Polish Public TV broadcasting internationally showed an interview with Mr Kees van Rooij, mayor of Horst aan de Maas.
Polish Public TV broadcasting internationally TVP Polonia and the Statue of ‘’For The Merits of Poland and the Polish People Abroad’’ Award of the Polish Public TV visited Mr Kees van Rooij, mayor of Horst aan de Maas to talk about succesful integration of Polish citizens in his region and his cooperation with Poland.
Mr Kees van Rooij also congratulated Ms Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska from our Central and Eastern Europe Center for winning a prestigious TVP award : ‘’For The Merits of Poland and the Polish People Abroad’’.
Mr van Rooij is the president of the project ”Het belang van arbeidsmigranten” (the importance of migrant workers) with municipalities of Horst aan de Maas, Venray, Peel en Maas, Venlo, Leudal. The project won the Honorary Polonus award in November 2016. ( Honorary Polonus: a person or organisation that contributes significantly to the integration of Polish people in the Netherlands or contributes significantly to promoting the knowledge about Poland)
North Limburg municipalities Horst aan de Maas, Venray, Peel en Maas, Venlo and Leudal decided to break the negative image of migrant workers and as the first municipalities in the Netherlands decided to ensure that Poles were perceived as neighbours, fellow citizens of the region and not just the ‘immigrants’.
The project “The importance of migrant workers” is an example of successful cooperation of national government authorities, regional authorities and migrant workers, whose aim is to welcome new neighbors and involve them in the region. This regional project has become an example for regions throughout the Netherlands and beyond. It showed the true face of Poles, as hard-working new neighbours, who together with the Dutch want to start their new life in the Netherlands.
