” Extensive cooperation resulting in application to the Visegrad Fund”

Under CESCI’s leadership an international cooperation resulted in a submitted application to the Visegrad Fund’s call. The project proposal is called “With cross-border cooperation for the Europeanisation of Ukrainian borders” and the project partners, apart from CESCI, are the Institute of Economic and Legal Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Uzhgorod National University’s Faculty of Law, the Institute of Political Science of the University of Presov, the Stanisław Leszczycki Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences and the Technical University of Liberec. The results of the tender are expected to be announced at the end of July.

The general objective is to contribute to the Europeanisation of the Ukrainian borders with Visegrad countries by the adaptation of European standards, methods and values in the field of CBC. The specific objective is to boost CBC by improving its conditions at national (legal background), regional and local (capacity development) level. For the sake of better legal background, the partners will analyse the current frames and, in cooperation with officials of the Ukrainian state power agencies, will draft textual recommendations on amendments of acting legislation to be passed to the Government, the Parliament, the European Commission – Support Group for UA and the Association Council. The process will be accompanied with expert meetings and discussions; the final results will be presented at the international conference organised by the Košice Platform in Prešov.

In parallel, also regional and local actors’ capacities should be developed in order to enable them to actively participate in CB activities and use the benefits of the improved conditions. Therefore, the partners will develop a training material and organise the first training on CBC in Uzhgorod with the following thematic components:

• legal-institutional and economic background of CBC;
• European policy background;
• citizens’ involvement in CBC;
• paradiplomacy of regional and local actors;
• intercultural cooperation;
• governance of CBC;
• joint CB planning;
• project development;
• fundraising.