On Wednesday 25 July, 70 young Europeans will travel to Belval, as part of a visit organised in the framework of the European Project Douzelage. The organisation is a unique European inititative which promotes educational, sporting, cultural and employment links within Europe in general and specifically with the Douzelage towns of the European Union.

The group will be given a guided tour of the Belval Campus to show the historical significance and transformative future of the site.   Following this, the group will have a picnic at LISER and a welcome word from LISER’s CEO, Prof. Aline Muller. This will be followed by a conference about the Greater Region.

The conference will then be provided by Rachid Belkacem (Université de Lorraine), Franz Clément (LISER) and Isabelle Pigeron-Piroth (Université du Luxembourg).

The conference will contain three distinct parts:

• The history and geography of the Greater Region 
• The institutions of the Greater Region, their strengths and weaknesses 
• Flows, mobility and collaborative projects between actors of the Greater Region

If you wish to attend the conference, please contact our colleague Franz Clément. Please note places will be limited in the black box room.

About Douzelage:

Since 1991, delegates from the member towns have been participating in Douzelage meetings. Today, it has 28 member towns, one from each of the 28 EU countries, and once a year they gather in a member town for a General Meeting. The participants have always been representatives of the local Douzelage committees, town officials, teachers and representatives of local associations, journalists, librarians, schoolchildren, musicians (etc.) as well as a lot of ordinary citizens.
These participants aim to build enjoyable and worthwhile relationships between member towns, individuals and groups of people with common interests. This is achieved through a programme of events, taking advantage of European funding schemes, as well as providing opportunities and contacts for activity groups between towns.

For 2018, it takes place 22-28 July in Houffalize, in the Belgian Ardennes. Below is the complete programme of the week dedicated to the topic “Memory work, democratic engagement and civic participation in future Europe”.  The young people, between the ages of 16 and 22, come from these cities and countries: Altea (Spain), Bad Kötzting (Germany), Bundoran (Ireland), Chojna (Poland), Granville (France), Houffalize (Belgium), Meerssen (The Netherlands), Rovijn (Croatia), Sherborne (Great Britain), Sigulda (Latvia), Skofia Loka (Slovenia) and Susice (Czech Republic).

Please find attached the whole programme of the Douzelage week and the official flyer. For more details, do not hesitate to contact LISER researcher, Dr. Franz Clément (franz.clement@liser.lu).