The day commenced with a workshop on good practices, followed by a concert featuring the youth band and choir of the municipality. Attendees also had the opportunity to learn how to make typical local dishes during a culinary workshop, fostering the exchange of experiences at both European and municipal levels.
The event was a resounding success, thanks in no small part to the hospitality and kindness of the Hungarian team. Partners were treated to a variety of nourishing activities that left them feeling energized and inspired.
As we look ahead, we are excited to continue our work on the next event in Malta this October. Stay tuned for more updates as we strive to strengthen ties between European communities and promote the exchange of knowledge and ideas.
From the 27th of March to the 30th of March, several representatives of the City Council and municipality of Rafelguaraf participated in the third meeting of the project led by the municipality EUMUNICIPAL, within the European program CERV.
This event aimed to reflect on the prevention of ethnic and cultural marginalisation among citizens with different origins throughout the European Union, as well as to promote an intercultural, social and adapted Europe for society with special needs.
In this event, several debates, activities, presentations, talks, etc. took place. Among them was an intercultural conference on how to plan and act to prevent social marginalisation among citizens. In this conference, the municipality of Rafelguaraf presented the objectives, activities and actions carried out by the Mancomunidad de la Comuna, which is formed by 5 municipalities of the area and which was constituted in 1989, the adhesion was made in order to join with other municipalities for the provision of Social Services, among other competences.
In this event participated the different partners of the project representing the countries of Malta, Bulgaria, Hungary, Holland, Romania and Portugal, as well as the Spanish partners from Extremadura, in total around 30 foreign people gathered for 2 days to discuss about Euromunicipalism and its different implementation strategies in the European rural areas.
EuMunicipal is a network of 8 European cities based on supranational integration as a key element of European integration. The project focuses on young members of cultural and sports associations in the municipalities, with the aim of designing activities that promote the exchange of traditions and customs within the European culture. The aim is to convey a clear message: that rural and agricultural areas can also combat the message of Euroscepticism, and that EuMunicipal coordinates all citizens’ actions.
The second European meeting of the EU Municipal project was recently held in Jarandilla de la Vera, Extremadura. This European project, led by the Municipality of Rafaelguaraf within the CERV programme, had the objective of creating strategies to bring the contributions of the European Union closer to rural life, as well as to contextualise the economic and social growth of the Eastern European countries since their entry into the EU and to raise awareness of the growth, equality and transparency that Europe must follow.
EUmunicipal is a network of eight European localities, whose starting point is supranational integration as elements of European integration. The aim of this project is to focus on the revitalisation of rural areas through the cultural associations of the municipalities to design activities that promote the exchange of traditions and customs within the European culture. The idea is to send out a clear message that rural and agricultural areas can combat the message of Euroscepticism and that the Euro-municipal chain that coordinates all citizens’ actions is key to the construction of the European project.
The different project partners from Malta, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania and Portugal, as well as the Spanish partners from Extremadura, specifically from the municipality of Jarandilla de la Vera and represented through «La Red de Cooperación de las Rutas del Emperador Carlos V», once again participated in this event.
In total around 30 foreign people gathered for 2 days to discuss about Euro-municipalism and its different implementation strategies in European rural areas. On behalf of the Rafelguaraf Town Council, considered leader of the project, the mayoress of the town, Rafaela Aliaga, the councillor Susi Sancho and the president Teresa Ortega and vice-president M Carmen Fernández of the association of housewives Tiryus, together with the coordinating technician Andreu Garrido of the European consultancy Crea 360, attended the event.
The mayoress of Rafelguaraf, Rafaela Aliaga Sendra stressed «the importance of participating in municipal networks at European level, which allows us to project the brand of our municipality and establish links to generate opportunities». Also, taking advantage of the meeting, a meeting was held with the mayor of Jarandilla de la Vera, Fermín Encabo Acuña, to share challenges and opportunities of the two municipalities to jointly present future projects.
On the 1st of October, Rafelguaraf Town Council held the first meeting of the European project EUMunicipal. This project is part of the programme Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values of the European Commission and its aim is to protect and promote the rights and values enshrined in the EU Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, in particular by supporting civil society organisations active at local, regional, national and transnational level.
