Partnership of towns - the way to Europe
Partnership of towns
The town and commune of Szamotuły has twinned with other towns since 1989, when the first official cooperation agreement was signed between Szamotuły and a German town of Gross-Gerau. The signing of the official cooperation agreement with the Germans has introduced our town into the circle of cooperating towns: Gross-Gerau - Germany, Tielt - Belgium, Bruneck - Italy, Brignoles - France, which have been associated in a partnership group since 1959. The successive partnership agreements between Szamotuły and the aforementioned towns were signed in the following years: Brignoles - in 1996, Bruneck - in 1997, Tielt - in 1998.
In the contracts the parties agreed to create a good atmosphere and appropriate conditions for establishing broad exchange in the field of cultural events, sport and tourism, youth exchange, farming and foresting and environmental protection. They also agreed to share experience in the fields of local administration, social policy and healthcare. Among other forms of cooperation some can be mentioned: the European Festivities, Youth Camps, Spring Fair in Brignoles, Fair in Tielt, Christmas Fair in Gross-Gerau and conferences of the towns’ Mayors.
The scope of the cooperation, its steadiness and a long-term duration won the appraise of the European Commission in Brussels who by awarding „Golden Star Awards” in 1995 to ten most conspicuous groups of partner towns gave one to the group of Gross-Gerau, Tielt, Bruneck, Brignoles, Szamotuły.
Only few towns in Poland are among the proud winners of this award. In 2002 the Council of Europe awarded ‘The European Diploma’ to Szamotuły in recognition of its service in promoting the idea of Europe. Beside the above mentioned towns, Szamotuły also signed partnership contracts with Kinna - Sweden and Oud en Nieuw Gastel - Holland, which after the administrative reform was incorporated to Halderberge Commune ( at present Halderberge suspended international partnership activities).
There is also another group of towns which organizes youth camps. The group engages four towns: Ontinyent - Spain, Apolda - Germany, Mark - Sweden and Szamotuły.
Apart from the aforementioned regular events, there is a number of meetings organized within the limits of partnership cooperation, for example an exchange of library, kindergarten and Registery Office employees. Sport groups, farmers, chess players and fraternity groups also went on exchange visits.
Every autumn a conference of partnership town mayors and other persons responsible for the partnership cooperation is organized. The conference is devoted to the assessment of the course of events of the year and the plans for the future cooperation in the coming year are formulated.
The town and Commune of Szamotuły received a lot of donations like fire engines, fire brigade equipment, a bus, hospital beds and medical equipment.
Taking into consideration a wide range and long time of cooperation, it is easy to conclude that Szamotuły is a town open to cooperation with foreign partners and that the town supports the idea of Europe without boundaries.
