Small Town Co-operation

Shortly before the accession to the EU, the polish society is beginning to understand the meaning of the big European family and what it means to be European. In Leba this process has been occurring for years - among the administrative staff and the inhabitants.

The town of Leba has been maintaining friendly contacts with the cities around the Baltic. In 1999 two contracts were signed: with a German municipality of Hohnstorf on Elbe and with a Swedish town of Borgholm on the Oland Island. Those contracts were about the cooperation in the field of sport, tourism, culture, history, municipal economy and environmental protection. The contracts are maintained through the frequent mutual visits of the representatives of the local authorities, businessmen and inhabitants.

In consequence of the satisfied bilateral relations, the Leba town authorities decided to find new partners. The municipalities of similar natural resources of tourist activity and located on the Eastern Baltic Coast, were of the biggest interest. After some time of investigations, the Russian town of Zelenogradsk, which is a partner city of Borgholm and is located in the province of Kaliningrad, and Lithuanian town Neringa were selected. Apart from the similar natural features, but also the person of Max Pechstein is common for Leba and Neringa.

In the second half of the last year the preliminary contacts between the town of Leba and of those towns were signed. Thanks to the formal contacts between Leba and Zelenogradsk, and also the fact that the cities of Zelenogradsk -Borgholm and Leba-Borgholm were cooperating, gave the basis to form new triple contact. This is how, before the enlargement of the EU, the idea of the Baltic Sea as the internal sea of the EU has become real. After many years of beneficial co-operation with the partner cities, Leba will continue to improve it because it has given the monument to the local development and it creates the perspectives of positive changes.