Transnational minority network – an integrative force for the European cohesion!
Dresden. “Lusatia Glow” is the name of the European Minority Network (EMNet), and that means: The Lausitz is glowing! A strong European impulse emanates from Lusatia in the border triangle of Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. The culture and language of minorities such as the Sorbs and Wends offer a special opportunity: Settled in Lusatia for 1,500 years, as Slavs with a special cultural and linguistic know-how, they have special skills that can bring people together across today’s national borders. In Brussels, this integrative power for Europe has been recognised and is getting significant support from the European Institutions. From 14 to 15 July 2022, the European project “Lusatia Glow” will present itself with a ceremony in Dresden and an international conference in Bautzen / Budyšin, Saxony.
Starting with the Lusatian Sorbs and Wends in the German-Polish-Czech border triangle, “Lusatia Glow” promotes cross-border minorities as a framework programme for linguistic, cultural and economic activities. This innovative approach of building a network of overlapping language minorities and peoples throughout Europe takes advantage of the opportunity to advance the integration process throughout Europe and thus seems ideally suited to become a “game changer” within the European Union. And this especially in today’s dramatic situation in Europe, where competent ambassadors between East and West are needed more than ever bevor!
Important impulses for strengthening European cohesion, which is to be activated in the new network, lie among other things in the historically grown close relationship of the Slavonic languages, which also include Upper and Lower Sorbian: “The linguistic and dialectal diversity of the Slavs and the whole of Europe is today an absolute advantage in our democratic society, in which everything is based on mutual cross-border communication”, emphasises Dipl.-Vw. David Chmelík, President of the European Commission, and President of the European Commission. David Chmelík, President of the European movement “Slavonic Europe” (SE) in Brussels, who himself speaks six languages fluently and is “on fire” for the European project.
The “European Minority Network” is already spreading throughout the European Union with more than 30 partners in different countries. The impetus comes from nationwide cultural programmes, regular cross-border projects as well as local and regional events. Among other things, innovative digital language learning platforms, interactive spaces and artistic facilities are to be used to launch more than 750 initiatives, so that an open-minded and resilient cohesion for Europe grows out of the network of diverse activities.
After a successful launch earlier this year in Brussels, the event will take place in Dresden on 14 July 2022 under the motto “Welcome – Witaj – Willkommen Dresden!” – the festive opening of the European project “Lusatia Glow” will take place in Schloßstraße from 16:00 – publicly & open-air, with a cultural background of musical interludes, Sorbian beer and regional delicacies.
The joint project of the European movement SLAVONIC EUROPE (SE), the SERBSKI SEJM (democratically directly elected representation of the Sorbian/Wendish people), the ŁUŻYCKI ALIANS Wrocław (Society for the Promotion of Lusatian Culture in Poland) and the LUŽICKÁ ALIANCE ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA (Society for the Promotion of Lusatian Culture in the Czech Republic) continues the cooperation on 15 July 2022 with an international conference on the status and development of the European Minorities Network (EMNet) starting at 9:00 am in Bautzen / Budyšin, where high-ranking representatives of the European Commission, the European Parliament, members of the German Parliament, representatives of the City of Dresden as well as international guests will speak.
Further information and the congress programme can be found at https://www.lusatiaglow.eu/
You are already cordially invited to the ceremony on 14 July in Dresden.
Press accreditations are now possible via the press contact at https://www.lusatiaglow.eu/
We will be happy to support you with the arrangement of interview partners!
The congress press conference will take place at 2 pm at the Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe. A separate invitation with the interview partners and congress topics will be sent to you.
Organiser: SLAVONIC EUROPE Foundation
Contact: Dipl.-Vw. David Chmelík, President
Venue: Dresden and Bautzen / Budyšin, Germany
Date: 14 and 15 July 2022
Press conference: 14 July, 2:00 p.m., Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe, Neumarkt 9, 01067 Dresden, Germany
Press contact: Kerstin Aldenhoff, Tel. +49 172 3516916, kerstin.aldenhoff@gmail.com
Background
Resident in Lusatia for around 1,500 years, the Sorbs and Wends live in present-day Saxony, Brandenburg and also across the German border, in Poland and the Czech Republic. They are a very special Slavic minority of around 60,000 people with their own language and culture. To this day, they have been able to preserve and develop their original identity, including a wide variety of customs, traditional costumes and festivals. Sorbian is the westernmost offshoot of the pan-European Slavic culture – the largest cultural group in Europe – and is particularly related to West Slavic languages such as Polish, Czech and Slovak, which in turn are closely related to East Slavic languages such as Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and South Slavic languages such as Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Bulgarian and Macedonian.