EULOCAL October 2018

EULOCAL – Even Us Little Ones Count A Lot

A Douzelage Project in Kőszeg 20 to 22 October 2018

Kőszeg Town Twinning Association has been very active since 2004 in taking part in international projects. Its members, particularly the youngsters participated in many programs, where we were invited as partners, but also, they organized with a big enthusiasm several Youth in Action, Erasmus, and Europe for Citizens events.

The last big project that has just finished is the EULOCAL (Even Us, Little Ones Count A Lot) under Europe for Citizens. Delegates from Bad Kötzting, Chojna, Kőszeg, Marsaskala and Velletri took part in a 3-day-event to share their ideas about the most important questions of the EU (little countries’ role, immigration, borders now and earlier, labor market in the EU, Euroscepticism). At each place participants had the chance to study typical “local” concerns both theoretically and through study visits.

Not surprisingly it turned out that the “local” concern is not local at all, these questions are important at each country. That’s what the last event in Kőszeg also emphasized: saving water is more and more important. Workshop about water footprint, exhibition of drawings, paintings, photos by youngsters all reminded us of water. The cleanness of water, mountain springs environment protection was the main theme of the field trip on Saturday.

Professor Georg Schöpflin MEP in his speech highlighted the importance of the EU, and also talked about the feelings of Hungarians – particularly 3 days before October 23, the day of the great Hungarian Revolution. Friday afternoon we had the chance to listen to Ms. Annigje Kruytbosch, the president of the Douzelage. We gave the title for her presentation: What does EU mean for me? Instead of a lecture we heard a touching true story which convinced us, parents have an important role in the future of the EU.

After this a very active workshop tested the knowledge of the participants on Euroscepticism. This was followed by an activity: we all had to express our feeling about advantages of the EU membership. The field trip on Saturday also gave examples for EU-supported projects and we also saw how difficult it was to approach the border line a few decades ago.

A really exciting concert, dinner with home-made desserts, lunch at a wine museum allowed participants to see Hungarian cultural heritage.
On Sunday the yearly Ursula day market gave an excellent possibility for the visibility of the project: visitors had the chance to taste food and drink brought by our German, Italian, Maltese and Polish and also Hungarian partners, and meanwhile leaflets about the project were distributed among them. The Hungarian team hopes that all participants had a good time here and will return.

Read more about the project on euloca.eu.

Dr Mátrai István
Kőszeg