EGTC-Workshop 2015/2 (Budakeszi)

One of the guests at the workshop was the State Secretary of the National Policy of the Prime Minister’s Office, Árpád János Potápi, who explained the national policy role of cross-border cooperation. The second guest was a researcher of CEU, Sara Svensson, who talked about her research findings regarding EGTCs and made several interviews with participants during the workshop.

At the beginning of the workshop, Árpád János Potápi demonstrated the main objectives of the Hungarian national policy strategy, emphasizing the importance of cross-border cooperation in terms of achieving these objectives. The EGTCs can contribute to these objectives through their connections with cross-border Hungarian ethnic groups, as well as their role as intermediaries towards neighbouring people.

Sara Svensson showcased her research on domestic EGTCs, including the founding motivation, the most popular cooperation sectors and the cooperation system between certain EGTCs.

The coworkers of the ministry indicated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was given the opportunity within the framework of the Public Administration and Civil Service Development Operational Programme to provide expertise on the development work of the EGTCs. The first call is planned to be published in 2016.

The newly established Hungarian-Croatian Mura Region EGTC was introduced during the workshop, and the participants discussed the EGTC fund questions of the ministry in detail.

The CESCI rated the website of the groupings based on a comprehensive assessment system. Gyula Ocskay raised the awareness of the participants to address the gaps based on this system. 

The participants declared that they would like to organise a meeting of European EGTCs in Hungary, and they also discussed the execution order of the meeting.