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The cross-border European grouping for territorial cooperation with limited liability " German-Polish Geopark Muskau Arch " (EVTZ mbH Geopark Muskau Arch) has been founded!

We here in the district of Görlitz have a lot that only exists here and that we can be really proud of. For example the UNESCO Geopark Muskau Arch . As every schoolchild in our district knows, the fold arch is a geological formation that was formed during the Ice Age and stretches across parts of Saxony, Brandenburg and Poland. In 2015, the German and Polish geopark areas were awarded the UNESCO certificate.

The UNESCO Geopark Muskau Arch title is subject to revalidation every four years. One condition of revalidation was to create an institution that would represent the geopark in a unified way.

And this has now happened.

After several years of preparation, the cross-border European grouping for territorial cooperation with limited liability "German-Polish Geopark Muskau Arch" (EVTZ mbH Geopark Muskau Arch) has now been founded. At the constitutive meeting, the members from Poland, Brandenburg and Saxony made the first important decisions so that the network can practically start its work.

The main purpose of the EGTZ mbH Geopark Muskau Arch is to coordinate, facilitate and promote cross-border cooperation between the members. This is intended to further promote the sustainable development of the area. Tadeusz Jędrzejczak  was elected honorary chairman of the meeting .

Klein Kölzig  , Brandenburg .

The members are the municipalities of Brody, Łęknica, Przewóz, Trzebiel, Tuplice, the municipality and the city of Żary and the Lubuskie Voivodeship from Poland, the municipalities of Neisse-Malxetal and Felixsee, the Spree-Neisse district of Brandenburg and the municipality of Gablenz, the city Weißwasser/OL and the district of Görlitz from the Saxon side.

As the legal representative of the district of Görlitz, the district administrator is also the representative of the district in the EGTZ mbH Geopark Muskau Arch. The EGTZ mbH must take all its decisions unanimously. It was therefore agreed that the EGTC would work on a delegation basis with one Saxon, one from Brandenburg and one from Poland. The Saxon members have agreed that Thomas Rublack, Head of Economic Affairs, will represent the Saxon delegation.

In a next step, a full-time director is to be hired at the EGTZ mbH Geopark Muskau Arch. There will be a public tender for this. In addition, many technical tasks have to be mastered so that the office of the EGTZ mbH Geopark Muskau Arch can work. For example, the membership fees must be paid into the already created EGTC account in order to be able to work financially. At the same time, all obligations towards UNESCO have to be fulfilled, the summer camp and the events in the Geopark have to be prepared.

But these are all tasks that you can look forward to - after all, it is something very special to be able to bear the title of UNESCO World Heritage and thus one of the figureheads for the district of Görlitz.