General information about Nysa Euroregion

Neisse-Nisa-Nysa Euroregion (ERN) gathers three border regions situated in a heart of Europe on the borders of the Czech Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland. Those three regions have many common problems and interests that are related to similar historical events and political system changes. The Conference that initiated the Euroregion establishment took place on 23rd to 25th of May 1991 in Zittau (Polish name: Żytawa) under the auspices of presidents of the three states: Vaclav Havel, Richard von Weizsäcker and Lech Wałęsa with a participation of 300 representatives of the three border area residents: Czech, German and Polish. It wasn‘t only local politics that took part, there was also many representatives of different areas like: scientists, journalists, representatives of non-government organizations, culture and tourism activists, and others.

The most important achievement of this Conference was issuing the memorandum, that specified intentions, forms and ranges of future cooperation. Within the last six months of 1991 declarations of accessing the Euroregion were submitted by: 34 communities of the former Jelenia Góra province, 5 districts of North Czech and 9 districts and one town separated of East Saxony. That allowed the performance of a state conference within each country (in Liberec on the 28th of August 1991, Jelenia Góra on the 8th November 1991 and Zittau on 19th November 1991), where 10 state representatives of each country were chosen to form 30-member seats ERN Council of 3 countries.

Officially the Euroregion was created on 21 of December 1991 which is the date of the first meeting of ERN Council in Zittau when the representatives of all three states agreed upon the act about creating the new and first Central and East Europe cross-border structure: Neisse-Nisa-Nysa Euroregion. This is an official name. All three sides have given oneself the right to use a shortened version of the name with the border river name in its own language. Formally the Euroregion is a voluntary union of interests of communities and districts and according the law of the participating states it doesn’t have a legal personality and all Euroregion bodies operate within the legal standards of their own country. The members of the Euroregion are three associations and communal unions:

  • On the Polish side: The Association of Nysa Euroregion Polish Communities,
  • On the Czech side:  Euroregion Nisa regionálni komunálni sdruženi mĕst a obci severnich Čech,
  • On the German side: Kommunalgemeinschaft EUROREGION NEISSE e.V.

The main Euroregion goals are:

  • Eliminating negative influence of state borders
  • Raising living standards of Euroregion residents
  • Raising natural and cultural conditions of life
  • Developing economical potential in the Euroregion area
  • Supporting all activities on the regional level that lead participating countries to an integration within the European Union