Date: 11th of January 2020
On the 11th of January 2020, the representatives of ILEU e.V. and DANET e.V. have had the opportunity to meet and exchange with the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel in an online meeting.
Present were: Carmen Stadelhofer, President of ILEU e.V. and DANET e.V. and Viktoria Kurnosenko, deputy managing director of ILEU e.V., who presented to the Commissioner the approach of Danube-Networkers on civic participation and the report on latest activities on the “global” level and Assoc. Prof. Emiliya Velikova, vice-president of DANET e.V., who provided a “local” perspective of the activities, that the Pensioners’ Clubs of Ruse/Slivo Pole and the University of Ruse are involved in.
After a brief presentation, the Commissioner has shared a number of recommendations on promoting the activities of Danube-Networkers and suitable European programs for project applications. She underlined the importance of the cooperation with the Committee of Regions and the European Universities Initiative and have named contact persons within the European Commission, that are responsible for the issues of civic participation. The Commissioner has stated, that in the time of the pandemic, one has to consider not only the digital divide but also the social divide. For this reason, she has reacted very positively to the citizen-oriented approach of Danube-Networkers and their latest participative online-activities. The Commissioner has kindly offered to stay in contact and inform her about the further steps and approaches to make the work of the Network “Danube-Networkers” known on a socio-political level and securing its sustainable development.