On Wednesday July 9th 2025, Bellidée organized the Banquet Citoyen in Saint-Martin-Boulogne (France) —an open-air civic celebration that has become a yearly summer tradition for the region’s social centers. This year, the event brought together up to 650 attendees! This included residents, users of the social centers, staff members, elected officials, and partner organizations. A special addition to the banquet this year was the collaboration with a Swedish youth organization (IYTT) –the goal being to engage more young people in democratic dialogues. This article reviews how such a festive event can create citizen engagement, particularly within the youth.
The Banquet Citoyen 2025
This year’s Banquet Citoyen was once again a vibrant mix of food, music, games, dialogue and citizen engagement. New to the event and in line with the spirit of the Interreg North Sea project Speak Up, Bellidée hosted a thematic stand dedicated to Europe and Democracy. This offered a space for public reflection on democratic issues, particularly among youth. The goal was not only to showcase Bellidée’s local and European initiatives, but also to empower citizens and young people to engage in public debate –enabling them to gain more democratic agency.
This was done through this year’s new addition of including two members from the Swedish organization International Youth Think Tank (IYTT). In collaboration with other local youth, the two young Italians’ experience at the banquet was part of a three-day democracy-focused Summer Camp, co-organized with Bellidée, and designed to explore how young people can become active contributors to democratic life.
Youth Summer Camp
The Summer Camp began on Monday July 7th with a street consultation in the square in front of Nausicaá, the national sea life center. The young participants engaged with local passersby through informal interviews, asking open-ended questions such as: “Do you feel you have a say in the decisions that affect your life?”, and “What would make democracy work better for you?” Their aim was to understand how ordinary citizens perceive their influence — or lack thereof — on political processes, both locally and nationally.
On the second day, the group gathered to analyze the responses, identify recurring themes, and brainstorm possible solutions or improvements. Together, they formulated a set of citizen-based proposals, reflecting the voices of the people they had encountered.
The third and final day of the Summer Camp coincided with the Banquet Citoyen itself. At the Europe & Democracy stand, the young European participants presented their work and introduced the mission of IYTT to curious attendees. Their presence sparked conversations among residents and added a European dimension to the reflections already taking place at the event. Later that afternoon, they were invited to speak live on a local radio station, where they shared their experience, talked about youth participation in democracy, and reflected on what they had learned from interacting with the people of Saint-Martin-Boulogne and Boulogne-sur-Mer.
Through this kind of local action, Speak Up continues to demonstrate how cross-border collaboration, youth engagement, and participatory spaces can strengthen democratic life in the North Sea Region and beyond. If you wish to listen to the youth participant’s radio show appearance, click here (French only).
