Remarks by Ambassador Lambrinidis at the UN@80: Bridging Generations – Youth and Legacy in Multilateralism event

Remarks by Ambassador Lambrinidis at the UN@80: Bridging Generations - Youth and Legacy in Multilateralism event

9 October 2025, New York - Remarks by H.E. Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, Head of the European Union Delegation to the United Nations, at the UN@80: Bridging Generations - Youth and Legacy in Multilateralism Event

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Excellencies, dear colleagues, and above all, dear young delegates,

It is a great pleasure to be here with you today to mark eighty years of the United Nations - eighty years since the world came together out of the ashes of war to build an institution founded on peace, human rights and cooperation.

Those values remain our compass. But the world around us has changed profoundly. We face new and complex challenges: conflicts that seem endless, a planet in distress, deepening inequalities and technologies moving faster than our ethics can follow.

It would be easy to feel discouraged. But I don't. Because everywhere I look, I see renewal. I see young people - you - stepping forward. You are not waiting for permission; you are driving change. In communities torn by conflict, you are building peace. In classrooms and labs, you are innovating. On the streets and online, you are demanding justice, equality and climate action.

This is the largest generation of youth in human history. That can be daunting, or it can be the greatest opportunity we have ever had. At the European Union, we choose opportunity. We believe youth must be partners, not spectators.

Through our Youth Action Plan in External Action, our Youth Sounding Boards, and our UN Youth Delegates program, we ensure that young people are not just heard - they are in the room when decisions are made.

And we also believe in strengthening the United Nations' own capacity to listen and to deliver for youth. That is why the European Union is a proud supporter and donor of the UN Youth Office, which is helping the UN system become more inclusive, more coordinated and more accountable to young people everywhere.

Let me connect this to something I said on Europe Day earlier this year. Europe, too, was born from devastation. It is, at its heart, a peace project - a continent once divided by war that chose cooperation over confrontation. That choice was not easy. It required memory, courage and the conviction that unity is stronger than fear.

That spirit - the spirit of Europe - is also the spirit of the United Nations. Remembering the past is not about nostalgia; it is about responsibility. It is a reminder that peace and human rights must never be taken for granted, and that every generation must defend them anew.

This year, we also mark the tenth anniversary of the Youth, Peace and Security agenda. That resolution made something crystal clear: peace is stronger and more lasting when young people help to build it. That is not a slogan, it is a strategy for sustainable peace.

So yes, our world is complex. But it is also bursting with energy, talent and courage. The real question is: can we bridge generations - experience and innovation - to move multilateralism forward?

Bridging generations means listening, truly listening. It means recognising that the wisdom of the past and the creativity of youth are not opposites, but allies. It means creating spaces where young voices are not filtered or sidelined, but heard directly.

As we celebrate eighty years of the United Nations, let us honour its legacy not only by remembering what was built, but by committing to what must come next. Let us ensure that you - the next generation - can lead, decide and create the future you will inherit.

Before I close, let me express my warm thanks to our outstanding panellists - Under-Secretary-General Melissa Fleming, Assistant Secretary-General Felipe Paullier, Ishaan Shah and Isaac Bayoh - for the leadership and inspiration they bring to this vital discussion. And my special thanks to our EU Youth Delegates, Veronika Novotna and Lars Westra, for bringing us together and for showing, through their work, what genuine partnership between generations looks like.

Thank you all - for your passion, your energy and for reminding us that the future of multilateralism is not far away. It is already here, in this room, with you.

Thank you.