If we look at research on the state of young people in North Macedonia we will see a dark image. The reality is that our youngsters are not emancipated as others across Europe and the political situation in the country only makes the reality worse for young people. Youth participation is at a low level and the democratic processes happen without the active involvement of a large portion of young people. Seeking a better life they resort to European Union member states. What happens is a huge loss of quality young people on whom a country’s future rests. From this premise, we were guided in creating the proposal for "Citizens of Europe, Citizens of the EU." According to The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, young people’s active participation in civic life can serve to secure social cohesion and guarantee democratic principles in a society where human rights are respected (European Charter on the participation of young people in municipal and regional life, 1992). In the Congress’ “Youth and democracy: the changing face of youth political engagement” report; however, it is noted that young people engage politically differently and there is a wide gap between political institutions and young people’s understanding of participation. Young people face joblessness, job insecurity, and difficulty transitioning to employment and grown-up life. They are more and more disappointed and feel side-lined by the political process. Institutions do not fully understand what the new forms of youth participation are, and they also misconstrue the issues that mobilise young people. Young people need a nurturing environment for their participation to have meaning. They require rights, means, space, opportunities and support. Youngsters’ active participation in democratic structures and representative institutions is fundamental to guaranteeing the legality, credibility and operation of self-governing systems. Political participation of youth is conditioned by sociodemographic factors but the frameworks shape the stages of political participation among youngsters. In the EU, it is subject to democratic maturity. The engagement of young people in diverse types of political participation across individual democracies variates significantly. Youngsters from reputable EU democracies are more likely to be politically active. COVID-19 revealed humanity's upsides and downsides as well. It demonstrated that while we may preach one thing, we do the complete opposite. It blatantly showed that exclusion and xenophobia are a mere part of the issues affecting our coexistence at the European, and global levels. The most glaring examples are the stereotyping and name-calling of the entire Asian community while placing the blame on them alone for the virus. Other exclusion issues arise from certain double standards practised by the Union, such as: - Bulgaria's veto on North Macedonia's accession negotiations; - the cases with Hungary and Poland's defiance to comply with EU laws about migrants and the recovery budget, as well as bringing in laws that deny or limit people's freedoms (especially of the LGBTQI community, and women), just to name a few. The new state in which the world was tossed, affected youngsters. From the 25% rate of social exclusion of young people in 2019 (according to Eurostat), the percentage was expected to rise in 2021. The highest levels of young people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2019 were in Greece (38.1 %) from the EU member countries and North Macedonia (43.0 %) from the non-EU countries in Europe. Our project aimed to fight xenophobia and exclusion on the territory of Europe, and beyond; foster dialogue and understanding among the different groups of people who live here; increase tolerance and intercultural dialogue; to promote EU citizenship and identity resulting in active participation. The main objective was to initiate an intercultural dialogue that would promote European awareness among the participants and give them a sense of European identity.