European Cooperation Days

The European Cooperation Day is an event dedicated to promoting territorial cooperation in Europe. It highlights positive results of projects implemented throughout different regions and different countries. The European Cooperation Day takes place as a local event in which the community can see first-hand how cooperating across borders improves life in and around Europe.

The European Cooperation Day is organized every year around 21 September when hundreds of cross-border celebrations are organized by Interreg programmes both in EU and neighbouring countries, with the joint idea to share borders and bring our neighbours together.

The Managing Authority and Joint Secretariat facilitate Programmes’s celebration of the European Cooperation Days every year. So far we organized European Cooperation Day’s in Skradin (HR), Šibenik (HR) and Sombor (RS). Scroll down for more information on past celebrations.

More info on the European Cooperation Day initiative can be found on the website www.ecday.eu.

EC DAY 2022

Managing Authority of the Interreg IPA Cross-border Cooperation Programme Croatia – Serbia 2014-2020, in cooperation with National Authorities, Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds of the Republic of Croatia and Ministry for European Integration of the Republic of Serbia, organized this year’s EC Day celebration in Nature Park Papuk under the slogan „Youth in cooperation“. Following this year’s theme, through joint play and education, European Cooperation Day 2022 was marked on 6 October with students from Croatia and Serbia.

This one, the seventh in a row within the Programme, was dedicated to young people growing up in these parts of Croatia and Serbia, with the aim of having a fun way to appreciate the diversity that unites this area. Students of Elementary School Fra. Kaje Adžića from Pleternica and students of the Association of Student Parliaments of primary and high schools in the City of Sremska Mitrovica together with representatives of Managing Authority, Joint Secretariat and National Authorities, had the opportunity to participate in entertaining and educational program, first by getting to know Papuk by visiting Geo info Center. The tour started in the 6D multi-sensory cinema hall by showing an animated movie about the history of Papuk. The tour continued through the geological, biological, and cultural-historical heritage exhibits, which were accompanied by multimedia content (interactive screens, virtual reality in niches), faithful displays and reconstructions, and through real artifacts and parts of nature.

In the second part of the day, the participants visited the House of the Pannonian Sea and got to know the history of that dried up sea through the stories of life in the Miocene recorded in the rocks of Papuk. The tour began with an introductory presentation about the life on our planet, fossils and how they are preserved, with special focus on the living world of the Pannonian Sea. The presentation ended with a game in the sand of the Pannonian Sea coast, on the interactive floor of the hall.

After the educational part inside, the students had the opportunity to test their knowledge outside through a labyrinth of yes/no questions, which was accompanied by interesting sculptures and explanations on educational panels.

The EC Day celebration ended in the Adrenaline Park Duboka, where children and Programme representatives had the opportunity to spend time in a fun and active way in untouched nature of one of the most beautiful nature parks in Europe.

Why this kind of program for EC Day?
By organizing an educative tour in Geo Info Center and the House of the Pannonian Sea, we wanted to include young people in the celebration, to show them the possibilities that European Union projects offer and interest them in future careers related to EU/Interreg projects. Also, by spending an active and fun day in the Adrenaline Park Duboka the children got a chance to hang out and get to know their colleagues across the border which entails true cross-border cooperation.

EC DAY 2021

Be creative and take part in a poster competition on “My vision of a green Europe”!

This year, the European Day of Cooperation is celebrated for the tenth time in Europe and we are marking it through an online campaign – an art competition for posters on the theme “My vision of a green Europe”.

On this occasion, we decided to give freedom of design to our most creative citizens – children, primary school students and invite them to design posters on the theme “My vision of a green Europe” and show how they see a green(er) Europe.

The idea of this competition is to educate and engage children concerning personal and collective awareness and responsibility for creating and preserving a healthy, green Europe through the creation of a creative and original poster.

Show us your vision of a green Europe – send in your poster design and win great prizes!

We invite elementary school pupils to show us how they see a green, healthy Europe and to create their vision of what a green Europe will look like or, more importantly, what it could look like if we work together and if each individual contributes to creating a healthy, green environment for all citizens.

You have full freedom of creative expression to use techniques and materials of your choice (collages, paintings, drawings, etc), however we would encourage you to make posters of reused or recycled materials.

What do you need to do to participate in the competition?

The competition is open to all elementary school students from Programme area: Osijek-Baranja, Vukovar-Srijem, Brod-Posavina and Požega-Slavonia counties in Croatia and North Bačka, West Bačka, South Bačka, Srem and Mačva districts in Serbia.

Design a poster on your own about how you see a green Europe. Each poster has to be submitted by one participant whereas one participant can submit only one poster.

Send us a photo and the title of the poster you made to the following email: jelena.plavetic@mrrfeu.hr no later than midnight on 1 November 2021.

* Be sure to write your contact information in the email.

All received photos of the posters will be published on the Programme Facebook page and the most beautiful posters will be awarded with valuable prizes.

We will award two main prizes: Social Media Award for the poster design that collects the highest number of likes on the Facebook page and EC DAY 2021 Poster Award to be chosen by a jury consisting of members of the Interreg IPA cross-border cooperation programme Croatia-Serbia staff.

We have also prepared numerous symbolic awards for other participants.

Follow our Facebook page for more information.

EC DAY 2020

The 2020 edition of “European Cooperation Day” was adapted to the unique cirmunstances of the COVID-19 global pandemic. This was also the year in which we celebrated 30 years of Interreg programmes in Europe, so the two celebrations combined into one campaign. The focus was on 3 topics:

We all have a neighbor
Youth
Green and climate neutral Europe – Greener Europe.

