On July 12th - 13th, 2002 the General Meeting of the Prize of Europe Winning Towns was held in Bursa.
Representatives of 43 towns which have won the Prize of Europe so far and of Bursa twin towns took part in the Meeting. Since 1955 fifty-nine towns have been awarded the Prize of Europe. The Council of Europe was represented by: Chairman of the Environment Protection and Agriculture Committee, Member of the Spanish Parliament – Mr Martinez CASAN, Chairperson of the Prize of Europe Sub-committee, Member of the Austrian Parliament – Ms Johanna SCHICKER, Vice-Chairman of the Prize of Europe Sub-committee, Member of the Turkish Parliament - Mr Cevdet AKCALI. During their stay in Bursa the participants of the Meeting were received by the Mayor of this town, Mr Erdogan BILENSER and the Governor of Bursa, Mr Ali Fuat GŰVEN; they also took part in the ceremony of the opening of a new bridge attended by the Turkish Minister of Agriculture.
The conference, accompanying the Meeting and devoted to tourism and safety in Europe's historical towns was attended by the Vice-Minister of Transport and the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Tourism in Ankara. During the reporting and election part of the meeting Mr Wiesław Maras, Mayor of Częstochowa as the Chairman of the Association presented to the delegates the report of the two-year activity of the Association under his leadership. Among new initiatives there are conferences accompanying the General Meetings and devoted to current problems interesting for all the towns (in Royal Leamington Spa – health protection, in Regensburg – cultural heritage preservation, in Bursa – tourism and safety in historic towns). Other actions worth noting are: the launch of the Association website www.czestochowa.um.gov.pl/europeprize, publication of a brochure and launch of the website devoted to the Prize of Europe www.coe.im, release of a film on CD, presenting some of the Prize of Europe Winning Towns: Cockermouth, Częstochowa , Darmstadt, Klagenfurt, Regensburg, Speyer and St. Pölten.
The delegates present at the General Meeting in Bursa accepted the Chairman’s report with satisfaction, the initiatives launched by the Chairman and the City of Częstochowa were favourably assessed, which was evidenced by the unanimous election of Mr Wiesław Maras, Mayor of Częstochowa to be the Chairman of the Association for the further two years.