental health support, volunteerism, and unified digital communication.
- A series of flagship programmes under the “Oradea O’Clock” banner, including:
- SkillSprint: short-term career academies for high school and university students.
- Internship Hub Oradea: a digital platform linking institutions with student internships in local firms.
- Hack Oradea: innovation marathons generating tech-based solutions for local challenges.
- GreenFest: a youth-led festival of ecological initiatives.
- MindUp: a mental-health network for young people in campuses and schools.
- Additional actions include youth hubs in neighbourhoods, a youth culture festival, AI/data-science bootcamps, a volunteering network with micro-grants, and community health and movement programmes.
By receiving the title, Oradea will benefit from a €50,000 prize, host the Youth Summit 2027, and gain enhanced support for resource-mobilisation, partnership creation and project development targeted at youth engagement.
Mayor Florin Birta remarked that the city has shown it can serve as a model of sustainable urban development and is now committed to being a city “of its people” — one that listens to young voices and offers them the space to realise their ideas.
As Youth Capital for 2027, Oradea sets the stage for a year-long intensification of youth-centred policies, programmes and partnerships — reinforcing the city’s role as a dynamic actor in Romania’s urban and youth-policy landscape.
