EGTC-Workshop 2016/1 (Komarno)

The next in line Hungarian EGTC workshop was held in Komárno, co-organised by CESCI and the local Pons Danubii EGTC. Within the framework of the two-day programme on March 31 and April 1, the EGTC itself also presented its success projects.

During the previous meeting of EGTCs with Hungarian participation in November 2015, it was decided that it would always be one of the groupings to host the others. This is not only a way of taking exchange of experiences to a new level by learning from each other’s projects and their results, but it can equally strengthen relations, given the opportunity to witness working conditions in person.

The first workshop of 2016 was hosted by the Pons Danubii EGTC based in Komárno (SK). In the first part of the event, Iveta Námerová and Peter Baluň, representatives of the Slovak-Hungarian INTERREG V-A’s managing authority presented the programme and the first call, planned to be opened in the near future. They were followed by Béla Hegyesi, representative of the Hungarian national contact point for transnational and interregional programmes, who spoke about experiences on the Danube Transnational Programme’s first call for proposal, its second call as well as the Seed Money tool to be launched at the beginning of 2017.

At the end of the first day, Zoltán Bara, director of the Pons Danubii EGTC spoke about the successful projects of the grouping so far and about the experiences gained during their realisation. He said the EGTC had realised and managed projects of a value over 3 million Euros in the last few years. Topics of the projects include media cooperation, development of industrial park infrastructure, bicycle road construction and labour market cooperation. Attendees then had the chance to visit the bicycle track along the Váh of approximately 20 km by means of an excursion by small train.

On the second day of the workshop, associates of the Banat-Triplex-Confinium (BTC) EGTC held training on their certificate and accounting system, after which CESCI’s Legal Accessibility project was presented by its secretary general, Gyula Ocskay. As a closing to the morning programme, the usual consultation was held with co-workers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, where accounts of last year’s operation funds, the expected system of this year’s call, the upcoming government resolution, as well as the expected implementation procedure of the ministerial KÖFOP call were discussed.

At the end of the workshop, participants accepted the BTC EGTC’s invitation, therefore the location of the next workshop will be Mórahalom, early June.