Inaugural European Championships co-hosts Glasgow and Berlin ‘to take partnership to next level’
Credit: Gerry Images
Berlin and Glasgow, co-hosts of the inaugural multi-sport European Championships, are planning a close working relationship focusing on culture, housing and the environment following the success of their partnership in 2018
As reported in GlasgowLive, the Scottish city’s politicians are discussing with representatives from the German capital to establish a two-way partnership that will see both cities ‘’thrive in the wake of Brexit’’.
Glasgow City Council’ s deputy leader, Councillor David McDonald, has been working with Berlin representatives to create several possible alliances between the two cities.
Councillor McDonald said, “We have been looking at a number of cities across the world to see how we can learn lessons from them and to see who Glasgow should align itself to.
“Berlin was one of those cities and after the success of working with them in 2018 during the European Championships, we were keen not to lose that link. We wanted to take the partnership to the next level.
“They were impressed with our inclusive volunteer programme and have now adopted that idea for their own events including the Berlin Marathon.
“This is a ‘preferred’ partnership – as they normally work with capital cities. We won’t be recreating the twin city approach as that is quite old fashioned. We want a partnership focused on benefitting people in Glasgow and Berlin.”
Councillor McDonald is already working with officials in Berlin to develop a digital skills map that brings together European regions and cities and promotes the exchange of knowledge, ideas and projects about the digital future of education and training.
There are also proposals to help artists living in Glasgow and Berlin which could benefit the night-time economy.
The European Championships in 2018 took place through 2nd to 12th August, with Glasgow and Berlin successfully staging seven European Championships with 13 disciplines.
A television audience of more than 1.4 billion watched this memorable first edition on free-to-air channels via EBU Member broadcasters and partners in 44 territories across Europe and worldwide. There were 1.9 billion visits on websites registered and the reach on social media was 745 million.
Across the two host cities, a total of one million people attended a sports session at the likes of Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, watched a road race on the cities’ streets, or experienced the festival-like atmospheres in George Square in Glasgow and the Breitscheidplatz in Berlin.