From 28/09 to 01/10/2023 the Sorbian / Wendish Parliament visited in the framework of the LUSATIA GLOW framework programme and its special EIFEL GLOW four-country-cross-border subsidiary initiative in Ostbelgien (BE-DE-LUX-NL) the EU Founding Member State of Belgium and has been received on Friday, 29 September by Charles SERVATY, the President of the Parliament of the German Speaking Community of Belgium (DG). Led by the Tomaš ČORNAK, the Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the SERBSKI SEJM, the Sorbian / Wendish Parliament Delegation discussed in Eupen, Belgium, forms of educational and cultural autonomy and the way how the structure of the Sorbian / Wendsich Parliament could be strengthened.
President SERVATY pointed out: “I would like the SERBSKI SEJM to be a firm institutional player soon, to be a counterpart, a quasi-official institutional contact for us.” Future cooperation and mutual contacts have been agreed.
A discussion with the Ministry of Education, Research and Formation of Ostbelgien represented by Dr. Jens GIESDORF shed light on the concrete functioning of the East Belgian educational system and its conditions as an excellently operating educational autonomy system.
Earlier that day, the Sorbian / Wendish Parliament visited the EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT in Brussels and received a thorough introduction to the structure and the functioning of the European Union and the European parliamentarianism, in particular, by EU policies experts.
A trip to the Walloon city of Dinant including typical local cultural programme of the Meuse region has been followed by a visit of the city of Saint Vith, the other important cultural centre of Ostbelgien, including cooperation talks with the ARSVITHA cultural forum represented by its director, Jan PIETTE. Cultural exchange and cooperation has been discussed and further steps fixed.
The EIFEL GLOW Belgian visit of the SERBSKI SEJM has been completed by a Thanksgivinig harvest service in the Sankt Vitus parish in Saint Vith and a discussion with the pastor Claude THEISS.
For press & media coverage, please consult the following links:
Belgisches Rundfunk- und Fernsehzentrum der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft (BRF)
Interview with Charles SERVATY, President of the Ostbelgien Parliament, made by David CHMELÍK, President of the SLAVONIC EUROPE Movement
VIDEO of the visit
PHOTOS
European Parliament
Parliament of the German Speaking Community of Belgium
Ministry of Education, Research and Formation
Citadelle and City of Dinant
Saint Vith
