The House of Europe in Rhodes

«Current translation pending review – For demonstration only».

The Deputy Mayor of Culture, Mr. Teris Hadjiioannou and a delegation of the House of Europe in Rhodes, had a working meeting a few days ago with the aim of informing the Deputy Mayor about the forthcoming international events of the House and coordinating the actions with the Municipality of Rhodes, who is co-organizer to them. The purpose of the meeting is to offer unique hospitality and great experience for our Greek and international visitors.

The delegation of the House consisted of its Chairman Michalis Kavuklis, Treasurer Stavros Chrysochos and members of the Organizing Committee of the Rhodes Model Regional Co-operation International Rhodes Modeling Conference, or Rhodes MRC 2016, Anna Charitou, Honorary President of the House, and Mrs. Lina Filippaki, a teacher and a member of the House Educational Programs Committee.

The Deputy Mayor was briefed on the outstanding success of RhodesMRC 2016, an award-winning international simulation event hosted in Rhodes in October, and is organized by the House of Europe in Rhodes in collaboration with the South Aegean Region, the Municipality of Rhodes, the Department of Mediterranean Of the University of the Aegean and the European Network for Education and Training – EUNET. This year’s event has surpassed all expectations, as the confirmed entries have surpassed 400 compared to 250 last year. Please note that registrations will remain open until mid-September. The largest universities in Greece, such as the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, the University of Piraeus, the University of Macedonia, the Democritus University of Thrace, the Panteion University and the University of the Aegean participate in many organized missions, while individual participants or organized missions will come from the US, Qatar, Cyprus, Romania, Turkey, Germany and France, among others.

It was precisely this great success of the conference that was acknowledged by the Deputy Mayor, who confirmed the Municipality’s long-standing support for the event and expressed his conviction that the Municipality will have an excellent cooperation with the Organizing Committee to ensure that our 400 visitors unique academic experience and the opportunity to get to know Rhodes in the best possible way. At this point it is worth noting that the conference is funded by 90% by the participants themselves, who cover their expenses, the cost of their stay and attendance at the conference. Furthermore, as shown by the Organizing Committee statistics, on average, in addition to the costs mentioned above, each participant in the conference spends on the local market an average of € 90, an extremely important contribution to the local economy and towards the end of the season, while a large percentage of them return to Rhodes as guests.

The Deputy Mayor was even informed of the other International House Program, Camp Democracy NEWS 1, which will bring young and new people from Greece, Sweden, Romania and Germany to Rhodes in early September in a unique workshop which will be hosted in the village of Monolithos, focusing on the future of Europe and the active participation of young people in shaping it. The Deputy Mayor greeted the effort and confirmed the City’s auspices. The Camp Democracy program is funded by the Erasmus + program and will continue after Rhodes with workshops in Sweden, Romania and Germany.

Lastly, a special reference was made to the Volunteer Group, which will soon start organizing the House of Europe, with the aim of creating a permanent team to assist both the House and other organizations such as the Municipality, the Region or other NGO.