CERV Town Twinning Metz-Trento

Participating towns and associations :

• The Collectif pour un service civique europeen association and the City of Metz, France.
• The IncoTrento association and the City of Trento, Italy

Brief of the project:

Through this first twinning of Metz with Trento, built around a pilot project of European mobility for young people, we aim to reinforce the European spirit of belonging, and the knowledge of others in this region which is at the heart of European cross-border relations.

Our proposal for activities linking the communities of Metz and Trento stems from a collaboration between two associations based in the two cities: CSCE and Inco Trento. For the past two years, our two associations have been working together in the field of European mobility, through an innovative pilot project - the European Civic Service - adapting the European Solidarity Corps in an innovative way, complementing national civic service programs with the aim of enabling access to mobility for young people with fewer opportunities (an initiative that inspired the priority of the French Presidency of the European Union in this area, announced on December 9, 2021 by President Macron).

The main aim is to make the public (mainly young people) aware of the similarities between these areas and encourage them to strengthen their links. These towns are linked by the historical specificity of being Germanic enclaves in France and Italy, and as such, as well as in other respects, are symbolic places of European construction, with the historic presence of Schuman and De Gasperi). Treves, which is twinned with Metz and shares the same imperial past as the other two cities, will be involved in every step of the process, as will Luxembourg, this year's European Capital of Culture, both of which have long been twinned with Metz. Seminars on linguistic differences and similarities, exchange working groups on forms of active participation in city life and workshops on the deep historical links between the two cities are just a few examples of the activities deployed.

The project will be developed over a one-year period, including activities involving the Metz and Trento areas (but mainly Metz in this application), with the ambition of building a multi-level cooperation (individuals, citizens, political representatives) that will continue over time. The main aim is to make the public (mainly young people) aware of the similarities between these areas and encourage them to strengthen their links.