The European Village event

Marking Europe Day, the “European Village” event was held for the eighth time at the main square of Zrenjanin on 10 May 2019. The event, unique in Serbia, bringing together 28 schools of the municipality of Zrenjanin, was attended by a large number of participants, officials and visitors. The aim of the event is to get to know better the EU member states, their specificities, traditions and the culture of their people, along with the EU motto – united in diversity.

On that occasion, Čedomir Janjić, Mayor of Zrenjanin, welcomed H.E. Mr. Anders Christian Hougård, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Danmark, H.E. Mr. Konstantinos Eliades, Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus, Yngve Engstroem, Head of Cooperation, Delegation of the EU to the Republic of Serbia, Tamás Bakó, First Advisor, Embassy of Hungary, Mihael Tomšić First Consul of the Croatian Embassy – Croatian Consulate General in Subotica, Joanna Budišin, Public Diplomacy and Culture, Embassy of the Republic of Poland, as well as Vidosava Enderić, Director of the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, at the City Hall. The opening ceremony of the “European Village” was also attended by Ksenija Milenković, Assistant Minister of European Integration of the Ministry of European Integration, Government of the Republic of Serbia.

Vidosava Enderić, Director of the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, indicated that the Fund had actively been participating in the implementation of the “European Village” for the past five years, which main goal was to promote European values, raise the awareness of young people of the importance of accessing the EU and present the diversity of states and people, so as to develop tolerance and respect of differences with children, as well as to bring them closer to the main EU motto – united in diversity.

“Within the framework of the event, the Fund has also been participating by performing educational activities. We have held lectures on the European Union, its history and origin, its member states, values ​​and goals, as well as the European path of the Republic of Serbia in all twenty-eight schools, participants of the event. I would also like to highlight that together with the EU Info Point we have organized a quiz for the children participated, who showed enviable knowledge. As in previous years, we have also prepared gifts for all schools participating in the event. I can say that I hope and would like for the event to continue to live and that the city of Zrenjanin is a city for example. We would like to extend this activity by joining efforts and to emphasize and promote the knowledge and creativity of the children and their teachers”, Enderić said.

The European Affairs Fund of the AP Vojvodina has been actively involved in the implementation of the “European Village” for five years, first of all, through the education of elementary school pupils about the origin and history of the European Union, its institutions, values, goals, member states, as well as the European path of the Republic of Serbia. The Fund’s representatives visited 28 schools in the territory of the municipality of Zrenjanin, which represented one EU Member State at the event, and our lectures were attended by about 800 pupils of those schools, together with their teachers, in 2019. The Fund also provided symbolic gifts for all participating school participations in 2019.