Brussels, 13/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - Every year since 1993, the European Commission has awarded the "Golden Stars of Town Twinning" awards to the ten best town twinning projects that it supports financially and which have made a concrete contribution to advancing European integration and helping citizens get to know one another. The prize ceremony this year will be held on Thursday 15 May at the Council of European Municipalities and Regions General Assembly (CEMR, 14-16 May, Poznan, Poland).
The Golden Stars of Town Twinning to be awarded by the Commission on 15 May will go to ten outstanding twinning initiatives selected by an inter-institutional jury. The jury based its choice on the following criteria: pedagogical merits of the project, visibility, active participation of the local population, concrete results and potential for further development. The prize winners are: Bradford (United Kingdom), Bremen (Germany), Cormons (Ireland), Keszthely (Hungary), Nuremberg (Germany), Pouzauges (France), Riga (Latvia), Samuel (Portugal), Santa Maria da Feira (Portugal) and Szolnok county (Hungary). (Further details: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/towntwin/index_en.htlm or http: //http://www.cemr.poznan.pl )
"This year the European Commission is funding some 1,400 town twinning partnerships worth EUR 12,000,000, in which two or more towns or cities from different countries share ideas, explore solutions to common problems and discover each other's cultural heritage. So far, more than 11,000 towns have benefited from EU grants", said Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Education and Culture.