"...from the town hall" - 16.06.2023

Dear fellow citizens,

Next weekend, the traditional wine festival of the "Zeller Schwarze Katz" is coming up, to which we welcome wine friends from near and far. As the new festival site is not yet available, we will celebrate this year both on the market square and mainly in the Moselle promenade. This will lead to changes and restrictions in traffic management.

The construction of the stage at the jetty will start on Wednesday and the dismantling will take place on Tuesday. During this time, it will not be possible to drive through the Moselpromenade. We ask for your understanding. Due to the wishes of the visitors, we have decided to keep the bar open a little longer this year. The bar will end at 1:00 a.m. and the festival area will be cleared at 2:00 a.m.

You will find detailed information on traffic routing in the VG Zell newsletter. I ask you to inform your guests in good time about the changed traffic routing and, if necessary, to arrange a meeting point outside the core town area so that your guests do not drive unnecessarily into the town centre and find no parking space. In Kaimt-Süd we have prepared the areas in the foreland of the Moselle and free parking spaces are now available there.

For the little festival visitors, there is a small amusement area starting at Lindenplatz. In addition, we have set up a large bouncy castle at the other end of the festival area, at the junction of Johannesgasse.

I wish all Zellers, their guests and all visitors a happy and peaceful festival with good wine and sunshine.

This year, the month of May was dedicated to Europe. The Europe Weeks took place all over Germany during this time, with numerous activities and events organised to inform people about Europe, discuss the future, get to know other countries and cultures, and discover Europe on the ground.

In Rhineland-Palatinate, too, the Europe Weeks offered a very good opportunity to focus on Europe and to ignite enthusiasm for Europe in the state.

As I reported to you in the last ".... aus dem Rathaus", our young footballers from the Zell-Bullay playing group took part in the international youth football tournament of our twin towns in Plonsk / Poland over Whitsun. The encounters with young people of the same age from France, Belgium and Poland led to initial contacts between the participants, which are to be maintained and developed through pen-pal friendships and further encounters within the framework of the town friendships and links between the schools. In this way, sport was one of the many ways to get to know Europe on a small scale and to experience it directly. The State Chancellery of Mainz provided a grant of 1,298.68 euros for this youth meeting in Poland.

The State Chancellery of Rhineland-Palatinate continues to cordially invite all European policy actors in Rhineland-Palatinate, both civil society and all other interested parties, to participate with various actions and events such as workshops, seminars, youth encounters, lectures, school visits, sports, educational and cultural events and much more.

The following thematic priorities have been set for 2023 in Rhineland-Palatinate:

60 years of the Elysée Treaty: What future for the Franco-German tandem?

Network of 4: Rhineland-Palatinate, Burgundy-Franche-Comté, Opole and Central Bohemia 20 Years in Step with Europe

2023: European Year of Skills: Lifelong learning opens doors

Of course, all actors can also enrich the Europe Weeks with their own ideas and contribute to bringing the European idea to the public. The State Chancellery of Rhineland-Palatinate can provide information material as well as financial support for selected events and projects. Applications for this should be submitted immediately by e-mail to europa(at)stk.rlp.

If you are planning European policy events that are thematically related to the Europe Weeks 2023 but will take place later in the year, funding applications must be submitted by the end of the school year on 21 July 2023.

I wish you all a pleasant, sunny and successful week and meet you at the Wine Festival next week.

Your Mayor

Hans-Peter Döpgen