General Meeting of the Prize of Europe Winning Towns - St. Pölten

On May 15th, 2003 the General Meeting of the Prize of Europe Winning Towns was held in St. Pölten, Austria. The Meeting was attended by the Mayors and their representatives from: Berlin-Neuköln, Bursa, Braunfels, Cockermouth, Częstochowa, Darmstadt, Gdynia, Graz, Klagenfurt, Nancy, Passau, Regensburg, St. Pölten and Tübingen.
The Council of Europe was represented by Ms Johanna SCHICKER, Chairperson of the Prize of Europe Sub-committee, Ms Marie-Anne MENGER, Head of the Prize of Europe Section and Mr Alfred SIXTO, Secretary of the Environment Protection, Agriculture and Local Matters Commission of the Council of Europe.
Representatives of the Co-operation Network of Medium European Towns from: Leszno, Heidenheim, Domberg, Zadar, Targoviste, Clichy, Maribor, Ceskie Budejovice, Hodonin, Prostejov, Brno and Wells were also present at the Meeting.

The Meeting was opened by the Mayor of Braunfels, Mr Dieter Schmidt, holding also the function of the Vice-Chairman of the Prize of Europe Winning Towns Association. He informed the delegates present about the decision of the Presidium Meeting, which had taken place in Częstochowa on November 5th, 2002, to appoint the new Mayor of Częstochowa, Mr Tadeusz Wrona, Chairman of the Association.
The delegates having the right to vote unanimously approved the appointment of Mr T. Wrona to the position of the Chairman. The Mayor of Częstochowa thanked for the trust given to him and promised to make all efforts to add to the achievements of the Association.

In her address Ms Johanna Schicker, Chairperson of the Prize of Europe Sub-committee presented some information about this year’s Prize of Europe Winner: Klaipeda. The city has twinning relationships with 16 towns, including two Polish ones: Gdynia and Szczecin. Klaipeda is a member of international organizations, including the Union of Baltic Towns, ECAD and EUROCITIES. The Prize of Europe award ceremony will take place on October 17th – 18th, 2003.

Ms Schicker informed the Meeting about the initiative of the Council of Europe in connection with the Prize of Europe 50th Anniversary - the proposal to issue an illustrated publication presenting and promoting the Prize Winning Towns.

Thereafter representatives of the Prize Winning Towns were given by the Chairman of the Meeting, Mr Tadeusz Wrona, CDs with recipes of regional dishes from Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.

The business part of the Meeting included adoption of the resolution concerning an amendment to Article 7 of the Association Statutes referring to the election of the Association Chairman. The place and dates of the next Meeting were also decided on: the Meeting will be held in Nancy from October 2nd – 4th, 2003. It is expected that the Meeting agenda will contain a discussion about the Association logo.

In view of the approaching 20th Anniversary of the Association (2004) and the Prize of Europe 50th Anniversary (2005), a resolution to the Council of Europe and European Commission should be prepared, asking for support for a specific project of the Winner Towns (project draft and cost estimate should be prepared for the Meeting in Nancy).
It is also planned to send letters to the Member Towns requesting submission of offers to organize the General Assembly in 2004.
The General Meeting of the Association was also accompanied by the celebrations of the 500th Anniversary of St. Pölten City Hall. The City authorities had prepared for this occasion numerous and interesting cultural events both for the inhabitants and the visitors.

On Thursday, May 15th Ms Johanna Mikl-Leitner, representative of Lower Austria Prime Minister, Dr. Erwin Proll met the delegates from several Prize of Europe Winning Towns. On Friday, May 16th the Meeting participants were received in his residence by Dr. Kurt Krenn, Bishop of St. Pölten Diocese.

On Saturday, May 17th an international conference was held on the contribution of towns and communes to the preparation of
young people for their responsibilities in the new Europe.

Among the participants of the conference were: the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Benita Maria Ferrero-Waldner, Prof. Paul Lendvai and Helmut Fennes, representative of the Council of Europe. The conference was also attended by a large group of young people, who at the same time took part in the international youth congress on European integration, taking place in St. Pölten.
Częstochowa was represented by Karolina Siudeja from the Nicolaus Copernicus Secondary School and Piotr Niewiadomski from the Cyprian Kamil Norwid School Complex.