GEN Europe General Assembly 2025 in Manas Garden, Hungary
“I shared my dreams, I shared home, I shared my clothes with I don’t know how many folks.”
That’s what drifted across the lake as we walked toward the wooden stage — Riccardo Clemente’s new song for this year’s Gathering. Catchy as it was, a few days later the whole camp was humming along, belting out our own version to the tune of Bella Ciao.
This year’s General Assembly was hosted as part of the Gathering by our hosts, Megy, in the beautiful Manas Garden. From the 9th to the 11th of August, 95 participants came together, representing 47 communities across Europe and 3 GEN international regions. The space was held with great care by our council members Teodora Demetra Rădulescu, Abdul Otman, and Jake-Jay Lewin—thank you for guiding us through this event with your wisdom, sensitivity to group dynamics, and humour.
While there was plenty of laughter and dancing, we also rolled up our sleeves for the important work. The General Assembly brought some big conversations and even bigger decisions. Together we approved a new structure for NextGEN Europe within GEN Europe, reworked our pricing model, and updated the rules for Council elections. We were thrilled to welcome GEN Slovenia and HubFeenix as new full members — we are so happy to welcome you!
With gratitude, we waved goodbye to Teodora and Jake for their years of service to the network as council members! And we are cheering on our new Council members, Anne Bretschneider, Ronja Tammenpää, and Neus Valls Izard!
The GEN Europe staff had us grinning with a playful report presenting the GEN Europe office as a living “Ecosystem.” Instead of bullet points, they brought their roles to life: Manja the octopus coordinating with six busy tentacles, the memBEARs (Ziska and Lena) keeping members safe, the comms bee Maja buzzing with stories, Angel’s IT mycelium holding us together, and the projects team Fanny, Dario & Valeria as spiders weaving a web of EU collaborations. Add in Annika, the finance fairy, and the Gathering crew Aurelie, Natasa & Bernada as a herd of unicorns, and suddenly the whole network felt alive in front of us.
Want to read the full sketch?
Of course, the heart of the General Assembly also lay in the conversations. Through sociometry, we faced big questions: is living in community already a political act, or do we need to raise our voices more strongly against global injustices? Different perspectives surfaced, but listening and moving together through the complexity was powerful.
In a “fishbowl” circle, we looked at how others see the ecovillage movement. Questions surfaced: How do we open our doors wider? How do we strengthen our environmental impact? And how can we share our tools, like conflict transformation, with other movements in need?
It wasn’t always easy, but it was real — and we came out of it feeling more connected, inspired, and clear about where we’re heading together. The General Assembly left us with music in our ears, friends in our hearts, and a renewed sense of purpose.
Thank you for your engagement & support!
For GEN Europe staff,
Franziska Reißig
Photos by Giuseppe Lorrai
