Salzburg/Novi Sad, 21 October - President of the AP Vojvodina Assembly, Juhász Bálint, participated today in Salzburg at the jubilee 20th Europe Summit organised by the Institute of the Regions of Europe (IRE), which was held under the slogan “EU: No future without reforms”.
During the session, president Juhász met with the president and the founder of the Institute of the Regions of Europe, Prof Franz Schausberger, PhD. Expressing the common intention to continue and improve the long-standing partnership relations between the AP Vojvodina and the Institute of the Regions of Europe (IRE), president Juhász and prof Schausberger discussed the possibilities of new joint activities.
“The support that the Institute of the Regions of Europe provided to our province
throughout the years, joint participation and organisation of conferences on the topic of regional connection, are still quite valuable to us. Prof Schausberger has been advocating for decades for the approximation of the Republic of Serbia and the entire region of the Western Balkans to the EU, and his expressed intention to continue to do so in the future is very encouraging”, said Juhász and underscored that the values of the Institute of the Regions of Europe are: connecting people, promoting dialogue and strengthening regions, a platform in which AP Vojvodina recognised potential for further cooperation and partnership.
With the aim of improving cooperation and specifying joint activities, president Juhász invited prof Schausberger to visit the AP Vojvodina and the provincial parliament in the forthcoming period, who accepted the invitation with pleasure.
Prof Schausberger presented president Juhász a certificate of authorisation to represent the AP Vojvodina in IRE, pointing out that he was certain that the productive cooperation would continue. President Juhász attended the Summit together with the General Consul of the Republic of Serbia in Salzburg Vera Vukićević.
Last night the Institute of the Regions of Europe (IRE) ceremoniously marked 20 years since establishment and numerous high officials of European countries and the Western Balkans participated at today’s 20th Europe Summit, as well as the representatives of the European administration and Austria, as a host country.
At today’s panel dedicated to the future of Europe, the audience heard from the prime minister of the Government of the Northern Macedonia Hristijan Mickoski, the Hungarian minister of foreign affairs Péter Szijjártó, former president of Slovenia Borut Pahor, EU Commissioner for the Budget Johannes Hahn and other high officials from EU, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland and other countries. The panel discussed the EU enlargement, economic trends, energy challenges, while the Serbian minister for energy and mining Dubravka Đedović Handanović is expected to give her address tomorrow.
The Institute of the Regions of Europe (IRE) was founded in 2004 in Salzburg, Austria. The main aim was to promote regional cooperation in Europe and strengthen the role of European regions and local authorities in the European decision-making processes. The Institute is a platform for the exchange of experience and the examples of best practice between regions, cities, municipalities and different economic sectors.