The final event of the project "New Schuman Declaration - a conversation of generations about a new Europe" - an international meeting, which took place on Europe Day - May 9, became a real celebration. More than 130 people, mostly students and young people who participated in the project activities, gathered in the crowded hall of the Iliya Beshkov Art Gallery in Pleven. They had the opportunity to view an impromptu exhibition of drawings created for the My Schuman Declaration competition, and some of the authors attended the meeting.
Special guests were the Mayor of Pleven, Georg Spartanski and the Deputy Governor of Pleven, Violeta Ieremieva. The project partners from AIFED - Granada, Spain were represented by Julia Ramirez and Daniel Paz, and the Autcreation Foundation from Warsaw, Poland - by Victoria Piunyuk and Vadim Sargenia. The event was attended by two members of the Board of Trustees of the Contemporary Pleven Media Foundation - Petya Angelova and Dimitar Dimitrov.
Ivanka Vateva, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation, which is the project coordinator, welcomed the large audience. She began with the words: "Today is a holiday! We created it ourselves. But let's not forget those who made it possible - the founding fathers. In a short introduction and presentation were presented the ideas of a united Europe since the Middle Ages, the Schuman Declaration and its impact, as well as the main events of February 1, 2021 by partners in Pleven, Bulgaria, Athens, Greece, Granada, Spain and Warsaw, Poland.
The audience watched with great interest the short video with moments from 25 of the 27 competitions in the unique puzzle room "Europe - from legend to day", created under the project. More than 130 students from 14 schools took part in these competitions. All teams successfully solved the 12 mysteries related to the history of Europe, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the types of democracy, the biography of Robert Schumann and the Ode to Joy, to today's European Union and the Green Pact. The record for the fastest exit was constantly improving - from 19 to 17 minutes, then to 16 and even 14 minutes and 30 seconds.
"Be proud Europeans, not subordinate to corporations and corporations, be your own creators of your own future and don't believe clichés." This is how the mayor of Pleven Georg Spartanski addressed the young people. He shared his personal experience from his many years of work in the Committee of the Regions and local authorities, when he witnessed the creation of piles of papers and obstacles to the realization of valuable endeavors. Schumann in his time gave birth to a good idea, it began to be realized with content, but now the content of a united Europe is "overgrown" with more and more bureaucratic obstacles and procedures and in no way removes economic inequality between member states in the European Union. union, "said Mr. Spartanski. He called on young people to be critical, to make "their lives their own way, because Europe and the future of the world are yours".
"I have been an optimist all my life. I know that I cannot sincerely congratulate you on a holiday at a time when there is war miles away. But I think that the European path was the right path that my country could take, "said Deputy Governor Violeta Ieremieva. "Personally, I, my peers and friends dreamed before 1989 of fundamental freedoms - the right to a dignified life, freedom of movement, the freedom to travel, study, live or work in other European countries. We did not have that freedom. And I want to tell you that you have to fight for it every day, every hour… Dream freely, because in your dreams is my future and the future of the generation after me. Young Europeans, stand up for your rights, know your responsibilities. I wish you good luck from the bottom of my heart! ”, Said Violeta Ieremieva.
Mrs. Jeremieva presented the prizes - T-shirts with the project logo, the best teams in the puzzle room and the outstanding participants. The record of 14.5 minutes belongs to the team "Green Bulgaria" from NSI "Panayot Pipkov". Awards were also given to the team that entered the room of mysteries first - from X B class of PGMET - Pleven, eighth-graders from the team "Strategists" from the Sports School "Georgi Benkovski", as well as Bogomila Dimitrova and Mia-Sara Veselinova from the team "Joy" of high school dormitory "Danail Popov" - for the best reading of informative texts, and Gabriel Sula and Peter Nikolov from Sofia University "Vasil Aprilov" - Lower Metropolis for excellent knowledge and leadership of their teams.
The manager of the Contemporary Pleven Media Foundation, Zlati Vatev, presented letters of thanks to the principals of the 10 schools and the high school dormitory for the partnership and support in the implementation of the New Schuman Declaration project.
Excerpts from the winning essays in the competition "My Declaration of Schumann", organized simultaneously in the four participating countries, were heard in the hall. One of the winners of the Bulgarian competition - 24-year-old Delyan Balev from Dimitrovgrad presented his essay in a video, along with greetings to those present at the event.
The young people showed at the final meeting their knowledge of the European Union through a quiz. She had 12 questions again. Only one of them - to list the names of more than two of the Fathers of Europe made it difficult for the students from Pleven. The competition for the prizes was tense, which was very popular - puzzles of 1,000 pieces from the art series with photos from the Pleven panorama of the new Bulgarian puzzle brand "Spindle".
In the end, everyone answered the question "On whom does the future of the European Union depend". Convinced and in one voice, "From us!"
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