50th celebration of Days of Mokranjac in Negotin were seized as an opportunity to announce European Cooperation Day 2015 and a chance for Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra to perform for the first time in 15 years there, thanks to support from EU Delegation, receiving a standing ovation in fully-packed hall of Dom kulture. Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport took the opportunity while in Negotin to visit the families whose homes were damaged in May 2014 floods. He also announced a new EU support package, worth over EUR70 million, aimed at flood relief and prevention of floods in the future.

Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and European Choirs at Days of Mokranjac

Concert by Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra opened 50th edition of Days of Mokranjac, in the presence of Minister of Information and Culture Ivan Tasovac and Head of EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport. Each composition received an applause, honouring one of the greatest Serbian composers Stevan Stojanovic Mokranjac.

Under the baton of Vladimir Kulenovic, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra performed works by Aleksandar Vujic – Srpsko kolo; Antonin Dvorzak – Concert for Cello and Orchestra in B minor; and Petar Konjevic – Symphony in C minor. Cello soloist was Maja Bogdanovic.

Conductor Kulenovic said that “Mokranjac composed music which left a huge imprint on many generations of Serbian composers” and that “retrospectively, it is quite exciting to list the motifs taken by Mokranjac from common people. I wish those folk motifs could stay alive, both through performance of Mokranjac (and Konjovic’s) works and through creativity of present and future composers,” Kulenovic said.

Concert by Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra in Negotin was financed by EU Delegation. EU Ambassador Davenport said that 50th edition of Days of Mokranjac proved that superb forms of culture might stay alive provided there was an adequate audience, whereas that six European choirs gave the festival a European dimension.

Minister of Culture and Information Ivan Tasovac thinks that “Stevan Mokranjac was to Serbian music what Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic was to Serbian language.” Together with Ambassador Davenport and President of Municipality of Negotin Jovan Milovanovic, he visited Mokranjac’s irth house, describing the visit as “an emotional moment” because his first musical steps were made at Mokranjac Music School.

Europe and Serbia Join Forces in Face of Refugee Crisis

Ambassador Davenport and Minister Tasovac opened the exhibition titled “Art without Borders” organised by Serbian European Integration Office, within celebration of European Cooperation Day and 50th edition of Days of Mokranjac in Negotin. On that occasion, Ambassador said that the winning photo of the exhibition will be proclaimed on 21 September, the same day the exhibition opens in Belgrade.

Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia said that “Europe is faced with new and enormous challenges. I think it is clear that Serbia makes part of that Europe, sharing the best and supreme European values, which we clearly saw in past couple of days when it faced migrant crisis.”

While explaining the importance of cooperation with EU countries, President of Municipality of Negotin Jovan Milovanovic said that “thanks to its geographical position, Negotin takes part in cross-border cooperation programmes with Romania and Bulgaria” which date back to 2004. Negotin has established excellent cooperation with Turnu Severin in Romania, Milovanovic said, and, among numerous projects implemented with Bulgaria, he mentioned “Reconstruction of Park-Forest Cvecara” and “Primary Waste Selection”.

Additional EUR10 Mil of EU Support for Reconstruction of Flood-Affected Houses

While in Negotin, Head of EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport also visited the flood-affected area. He reminded that “this year, European Union allocated additional EUR10 million for reconstruction/construction of flood-affected houses” within EUR70 million programme, mainly focused on prevention of natural disasters.

Davenport and President of Negotin Municipality Jovan Milovanovic, visited the Mihajlovic and Jenic families, whose houses were damaged during September 2014 floods.

EU stands ready to help these families and provide them with housing solutions, Davenport said and reminded that, so far, the EU built or reconstructed more that 1,000 of flood-affected homes and supported over 15,000 farmers whose farms were destroyed. He highlighted the importance of flood-prevention, stating that investing a single euro in prevention measures means saving seven euros for flood relief.

Davenport and Milovanovic said that it was necessary to have experts once again on the ground to assess the scope of damage on flood-affected houses, since many of those houses showed significant deterioration over time and future EU intervention required assessment of real situation and level of damage. Danish Refugee Council, in charge of implementation of project in South Serbia, will engage in this work and apply its vast experience, acquired during flood relief in Central Serbia, in municipalities in East Serbia included in EU assistance programme, Davenport said.