What is Cohesion policy? How does it influence my life in deep countryside Bulgaria or Denmark? Is there a way to reduce disparities among regions? Are there lessons learned or stories to share?
These are some of the questions the „Everyday Cohesion – Communicating Cohesion policy to citizens” initiative of European House Budapest tries to answer.
The core idea is that local practicing journalists, media persons and communicators from net contributing Member States visit net beneficiary Members States followed by a return visit by their colleagues. They all come from non-capital cities. The countries involved are: Denmark, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands on one hand and Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia on the other.
They learn how everyday cohesion functions in practice and influences daily life of citizens: visit the local market to see biodiversity in practice, talk to enterpreneurs on their experience in getting an EU support for a small-scale local project, discuss with students on brain drain and how they see the future of the EU, meet migrants and discover their experience of integration into a local community. Other questions on the table were among others if the old East/West divide disappeared or is it still with u sor how to rebuild life in a post-conflict situation.
Cohesion Field Visit 2 took place between 8-15 October 2024 and covered Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Odense and Vejle (South Denmark) and Haarlem (North Holland).
What have we learned? Here are some of our takes from the Field Visit:
- Much to our surprise we learned that in Schwerin there are no Europe Day celebrations on 9 May or interest in European issues and that in spite of the visible economic progress the change of mentality form the old GDR-times still a challenge;
- Vejle and Odense made us aware that it is possible to trust the State and its institutions. No wonder that corruption is practically unknown to them. The wellfare state is not a driving force for European collaboration but Vejle has shown us that there is such a thing as „true Viking hospitality”.
- In Haarlem we were astonished to discover that they do not see „Brussels” as their number one „enemy”, rather a reliable partner with whom it is good to make business. Their approach to life is based on strict ethical values.
We continue our journey Southern Italy in February 2025. The final results of the programme will be presented in March 2025 at the EESC Civil Society Days.
