On the day exactly, 30 years after the founding of the association, came on 25.05.2023 in the Falkenhagener Swiss house the association members, board members and employees in the circle of former association chairmen and numerous companions, comrades-in-arms and friends together, in order to look back in the idyllic ambience of the black lake and wonderful spring weather on the successes of the association and to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Middle Oder e.V. in appropriate way solemnly.
The Chairman of Mittlere e.V. Rainer Schinkel, made it clear in his welcoming speech that "the 30th anniversary of the Mittlere Oder e.V. association is a milestone, which we look back on successfully. This success is based on the support of our members, partners and the community." He highlighted the national commitment of the sponsoring associations on the German and Polish side of the Euroregion PRO EUROPA VIADRINA as a basic requirement for German-Polish relations: "It is of national interest to develop understanding for the neighbor, to recognize the added value of cooperation, as well as to implement cross-border infrastructure projects," and further: "Learned I and we, that some things go better together."
Looking back over the past years, it was noted that the political framework between Poland and Germany, the goals of the European Union, the social and economic situation in the municipalities have developed enormously - not least due to Poland's accession to the EU, the abolition of border controls and the granting of freedom of movement for workers. Nevertheless, more recent events in the past, such as the refugee crisis, African swine fever, the Covid 19 pandemic, the energy and climate crisis, and the fish kill on the Oder River, illustrate the challenges that had to be and still have to be overcome. The events illustrate the importance of the work of the Mittlere Oder e.V. association for the German-Polish cooperation. Thus, the celebration offered the guests present, a festive atmosphere that expressed gratitude for three decades of charitable work.
On behalf of the Polish sponsoring association of the Euroregion, the Stowarzyszenie Gmin Polskich Euroregionu "Pro Europa Viadrina" association, Małgorzata Domagała, deputy president of the city of Gorzów Wielkopolski, also expressed her gratitude for the joint cooperation and looked optimistically to the future with regard to future cooperation: "In the 30 years of joint work on a variety of projects and initiatives, we have gotten to know each other with our cultures and habits and practiced tolerance. I would like to thank you for your support and look forward to further good and successful projects to advance the development of the community. Your anniversary today, we thus warmly celebrate, because through the close cooperation of our associations it is also somehow ours."
Head of the administrative authority in the Brandenburg Ministry of Finance and for Europe, Katrin Müller-Wartig, highlighted the tireless efforts of the association in the last three decades for cross-border cooperation in the implementation of INTEREG funding and implementation of small-project funds but also representation of the interests of the border region in the bodies of the state and federal government and the EU, as well as a member of the German-Polish Government Commission and its committees. Stephan Erb, Managing Director of the German-Polish Youth Office, expressed his appreciation for the commitment of the Mittlere Oder e.V. in its function as the central office of the German-Polish Youth Office for the state of Brandenburg for extracurricular youth exchange. Representing the neighboring Euroregions, Carsten Jacob, Managing Director of the Euroregion Spree-Neisse-Bober e.V., also expressed his gratitude for the successful cooperation in the German-Polish border region.
On 25.05.1993, the association Mittlere Oder e.V. was founded as a non-profit association based in Frankfurt (Oder).
Since then, meanwhile, 16 institutional members, representing local authorities, business, society, environment as well as science from the counties of Märkisch-Oderland and Oder-Spree and the city of Frankfurt (Oder), pursue the association's purpose to promote international spirit, understanding between Poles and Germans by promoting bilateral and multilateral relations as a contribution to the construction of the common house of Europe. In the exercise of its commitment, the Middle Oder e.V. took over numerous functions over the years.
In addition to its function as the German supporting association of the Euroregion PRO EUROPA VIADRINA, Mittlere Oder e.V. is the supporting institution of the Central Office of the German-Polish Youth Office for the state of Brandenburg for extracurricular youth exchange as well as of EUROPE DIRECT Frankfurt (Oder). In addition to its involvement in the monitoring committees of the cross-border INTERREG programs, the Middle Oder e.V. is for years the carrier of the so-called Small Projects Fund, from which so far thousands of German-Polish so-called encounter projects of hundreds of applicants could be funded.
Together with the Polish carrier association of the Euroregion PRO EUROPE VIADRINA, Stowarzyszenie Gmin Polskich Euroregionu "Pro Europe Viadrina", sets itself the middle Oder registered association. thus for meanwhile 30 years for the initiation, coordination and promotion of the cross-border German-Polish cooperation, the intensification of the exchange and the partnerships in all areas of the public life as well as for the promotion of the meeting and the mutual acquaintance between the Germans and the Poles and mediates in this sense the interests of the common border area into all political levels on both sides of the Oder.