The University of Szeged, in cooperation with the Ludovika University of Public Service and the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, founded the European Studies Network to examine current issues of European integration in interdisciplinary workshops of the most prominent Hungarian experts in political science, economics, law and related disciplines. The Network institutions organised a major conference ont he 14th of November 2024 to mark the 20th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to the European Union.

In the second half of 2024, Hungary will hold the rotational presidency of the Council of the European Union, so the event, which was structured around thematic workshops covering the full spectrum of interdisciplinary European studies, was particularly relevant. Sessions were organised on topical issues such as economic governance, neighbourhood and enlargement policy, demographic challenges, competitiveness, sustainability, climate and energy policy, cohesion policy and regional development.

In the section on cohesion policy and regional development, CESCI presented the legal and administrative divergences at bilateral level, which are the main obstacles to European integration and which affect border regions, with a particular focus on the draft of the new European mechanism that addresses them. The proportion of border regions varies across Europe: while on average border regions cover 40% of Europe’s territory, in Hungary they cover the two thirds. In the session, the aspects of measuring regional development divergences, geographical characteristics and regional typification dimensions were presented. Based on the experience of recent years, the cohesion objectives of the innovation sector are not yet being implemented in practice, and the instruments introduced by the European Union do not yet compensate for the differences in innovation between regions. The progress of grassroot initiatives and local representation in EU decision-making was demonstrated through the achievements of the Committee of the Regions. The regional development aspects were presented in the debate through the presentation of hybrid management systems and cooperation opportunities.

Dr. János Bóka, Minister for European Union Affairs, highlighted the potential of ETH for the organisation of science. In his opinion, the results of the Europe studies can be integrated into the decision-making and implementation process. He called on the experts present in the sessions to contribute to the European policy debate and to promote interoperability between different policies.