Ohrid and Bitola Win "Youth-Friendly City" Awards - for Complying With the Youth Law

Ohrid and Bitola are among the winners of the new national "Youth-Friendly City" award for 2026 - Ohrid for the Southwest planning region, Bitola for Pelagonia. The awards were presented at the Youth Centre in Ohrid, at the Fourth National Forum on Youth Work, organised by the coalition of youth organisations SEGA.

The criterion is more interesting than the ceremony itself. The winners were chosen through a national survey of local governments that measured progress in meeting the obligations of the Law on Youth Participation and Youth Policies. The forum's motto says it openly: "From legal obligation to local reality". In other words, the award goes to the municipalities doing what the law already requires of them.

In Bitola, the award was received by Deputy Mayor Marina Krstić and presented by a representative of the Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth. Ohrid Mayor Kiril Pecakov, the forum's host, said the city sees its future in the younger generations, and a representative of Ohrid Municipality took part in a panel on institutional and financial support for youth centres.

It's good that someone is counting the municipalities that follow the rules for young people. It would be even better to know which ones don't. If complying with the law is a reason for an award, how many municipalities have it only on paper - and do young people there even know they are entitled to something more?