European Charter - Villages of Europe
European Charter - Villages of Europe , European Charter for short, is an association of rural communities from the European Union . The association has 28 members, a municipality from each of the 28 member states of the EU. It was founded in 1989, the same year as Douzelage , another association of municipalities from EU countries.
History and principles
The idea of uniting rural communities arose in the local administration of the French Cissé , motivated by the increasing European town twinning . In 1989, one municipality each of the then twelve EU member states agreed to work together in solidarity and on an equal footing and to contribute to getting to know each other better. Youth exchanges and cooperation, especially in cultural, economic and social matters, were set as priorities, but activities in all other subject areas are also permitted, with the exception of politics, philosophy and religion.
An annual meeting of representatives from all parishes was agreed, with each parish being given the opportunity to host the meeting. The member communities are also required to inform their residents about the activities of the association and the possibilities of cooperation and exchange between the member communities.
In the course of the various EU expansions , a rural municipality from each additional accession country was added to the European Charter in several phases.
After Croatia's accession to the EU in 2013, the European Charter recently accepted its youngest member (as of 2016), the town of Tisno on the island of Murter .
organization
The mayors' assembly of the member municipalities elects the eight-member Presidium, which in turn elects the Daily Board with a president and two vice-presidents. The presidents and vice-presidents are assisted by assistants from the assembly group who take on the administration of the association as treasurer and in other functions. All offices are free honorary offices .
Most recently, the Presidium consisted of the mayors of the following eight municipalities:
- Cissé: Annette Savin
- Hepstedt / Tarmstedt: Frank Holle
- Holmegaard / Næstved: Jette Johnsen
- Lassee: Karl Grammanitsch
- Medzev: Valeria Flachbartova
- Samuel: Teresa Pedrosa
- Strzyżów: Mariusz Kawa
- Troisvierges: Marc Back
The president of the European Charter is Karl Grammanitsch (Gänserndorf / Austria), his secretary is Clemens Wagner (Lassee / Austria). The vice-presidents are Valeria Flachbartova (Medzev / Slovakia) and Teresa Pedrosa (Samuel / Portugal).
Members
Friends of Europe
In Esch, the Netherlands, the Freundeskreis Europa was founded as Friends of Europe , which began its activity in 1996 under the motto "Esch, meetingpoint in Europe". Since then, ten municipalities have joined the association. Its official name is now "Friends of Europe Associations in the Charter of European Rural Communities". The association supports complementary initiatives by schools, sports clubs and other private exchange projects within the European charter communities.
Members:
- Esch , Netherlands
- Næstved , Denmark
- Hepstedt , Germany
- Bièvre , Belgium
- Samuel , Portugal
- Bienvenida , Spain
- Cissé , France
- Desborough , UK
- Nagyçenk , Hungary
- Cashel , Ireland
See also
Web links
- Official Homepage (English)
- Friends of Europe website (English and French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Organizational overview on the European Charter website ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 22, 2016
- ↑ Maglisch ( Stara Sagora Oblast ) initially joined the association in 2007, but then gave up its membership and proposed Sliwo Pole as the successor community, which is now Bulgaria's representative in the association.