Application deadline: June 25, 2026
The Altiero Spinelli Institute for Federalist Studies has been organising an international seminar on the island of Ventotene for over 40 years, since 1982. This is the island off the Italian coast where Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi, authors of the Ventotene Manifesto, were confined during the Second World War.
Each year, young federalists gather here with leading experts from the European and World Federalist Movement (UEF/WFM), to explore federalist thinking on European and global issues.
In 2021, the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, honoured us with his participation in the seminar (see the video).
The seminar is a unique and intensive experience in European and Federalist studies, making it the most important federalist seminar in Europe and the world. At least one session of the international seminar is dedicated to global issues and world federalism. There is space for 30 young applicants to the 2026 event, taking place from August 30 to September 04.
The Spinelli Institute will select up to a maximum of five young participants coming from Associated Organizations and Member Organizations of WFM (from outside Europe), and has allocated a total of €4000 to be shared between the selected participants towards travel expenses as detailed below (*).
This has been funded by a grant from World Federalist Movement and Union of European Federalists Italy, and a grant from private donor (Léopold Sédar Senghor Scholarship** for African participants).
All participants will receive free full board and accommodation from dinner on 30th of August to lunch on 4th of September (inclusive).
A deposit of €100 needs to be paid in advance by both European and non-European participants, once selected, in order to confirm their participation. The full amount of €100 will be returned to each participant at the end of the seminar, if they attend all sessions(***). Instructions for paying the deposit will be given in the notice of acceptance.
You can download the brochure here
Please apply here.
Applicants must be 35 or younger in September 2026.
The deadline to apply to the international seminar is June 25, 2026.
In April 2022 the European Commission recognized the cultural role of Ventotene and its Manifesto, which became a common heritage of European and global citizens. In the same month, the European Parliament approved a resolution on European civic education, in which it recognised Ventotene as the historic capital of the moral and intellectual construction of European values. It is thus evident that the 2024 Ventotene international seminar offers a unique opportunity for young federalists to develop their ideas on world federalism.
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(*) Part of the grants (2.000€) will be allocated to participants (max. 2) coming from Africa. It covers all the expenses. The selected participant should know the values and political objectives that Léopold Sédar Senghor pursued during his life with tenacity and humanity.
For the other participants the percentage to be reimbursed will be calculated in this way:
PERCENTAGE = AVAILABLE FUNDS / SUM OF THE TRAVEL COST OF THE SELECTED PARTICIPANTS
For example: if we have 4 participants (P1, P2, P3, P4) with the following travel costs:
P1 = €1.500 | P2 = €500 | P3 = €1.000 | P4 = €0. The sum of the total travel costs is €3.000.
The expenses of P4 could be funded by other organisations.
Percentage = €2000 / €3000 = 66,6%. Each participant will receive 66,6% of the travel cost.
P1 will receive €1.000 | P2 will receive €333 | P3 will receive €666
(**) See the attached document on Léopold Sédar Senghor Scholarship
(***) The deposit might be returned to participants who eventually will not take part in the Seminar, provided they communicate to the Altiero Spinelli Institute their impossibility to participate before 30th July.