EGTC-Workshop 2016/3 (Košice)

Managers from 13 European Territorial Associations took part in the workshop which was organized in Košice on 28-29 September by the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade organized the last EGTC workshop of 2016 in Košice (Slovakia) this time, with the support of the Public Administration and Civil Service Development Operative Programme. 27 participants came to the workshop this time representing EGTCs. The participants were welcomed on behalf of the Via Carpathia EGTC by director Julianna Orbán Máté, vice president István Zachariás (district municipality of Košice), and president Dezső Török (local government of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County). The director summarized the previous activities, results and plans of the EGTC in her presentation.

The two-day programme was very eventful. Csilla Veres, director of the technical secretariat of the Hungarian-Slovak INTERREG V-A programme, was the first to introduce the current call for proposal. Following that, Dorottya Fenyvesi (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade) talked about experiences regarding the settlement of applications for operational purposes of EGTCs. At the end of the first day, the usual professional consultation also took place with employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It was discussed at this consultation that Péter Kiss-Parciu, former head of department was promoted as deputy state secretary, and that two departments will support cross-border developments within the Ministry with his management in the future. The new head of department responsible for EGTCs has become Kinga Endrész.

On the second day in the morning, Gyula Ocskay (CESCI) was the first one to give a speech about the results of the Legal Accessibility project and about the Cross-Border Review initiative of the European Commission. Ágnes Riskó, auditor of the Directorate General for Audit of European Funds (DGAEF) summarized the experiences and conclusions regarding the applications of cross-border programmes, while Dr. Beatrix Tari, head of department of the Government Control Office summarized the experiences and conclusions regarding controls at 5 EGTCs in 2015. As a closing of the event, Zoltán Barna-Lázár, executive director of ICG Ex-Ante Kft. presented the state aid rules applicable during the applications to the audience.

The next meeting of Hungarian EGTCs will be held at the beginning of 2017, at the annual EGTC forum.