Dejan Zagorac, Center for Study in Cultural Development
The Participation Day in Sofia was preceded by National Participation Days in participating states of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region.
Majority of the Participation Day participants have attended the two-day seminar on Expanding Civic Space in the Danube Region held on the 15th and 16th October in Sofia that was organized by the Citizen Participation Forum from Sofia and the Foster Europe Foundation, and which discussed the models of participation of civic societies in the decision making process, so this event was also a kind of preparation for the EUSDR Participation Day.
In the modern venue of the House of Europe, the Participation Day began with the addressing of Claudia Singer, the Chairwoman of the Priority Area 10 Institutional Capacity & Cooperation of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. The moderator of the meeting was Iva Taralezhkova from the Citizens Participation Forum in Sofia, and Denitsa Nikolova, National coordinator in the Ministry for the Regional Development and Public Works of the Republic of Bulgaria, and Yordanka Fandakova, the Mayor of Sofia, also addressed the audience during the introduction.
Toni Nikolov from the Culture Portal spoke about the Danube Region, and, in particular, about the life and work of the Nobel Prize winner Elias Canetti, who was born in the Bulgarian Danube town of Ruse, and spent most of his life in Vienna. Mr. Nikolov gave us interesting illustrations of the common features of the cultural identity of the Danube countries by quoting Canetti’s work.
Slavica Jovanović Kubat from the “Let’s Defend the Rivers of the Old Mountain” Association from Belgrade, Milan Andrejkovič from the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government for the Development of the Civil Society from Slovakia, Raluca Dan from the WWF, Romania, Dealu Frumos from the International Summer School in Dealu, Romania, and Miglena Gerasimova from Municipality of Sofia, all spoke about examples of good practice of civil activism in the Danube Region.
The afternoon session started with short face-to-face meetings. It was an opportunity for the participants to get to know each other, exchange contact information, and get additional information about the projects they’re interested in.
Csaba Hende from the European Commission Directorate for Regional and Urban Policy, and Claudia Singer, the Chairwoman of the Priority Area 10, spoke about the future development of the Danube Region, and Stefan August Luetgenau, the President of the Danube Civil Society Forum, closed the meeting. Mr. Lutgenau symbolically passed the bell to the representatives of Romania, signifying that Romania and its capital, Bucharest, will host the next Participation Day.
In the evening, a reception was held at the Sofia Museum of History, where Yordanka Frandakova, the Mayor of Sofia, and Theresa Schopper, the State Secretary at the Ministry of State of Baden Wurttemberg, Germany, had greeting speeches. During the course of the evening, with excellent Bulgarian wine and food, in the ambience of this historical venue, the old contacts were strengthened, and the new ones were established made.
Most of the Participation Day participants also attended the 7th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, which was held during the next two days at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia.
Program: https://dcsf.danubestrategy.eu/pd5/programme
Photos: Dejan Zagorac, Center for Study in Cultural Development