The political forces of Valença, Alto Minho, and Tui, Galicia, which since 2012 form a eurocity, meet on Monday to discuss the “present and future” of territorial space in a “historic and unprecedented meeting in Europe”, was today announced.
“This is a pioneering act in Europe, of deepening democracy, of cooperation, of advancing the Eurocity project, which is a common will of the two cities, to continue on the path of closer ties and sharing for the maximum benefit of our populations and territories”, said the Mayor of Valença, Manuel Rodrigues Lopes, quoted in a statement sent to the press today.
In the note, the autarchy referred to being “a historic and unprecedented assembly in Europe that, for the first time, puts all the political forces, from two cities, from two different countries, to debate the present and future of their constituted territorial space for the Eurocity Tui and Valença ”.
The meeting will take place on Monday, at 20:00 (Portuguese time), in the hall of the Paços do Concelho de Valença.
According to the municipality, chaired by the social democrat Manuel Rodrigues Lopes, the “unprecedented act intends to evoke the eighth anniversary of the formal constitution of the Eurocity Tui Valença”.
All elements of the Municipal Assembly of Valença, as well as the counterpart of the Galician side, will participate in the eurocity assembly, counting nine parliamentary groups, with 56 elected from both cities, and will be open to public intervention.
The first meeting will take place this year in Valença, starting to be held annually and on a rotating basis.
The agenda for the meeting included the proposal to exchange flags for placement in all municipal acts in Valença and Tui, the implementation of the Unicidade project, as well as the challenges facing the euro city in the next 10 years.
Started in October 2017, “Unicidade – Eurocidade Valença-Tui, Unicidade”, which has a financing of 513 thousand euros, outlined a strategic plan to make, by 2021, the two cities into a “unique space”.
It is just over three kilometers that separate the cities of Valença and Tui, similar to the crossing of the Minho River, but this Iberian project that is part of the INTERREG V-A Spain-Portugal Cooperation Program now aims to reinforce “cooperation and unity”.
“It is as if it were a unique city, although there are two different peoples and two countries,” said Fernando Pereira Barros, a geographer at the Municipality of Valença and responsible for the project, speaking to Lusa.
It was in order to help the Spaniards who work in Valença (district of Viana do Castelo) and the Portuguese who work across the border on their legal obligations and on other matters that the project outlined the creation of a “Euro-city counter”.
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