Sörmland heads ‘You & the EU’ campaign

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‘You & the EU’ is a campaign where nine municipalities in Sörmland compete to achieve three of the indicators included in the Lisbon Strategy: reducing waste, increasing the number of clean cars, and increasing the population growth.

The initiative comes from Sörmland Regional Council, the authority responsible for regional development in Sörmland, one of Sweden’s 21 counties.

The aim of the campaign is to demonstrate that the EU is not as complicated as many people believe. Around 60-70 per cent of all matters appearing on the agenda of municipal councils originate from decisions taken by the EU.

”We want to show how the EU affects us in our daily life, but we also want to show how citizens in the county can influence the EU”, says Marita Bengtsson, Social Democrat and chair of Sörmland Regional Council.

But how can the people of Sörmland influence the EU?
By minimising their waste, buying clean cars and ensuring that the population in the county continues to increase. Thus, a competition has started between the nine municipalities in the county. The winners will be the municipalities that are best at influencing developments in each of the three areas. Three winners will be announced at the beginning of next year, i.e. the municipality that has reduced their waste the most, the municipality that has bought most clean cars, and the municipality that can show the highest population growth.

Moreover, the municipalities in Sörmland have agreed on a further eight indicators that are implemented in their planning documents and budgets since last year.

Two women politicians set out early as ambassadors for the project. The Social Democrat Benita Vikström and Lotta Finstorp from the Moderate Party have travelled around in Sweden and abroad explaining that the Lisbon Strategy is not difficult to understand. Their efforts have resulted in, for example, a steady stream of European television companies visiting Sörmland to find out what is happening here.

A few years ago, the county also implemented a regional version of the Lisbon Strategy, the Sörmland Strategy, a regional development plan for the area. The strategy sets out the prerequisites in the county today and what it wants to achieve in the next 20 years.

In the new campaign, the nine municipalities in Sörmland challenge each other as to who will be best at achieving the three indicators mentioned above. The campaign was launched on the Europe Day on the 9th of May this year and the winners will be announced early next year.

Citizens in the county can follow the results of their own municipality and that of the other contestants on a specially set up web site. Full-page adverts will also be published every month in the respective local newspapers showing the progress of their own municipality as well as of the other eight.

It is hoped that teachers will take the opportunity to use this material in their lessons. There are also plans to announce a separate competition to encourage pupils in the ages of 13-19 to increase their knowledge about the EU and its importance.

The project will be evaluated by the end of this year, but it is hoped that the campaign will carry on for several years so that the citizens of Sörmland can become a role model for other European regions. Perhaps another region in Europe will challenge us!

Visit the web site www.duocheu.se if you want to follow the development in Sörmland!

Monica Swärd
Head of Public Relations
Sörmland Regional Council