© Centre for European Studies - Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi
EU Neighbors’ day .
EU Neighbors’ day – together for a common future.
“EU Neighbours’ day – together for a common future”.
The “EU Neighbours’ day – together for a common future” will be a novel concept
developed within our network which will be organised in each of the partner
institutions on the 7th of May each year, thus coinciding with the launching day of the
Eastern Partnership. This day will be organised in order to celebrate the neighbourly
relations The highlights of the day will consist of different cultural exhibitions having the ‘idea of Europe’ as centrepiece,
various artistic and cultural events, debates about Europe providing explanations about the EU integration process,
answering questions about what the EU actually means, how it functions, an awarding ceremony for a planned essay
contest etc.
The organisation of such a day will have a positive impact on relevant target groups (particularly young academics) on
improving knowledge about European integration and the development of professional competence in the field. Moreover,
such an event can have a strong potential for generating transformative processes in society and economy of neighbouring
countries with long-term impact of reducing border effects. From our previous experiences and observations, we have
noticed that particularly among the wider public in the neighbouring countries the knowledge about the EU is still relatively
poor. This has had a detrimental effect on the efficiency of neighbouring instruments and cross-border cooperation which
we seek to counter by offering explanations and raising awareness about the positive implications of the EU integration
process.
Activity responsible: Sorin MAZILU (P1)
Results
The Neighbours’ day was a real reason of celebration within the network, the organizers and participants showing both
interest and enthusiasm for the activities included in the event. Each partner designed its own approach for the event, the
only common nominator being the essay contest. As a consequence, a friendly and constructive competition was initiated
within the network partners in order to see who is able to organize the most interesting and creative activities. Among the
activities that where organized, we mention: treasure hunt on EU subjects, art exhibitions, seminars and discussions
panels, interactive workshops, posters contests, etc. The event gain rapidly popularity in each partner country, being
promoted by press, television, supermarket chains, etc. The success of the activities was a very pleasant surprise for us. For
this reason, we plan in the future to organize more learning opportunities of this type, which brings along interesting
information, creativity and people from all partners.
Estimated no. of participants: 500