Esch2022 Partners: “The European Capital of Culture will perhaps make it possible to erase the borders a little bit”

Julien Moschetti is an optician in Audun-le-Tiche and president of the traders’ association ARR de Vivre which represents the interests of the traders in the border municipalities of Audun-le-Tiche, Russange and Rédange. In the interview, he emphasises the potential of Esch2022 as a link between the Luxembourg municipalities as well as the source of the energy that will stimulate the involvement of the traders to join in creating the future of their region.

ARR de Vivre was founded in March this year. What was your motivation?

Motivation came as a result of the economic and health crisis that we have all lived through. It seemed to me that it would be appropriate to join forces so that we can move forward more smoothly and prepare the future of the retail trade in the town of Audun-le-Tiche.

Your association represents the interests of traders, artisans and the liberal professions. How do you want to help the local actors?

We are trying to help them by increasing their visibility as we realised that we were in towns that were considered dormitory towns. The aim of the association is to highlight and showcase all the available services, all the available businesses in the town.

Why is ARR an Esch2022 partner?

We wanted to become a partner of Esch2022 because culture has a very, very important place in municipal life. So it was essential for us, as traders, to get involved in the culture of our town.

Why should local businesses get involved with the European Capital of Culture?

The scope of Esch2022 will really put our territory on the map and we must take advantage of this special attention. This way, people from neighbouring territories, who are not necessarily locals, will discover the services available in these towns.

What does Esch2022 mean for you as a trader?

For me, Esch2022 symbolises a wide range of events as well as many people participating in cultural events: art, theatre, everything that makes our life dynamic. It also means being interested in a lot of different things, in areas that you are not necessarily familiar with.

Audun-le-Tiche, Russange and Rédange are border regions. What does this mean in terms of relations between the municipalities of Luxembourg and the French municipalities?

In the past, there was never really any interaction between the traders and even between the towns of Esch, Audun-le-Tiche, and Villerupt. Through Esch2022, we have the opportunity to meet our Luxembourg counterparts and other professionals from the Luxembourg side. We had never taken the time to meet and talk. For some months now, we have been communicating much more.

Esch2022 would perhaps make it possible to erase a little the borders between the municipalities of Luxembourg and France. For me, Audun-le-Tiche is in a way an extension of Esch-sur-Alzette. The border exists on paper, but we need to erase it so that we can have real commercial, intellectual and other types of exchange and thus benefit from all this collective energy that will be released throughout the next year and beyond this time.

I am creating the future and you can too! Find out everything you need to know to become an Esch2022 partner here: https://esch2022.lu/become-a-partner/en/become-a-partner.html