After a 6-year long preparation phase, the governments of Hungary and Austria signed the agreement on cross-border ambulance services. CESCI also participated in the preparation of the agreement which will enable mutual ambulance operations across the border.

CESCI organised the first workshop for ambulance services from Hungary and the neighbouring countries in 2018 to promote knowledge transfer and exchange between the institutions operating according to diverse legislative backgrounds and governance. Thanks to the subsequent Legal accessibility projects financed by the Ministry of Justice another workshop and a study visit to Sankt Pölten were organised and, in cooperation with the ambulance service of Lower Austria and the Emergency Dispatch Center – Notruf Niederösterreich coordinated by Siegfried Weinert, and adapting the model applied at the Czech-Austrian border, the expert dr Tamás Balogh has drafted a proposal on a Hungarian-Austrian ambulance cooperation agreement.

In the project Heal Now implemented between 2020 and 2022 with the support of the Interreg V-A Austria-Hungary programme CESCI was a mere external professional partner but the project partners considered the draft agreement a good starting point for a proposal on the institutionalisation of the cooperation. With the involvement of the experts of the National Ambulance Service, the negotiating delegations of the two governments have prepared the agreement which was signed during the summer of 2024 and, after the ratification at the two Parliaments, it will take effect through regional sub-treaties.

CESCI took part with pleasure in the honouring mission as a result of which the living standards of the border citizens might improve shortly.