The project is managed directly with the EU and is 100% funded, with a budget of 148,000 euros, coordinated and managed by the Rafelguaraf City Council among the whole network of cities. It has been 48 hours with an intense agenda and in which technical workshops have been held on various topics related to economic, social and employment Europe, green Europe, digital issues and, of course, youth. In addition to social and cultural activities that have promoted the creation of a European network through citizen participation, an objective of the European Commission.
The different project partners from Extremadura, Portugal, the Netherlands, Malta, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary got to know closely and in detail different problems and challenges faced by Rural Europe. The starting point was the institutional reception held on the first day in the auditorium of the Casa Consistorial of Rafelguaraf, by the mayoress of Rafelguaraf, Rafaela Aliaga Sendra, the general director of Local Administration of Valencia, Antoni Such Botella, the regional deputy, Xelo Angulo Luna and the president of the Mancomunidad de la Ribera Alta, Txema Pelaez Palazón.
The institutional act was followed by different activities throughout the day. Among them, the promotion of the European Year of Youth, which addressed the issue of mental health and the digital divide among young people, with the participation of teachers from CEIP Blasco Ibañez and Clara Serena, a young psychologist from the municipality. In addition, a meeting was held at the lake of Barxeta, where the businessman Victor Tormo, owner of the site, presented various environmental and mental health projects he is working on as part of the «Green Deal» of the European Commission. Thus, one of the new frameworks implemented by the EU with the Next Generation EU, which is the promotion of the public-private relationship, was worked on.
This type of meeting is the result of the new standards sought by the Next Generation EU. During the meal, one of the typical dishes of our area was tasted, such as «arrós al forn». This meeting also strengthened inter-municipal relations with neighbouring municipalities, with the participation of the mayors of Barxeta, Genovés and Llocnou d’en Fenollet.
Afterwards, the participants of different nationalities attended a game of «Pilota Valenciana», where they were able to learn first hand, through the local school of «Pilota», the historical background of this game and its development. They also visited places such as the sports centre and the museum of traditional festivities, organised for the occasion by different local associations, where the Fallas and Moors and Christians festivities were promoted through the exhibition set up by different fallas, comparsas and the Pilota school, where they showed the costumes and the different clothing that comprise these festivities, as well as the different tools used in the game of Pilota. At the end the housewives delighted the visitors with a tasting of «bunyols».
The second day of this meeting began with a dynamic of strengthening public-private relations with a visit to the local company Naranjamania, which introduced one of the strategies of the EU from «field to table», with the promotion of products Km O. Several workshops on Euromunicipalsimo, offered by experts, Carmen Perez and Jose Manuel Gonzales, from the IDEA Office in Alzira, and Alberto Lorente and Jose Blanes, from the consulting firm CREA 360, showed the opportunities for transformation that the management of European funds represent for the municipalities.
Two workshops of fallas of the municipality were visited. Firstly, the SME «Copovi Ramón 3D Industries», which deals with the planning process and the first phase of the elaboration of a Falla. This local workshop is a pioneer in the sector in the digitalisation of the Fallas creative process and is part of a large number of pioneering projects at national and European level. Secondly, we visited the workshop of the Fallas artist, Bernat Román, in whose workshop they deal with the last phase of the elaboration of a Falla.
On the last day, Saturday afternoon and within the cultural part of #EUMunicipal we attended the exchange concert of the youth band of Rafelguaraf and Manuel. The concert of the two bands was witnessed and they put the finishing touch with the interpretation of the anthem of the European Union. This was followed by an impressive «Embaixaeta» of the Junta de Moros y Cristianos de Rafelguaraf, in which all the groups and the citizens of the town were involved.
The great participation of the entire municipal fabric, institutions, associations and citizens, who bid farewell to the participants from the different European countries in the purest «Welcome Mr Marshall» style, where one could feel the effects of cultural exchange and human affection, which manifested itself spontaneously. According to the different experts who are participating in the management of «EU Municipal», they estimate that this first meeting has reached the impact of up to 5,000 people between social networks, direct and indirect participation. This is a very high figure and the aim is to exceed 25,000 people by far by the end of the project, which will be in Amarante, Portugal.
The mayoress of Rafelguaraf, Rafaela Aliaga has valued this first meeting as very positive from the social impact and European projection for the municipality; «It is a pride to see how a small town like ours through the voluntarism of the associations and citizenship gives the best of itself and places Rafelguaraf in a European network that will allow us to participate in more projects and opportunities for the municipality».