The Programme celebrated European Cooperation Day 2020 and Interreg 30 years by local planting trees events and through promotional online campaign “Discover your neighbourhood”! Discover your neighborhood! Within the online campaign we presented interesting touristic routes, sites and events in both countries, developed or improved within projects and we invited local people to visit them and take a picture or make a video. Each week we promoted one successful project related to tourism, 4 projects in total. The invitation was shared on Programme web site and social media, and marked with the following hashtags: #ECDay2020 #InterregIPAHRRS #cooperationyear #interreg30. With this campaign, we wanted to remind the citizens that many good things come out when we join forces. 30 trees for 30 years of Interreg! Taking into account the topics of the Interreg 30 celebration, the Programme organized 2 local events during September 2020 and planted 30 trees for 30 years of Interreg. The first event was held on 23 September 2020 in cooperation with the Nature Conservation Movement of Sremska Mitrovica and Ministry of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia (National Authority), in Zasavica Special Nature Reserve, Serbia. The second event was held on 25 September 2020 in cooperation with the NGO Zeleni Osijek and Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds of the Republic of Croatia (Managing Authority & Joint Secretariat) in Zlatna Greda, Croatia. Planting 30 trees in two participating countries is also sustainable reminder of successful cooperation and valuable results of the projects implemented within the Programme.

Zlatna Greda

Zasavica

EC DAY 2019

The European Cooperation Day 2019 under the slogan “Europe is YOU” was celebrated across Europe in September and October 2019.

Under the slogan “Eurpe is YOU”, the Programme launched video competition in order to hear people’s feedback, thoughts and feelings of how European Union benefits its citizens and to award the most original, innovative and creative way of showing what the European Union has done for its citizens.

Competition main target groups were high school, university and college students, but the competition was open to all citizens living in the Programme area.

Among creative and original videos showing the true spirit of the European Union, the video made by a team of students of the Nikola Tesla Technical School in Vukovar won of the competition.

The video tells a story of a school from Vukovar in a creative and original way and points out to the importance of the European Union in supporting education, as well as democratic values. For this reason, the video was awarded as the winning one. Please see the video below.

Managing Authority and National Authorities representatives visited the Nikola Tesla Technical School in Vukovar in December 2019 and awarded team of 11 students with ‘smart’ prizes and additional gifts from the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds of the Republic of Croatia, Ministry of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia and the Representation of the European Commission in Croatia.

In addition to visiting the school, a short program was organized at Lavoslav Ružička’s birth house in Vukovar. Lavoslav Ružička was a Croatian Nobel Prize winner awarded for chemistry in 1939. Today, the house hosts educational and cultural events and was recently modernized with a hologram of Lavoslav Ružička installed as part of the ViCTour project. During the visit, students watched the hologram and took part in experiments. The visit was used to showcase the importance of new technologies in rediscovering heritage, and also to point out to successful cross-border partnerships in the region of Vukovar.

EC DAY 2018

The European Cooperation Day 2018 was marked on 17 October with two children’s homes from Croatia and Serbia in Programme’s very own cross-border art project in Sombor, Serbia. This year’s idea was to help create a cooperative Europe by letting the children lead the way and paint our future together in a form of a cross-border art project. The event gathered children from SOS Children’s Village Ladimirevci (HR) and Home for Children Miroslav Mika Antić Sombor (RS). The program started with a theatre show performed by professional children facilitators, who delivered an important message to be caring, kind and considerate. After the show, the event moved outdoors and made the colouring and painting activities more fun. Groups of children from Croatia and Serbia decorated the T-shirts branded with this year’s logo, painted canvases with natural and cultural elements of our programme area and helped a professional street artist in painting a wall mural which depicted images of Sombor’s city house and Osijek’s secession bell and bridge over Drava. At the end of the event Programme provided gifts for all the children from participating homes to remember the fun times spent at European Cooperation day in Sombor. Why have we chosen an event dedicated to children? We believe it’s the best way to highlight the role of children and young people in building the Europe they want. We believe it’s the best way to tell the story of cooperation between Croatia and Serbia as well.

EC DAY 2017

The European Cooperation Day 2017 was celebrated on 7 October at St Michael’s Fortress, one of Šibenik’s most important fortresses that was revitalized using EU funds in 2014. Ms Gabrijela Žalac, Minister of Regional Development and EU funds, and Ms Stella Arneri, Director of the Agency for Regional Development of the Republic of Croatia, welcomed visitors of the event and shared their thoughts on the accomplishments of the Interreg IPA CBC Croatia – Serbia 2014-2020 Programmes and the Interreg IPA CBC Croatia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro 2014-2020. After the formal part of the European Cooperation Day programme, visitors had the chance to enjoy traditional music and learn about the traditional cuisine of our Programme areas.

EC DAY 2016

The European Cooperation Day 2016 was organised on 23 September in Skradin, a small Mediterranean town set in Šibenik’s hinterland. A ceremony held at the Square of Mala Gospa welcomed participants of both the Interreg IPA CBC Programme Croatia – Serbia 2014-2020 and the Interreg IPA CBC Programme Croatia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro 2014-2020. After a short formal part of the ceremony, visitors listened to traditional Dalmatian music and took part in the “millennium photo”, which recorded the friendly relations between the countries participating in the two Programmes and cooperating across borders. Afterwards, participants visited the National Park Krka.