Pálfi István Memorial Conference (2022)

On 29^th September 2022, the Pálfi István Regional Development Foundation and the Edutus University jointly organized in the border town of Esztergom a memorial conference marked by the name of the late István Pálfi, who earned timeless merits for the promotion of cross-border cooperation. This year, the theme of the commemorative conference was transport development within the broad scope of cross-border cooperation. At the conference, our Chief Analyst colleague gave a presentation on the transport development results of the European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs).

The István Pálfi Memorial Conference took place on 29^th September 2022 (Thursday) from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., which was hosted by the Saint Adalbert Centre next to the Esztergom Basilica. One of the stated goals of the conference was to praise the work of István Pálfi, which he carried out in the field of the development of cross-border cooperation and the establishment of the legal institution of EGTC. This year, the professional theme of the conference was cross-border transport development, and speakers were invited from the CESCI along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Seven Borders Self-Governing Association (HHÖOSZ), the Ister-Granum EGTC and the Institute of Transport Sciences (KTI).

At the beginning of the conference, Péter Alberti, deputy mayor of Esztergom, then Iván Farkas, mayor of Mužla, founder of HHÖSZ, gave a welcome speech. The deputy mayor spoke about the traffic situation in Esztergom, the importance of the planned M100 expressway, while Mr. Farkas spoke about the role played by EGTCs in the economic development of southern Slovakia, the transport development needs of the Štúrovo region, and the common and complementary transport features with the Hungarian side.

András Levente Gál, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the István Pálfi Regional Development Foundation, Executive Director of the Institute of Transportation Sciences, praised the work of István Pálfi and gave a lecture on the importance of cross-border transport development. He touched on the role of ETTs in border and cross-border public administration, as well as the results of the Digital Welfare Program.

Balázs Loppert, an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, gave a presentation on the role of the ministry, its support to EGTCs, its work in the field of transport development, and the Hungarian government’s transport plans and ongoing investments.

Roland Hesz, CESCI’s Chief Analyst, discussed the transport development results of EGTCs. In his presentation, based on CESCI’s own research and analysis results, he first presented the main transport development characteristics of the EGTCs for the period between 2014 and 2020-2022, the number and amount of realized projects, and the main activities. After that, in the second block of the presentation, the colleague covered best practices. First, he highlighted several good practices related to ETTs registered in Hungary (e.g. bicycle sharing systems, cross-border bus routes), and then moved on to discuss mainly Western European examples (e.g. Euregio Meuse-Rhine). Finally, the presentation ended with a synthesis, in which he summarized the work of the Hungarian-member EGTCs so far, the development process, and highlighted that the use of the EGTC institution can be a good legal-administrative planning and development solution in the field of transport development as well.

The director of Ister-Granum ETT, Péter Nagy, presented the regional development activities of the cooperation based in Esztergom. The EGTC has achieved significant results in many different subject areas, such as local products, employment, tourism, and transport itself. In connection with transport, he spoke about the plans and specific projects formulated and implemented since the foundation. This included the implementation of the freight ferry between Esztergom and Štúrovo, the Mária Valéria Bike bicycle sharing system, the creation of bicycle routes, or the plan for the cross-border business-logistics zone and a new public bridge.

Finally, Kata Benkó, the 2021 scholarship recipient of the István Pálfi Scholarship Program, gave the audience a lecture entitled Cross-Border Transport Development in Northern Hungary. During the presentation, a number of interesting and useful findings were made about the lack of coordination of the Slovak and Hungarian transport systems, transport infrastructures and services along the Ipoly river, the unexploited and defunct cross-border routes (e.g. the Balassagyarmat–Losonc corridor railway), or the parallel supplies along the river.

The conference ended with the closing speech of rector Andrea Némethné Gál.