EGTC-Workshop 2018/3 (Esztergom)

The EGTC workshop took place for the third time this year, organised by the Department for Regional and Cross-border Development of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ister-Granum EGTC, supported by the 3.3.3-15-2016-00002 project of the Public Administration and Civil Service Development Operational Programme on 22 November 2018 in Esztergom. The host, the Inter-Granum EGTC celebrated the 10th anniversary of their establishment on 23 November 2018.
On Thursday’s the professional forum, the participants listened to a presentation about the accounting experiences of the EU subsidies, the current situation of the cross-border cooperation programmes of the programming period of 2014-2020 and the programme of the Visegrád Fund. Then the Director of the Ister-Granum EGTC, Péter Nagy made a presentation about his experiences on infrastructure investments management. To finish the day, the co-workers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade informed the audience about the recent topics concerning EGTCs.
The ceremonial event on Friday was launched by the deputy secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Kiss-Parciu. Later, the secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Pál Völner and the ambassador of the Slovak Republic in Hungary, Pavol Hamžík greeted the guests.
One of the founders, the former Mayor of Štúrovo, Ján Oravec, who actively participated in the establishment of the Ister-Granum EGTC, shared his memories with the audience.
The current co-chairs of the EGTC greeted the audience as hosts: the Mayor of Esztergom, Etelka Romanek and the Mayor of Štúrovo, Eugen Szabó.
Later in the morning, the Secretary-General of CESCI, the former Director of the EGTC and the coordinating ‘manager’ of the development of the Euroregion from the beginning, Gyula Ocskay has demonstrated the forming and history of the Ister-Granum cooperation and the collaborative work.
Later, four EGTCs on the Slovak-Hungarian border EGTCs introduced themselves, moderated by the director of the Pons Danubii EGTC, Zoltán Bara: the Pons Danubii EGTC, the Rába – Danube – Váh EGTC, the Via Carpatia EGTC and the host, the Ister-Granum EGTC.
The professional lectures in the afternoon focused on the future. During the roundtable discussion moderated by a member of the European Committee of the Regions and the general assembly of the Pest region, Ádám Karácsony, the Head of Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, dr. Katalin Fekete showcased the European associations in Hungary, while the co-worker of the Slovak Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, Eva Reichelova showcased the EGTCs in Slovakia. Representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic, Marianna Bašistová, representative of the Directorate General for Regional Policy of the European Commission, Katalin Júlia Pénzes and representative of the Council of Europe Counselling Center, Alina Tatarenko have presented about the future opportunities of cross-border cooperation the situation of EGTCs in the European Union.