"In search at a Better Europe -I.S.B.E" Europe for Citizens 2004-2020 Democratic engagement and civic participation Town Twinning Project.

Λεπτομέρειες

Κατηγορία: Ευρωπαϊκα προγράμματα

The main purpose of the “In Search of a Better Europe” project is to connect Elassona and Trstenik and give participants the opportunity to get know more about EU procedures and programmes. Special awareness was on rural economy (entrepreneurship, agriculture), rural tourism in terms of youth and their unemployment and on possible cooperation in this area between towns and municipalities included). Serbia is in a process of accession, and everyone’s intention is to hear more about good examples of civic engagement and cooperation both on EU and Serbian level.

The aim was to "bring" Europe closer to citizens, to raise awareness about EU by informing local citizens about EU procedures and programmes. Secondly, the challenge was to initiate cooperation with Trstenik, which is a Serbian city with a lot in common with Elassona. Third aim was initiating of mutual socio-economic cooperation of towns, NGO’s and municipalities included, that was formalized by signing of Agreement between both Mayors.

Activities’ description:

Participation: The project involved more than 200 citizens in total, notably more than 150 participants from the city of Elassona, Greece and 40 participants from the city of Trstenik, Serbia

Location/ Dates: The event took place in Elassona, Greece from 14/09/ 2018 to 18/09/2018

Day by day description:

1. 1.The day of 14/09/2018 was dedicated to the welcoming of the Serbian participants and continued with presentations from both Municipalities, regarding each city’s characteristics and capacity as both parties and investigation on the areas of potential collaboration (culture, tourism, entrepreneurship etc)

1. 2.The day of 15/09/2018 was dedicated to trip to cultural-historic landmarks of Elassona and presentation of the area’s cultural-tourism capacity. Most notable the Holy Monastery of “Olympiotissa” , the Ottoman Customs of Elassona and the Planetarium in order to watch the special 3D documentary about Olympus Mountain and the surrounding area

1. 3.The day of 16/09/2018 was dedicated to B2B meetings with local enterprises, organizations and other stakeholders (representatives from Municipality, Chamber of Commerce, Association of Commerce and AENOL Development Agency SA,). The interest was mainly on tourism activities and local agricultural products (mostly dairy products) as well as the industrial activity at Trstenik and possibilities of import/export

1. 4.The day of 17/09/2018 was dedicated to participation in local festival. During the same period, the Municipality of Elassona hosted the Panhellenic Feta Cheese Festival 2018, during which several activities were organized and in which the Serbian delegates participated. Most notable folklore concerts, tasting contests and scientific workshops

1. 5.The day of 18/09/2018 which was also the last day of the meeting, was dedicated to the signing of the Twinning Protocol of Cooperation signing between the Mayor of Elassona, Mr Evaggelou and the Mayor of Trstenik, Mr Ciric. This Twinning Protocol of Cooperation has sealed the Twinning process and it is considered to be the foundation on which the exchange activities between both Municipalities will be organized