The Youth Section of the Euro-Atlantic Council of Slovenia (YATA Slovenia) brings together young professionals and students interested in security, stability, and cooperation in the Euro-Atlantic area and the Western Balkans. Its members seek to better understand contemporary security challenges and to actively engage in discussions and processes shaping Euro-Atlantic security policies.
The Youth Section operates within the framework of the Euro-Atlantic Council of Slovenia, a voluntary, non-profit, and independent expert organisation founded in 1993. The Council is committed to strengthening peace, security, and democratic stability across the Euro-Atlantic space, with particular focus on the Western Balkans.
The mission of the Youth Section is to promote peace, security, democratic resilience, and strategic understanding of security challenges, while contributing to stability in Slovenia and the wider Euro-Atlantic region. These objectives are pursued through education, research, public outreach, expert analysis, publishing activities, the organisation of professional and public events, and international cooperation. The Section addresses a broad range of topics, including national, regional, and international security issues, security and defence policy, international relations, and the functioning of Euro-Atlantic institutions.
The Youth Section’s flagship annual project is Balkan SAYS – Security Architecture Youth Seminar, a multi-day international conference that brings together young professionals and senior experts from all over the world. The seminar serves as a platform for in-depth discussion of security challenges in the Western Balkans and the broader Euro-Atlantic area, with the aim of strengthening trust, reconciliation, security, stability, and regional cooperation.
The Youth Section is a member of the global network of Atlantic Councils within the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association (YATA). Through this network, members participate in international conferences, seminars, workshops, and study visits, where they engage with experts, researchers, and decision-makers from partner countries and gain exposure to diverse security perspectives.
In addition to events and international engagement, the Youth Section manages the Euro-Atlantic Focus platform and operates the Situation Room, an ad-hoc analytical platform dedicated to monitoring current security developments in selected regions of the world. Within these frameworks, members produce research-based analytical content on international conflicts, security trends, and strategic issues, and may also contribute expert articles to the Euro-Atlantic Bulletin and other publications of the Euro-Atlantic Council of Slovenia.
The Youth Section maintains its own organisational and leadership structure, led by a President and an Executive Board. It includes a Content and Analysis Team, a PR Team, and a Situation Room Team. As such, the Youth Section represents a key pillar of the Council’s youth engagement, international cooperation, and substantive project development, offering members valuable hands-on experience in policy analysis, event organisation, public speaking, leadership, strategic communication, and security and defence policy.
The current President of the Youth Section is Matic Kosirnik (2025–present).
