Europe for Citizens

The project « Cooltural partnership to strengthen the sense of belonging to the European community » was funded with the support of the European Union under the Programme "Europe for Citizens"

Applicable to the Strand 2 – Measure 2.1 "Town-Twinning”

Participation: The project involved 42 citizens, notably 12 participants from the city of Sosnowiec (Poland), 15 participants from the city of Suceava (Romania) and 15 from the city of Komárom (Hungary).

Location/ Dates: The event took place in Sosnowiec (Poland), from 08/10/2018 to 12/10/2018

Short description:

The day of 08/10/2018 was dedicated to mutual getting to know of project participants, a good understanding of expectations and the division of responsibility for project activities. Participants took part in the interactive workshops prepared by themseves, during which they were to present their group and its activities in an attractive and interesting way in the context of the project's subject - citizens' involvement in actions preventing euroscepticism and the role of cultural heritage in building the European community.

The day of 09/10/2018 was dedicated to the debate "Eurosceptic or Euroenthusiast?" and a visit to the International Cultural Center in Cracow. In the Oxford debate moderated by a political scientist, Professor Marek Barański, eurosceptics clashed with euroenthusiasts. We have established the definition of euroscepticism, we have discussed what are its causes in each country, where it leads and we have presented our ideas for Europe in the future. People whose attitude after hearing the arguments of the participants in the debate changed from eurosceptic to euroenthusiastic expressed their attitude by means of a coloured card. During the visit in Cracow, we discovered the charm and magic of one of the most beautiful cities in Poland, we had a real lesson of history, knowledge of art and culture, and learning about the activities of the International Cultural Center has brought us to the idea of European cultural heritage as an important factor of the sense of belonging to the European community.

The day of 10/10/2018 was dedicated to organizing the European Picnic "Europe - I like it" - an outdoor event popularizing the European Year of Cultural Heritage, mobilizing residents to participate in social life, civic engagement. Participants of the project with the support of the City Council, Youth City Council of Sosnowiec, NGOs organized a series of events (information points, artistic events, a photo booth, the European fashion show, a dance with flags, etc.). On the same day, we organized an intergenerational plenary discussion on the past and future of Europe with the participation of representatives of many generations. The meeting began with the screening of short films recorded by participants from each country, presenting the views of representatives of different cultures and countries on the European Union and important events from its history.

The day of 11/10/2018 was dedicated to organizing the debate "Europe in 20 years - together or apart?" with the participation of residents and youth, seniors, representatives of local authorities and non-governmental organizations. The theme of the debate was the involvement of Europeans in solving the problems of the European Union, showing how citizens can co-create the future of their cities, and the starting point for the discussion were scenarios prepared by participants: eurosceptics and euroenthusiasts and proposals for actions that residents can take to have a real impact on the future of the community. We spent the afternoon during a visit in the Coal Mining Museum - Guido Mine. The visit was a starting point for a discussion on how the local community can influence the formation of a friendly public space, it was also a pretext for bringing the host country's history and culture closer and for presenting innovative ideas for the use of cultural heritage for tourism, culture and education with the support of European funds.

The day of 12/10/2018 was dedicated to project summary, evaluation meeting, discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of our project, ideas and solutions developed, and suggestions for joint future activities of the residents of twin cities.