On 10 December 2024, within the framework of the EU Global Responsible Leadership for Climate Change, Environment and Humanitarian Aid (EU_LEAD) project with the support of the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Programme, a public lecture was held by Malgorzata Wasilenko, Director of the Regional Office of the Warmia and Mazury Voivodeship in Brussels, on the topic: «Functioning and tasks of regional offices in Brussels». In her speech, the Director elaborated on the tasks of the Regional Office in Brussels, namely: 1) informational (providing information to regional authorities about EU initiatives, possible sources of funding for such projects, searching for partners for their implementation, preparing newsletters on EU opportunities for regional development, etc.); 2) representation and promotion of the region at the EU level (dissemination of information about the opportunities and advantages of the region, encouragement to visit the region, for example, through the promotion of green tourism in Warmia and Mazury, etc.); 3) support of regional and local authorities (organisation of educational visits on environmental protection, climate change prevention, organic agriculture, as well as conferences, trainings, etc.). The office staff is actively working on developing contacts in Brussels (primarily with the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Polish Delegation to the EU, the Polish Tourist Board, etc.), including in the field of culture, in order to obtain more favourable proposals for the development of the Warmia and Mazury region. A special focus of the office's activities is to bring young people closer to EU structures, for example, through internships at the European Commission or the European Parliament, and by holding a competition for young people on EU knowledge. The Office annually welcomes young volunteers and organises internships for students. A separate area of the office's activity is the organisation of workshops and conferences, for example, in 2024, a conference on disinformation was held. A meeting of Polish university rectors with representatives of EU institutions to support innovation and research in Poland was also organised. In general, the Regional Offices from all EU member states organise about a hundred events annually, and each office demonstrates the best regional practices in various fields. For example, the office of the Warmia and Mazury Voivodeship shares its experience of how to interest young people in staying in their region. Also, the director emphasised, the offices from 5 voivodeships of Poland have united in the organisation «House of Eastern Poland» to achieve better results through consolidated efforts. For example, they jointly implemented the Green Velo initiative, and in 2025 they plan to hold an event called Startups from Eastern Poland on eco-products.
The participants of the lecture actively participated in the discussion and were interested in the challenges in the activities of the Regional Offices in Brussels, establishing effective communication channels, internship opportunities for students from Ukraine in such institutions, etc. It is important to note that the lecture by Malgorzata Wasilenko, Director of the Regional Office of the Warmia and Mazury Voivodeship in Brussels, was attended not only by professors and students of Lviv Polytechnic, but also by the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (Poland). In total, more than 120 students and teachers from both universities took part in the event. The EU_LEAD project team thanks all the participants for an interesting discussion and understanding of the importance of the EU institutions. More information about the project is available by the link https://lpnu.ua/eu-lead.
