Hungarian proposals for the revision of EGTC Regulation and EGTC good practices Presenter: Dr. Erika Szabó Minister of State for Territorial Public Administration and Elections Ministry of Public Administration and Justice

2 The revision of EGTC Regulation Legislation The 1082/2006/EC Regulation on European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation The Hungarian adoption of the Regulation: Act XCIX. of 2007 (Currently 4 EGTCs operate in Hungary, and 2 more EGTCs with Slovakian seat involve Hungarian municipalities).

3 Hungary actively participates in the EU revision process: EGTCs and civil organisations, The Ministry of Public Administration and Justice has also sent its opinion for the questionnaire of the Committee of the Regions that summarized experiences in July 2010.

4 The national law, Act. XCIX/2007 was amended in December 2010 with the following objectives: Shorten the registration process, Respect deadlines – the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice was appointed as approval authority instead of the Metropolitan Court, The new Hungarian name of groupings: European Territoral Associations.

5 The process of revision at the Committee of the Regions The EGTC Regulation: „By 1 August 2011, the Commission shall forward to the European Parliament and the Council a report on the application of this Regulation and proposals for amendments, where appropriate”. Experiences are to be summarized by the Committee of the Regions in a report together with the potential proposals for amendments. At the plenary session of the Committee of the Regions, 27th December 2011 the own-initiative opinion „ New Perspectives for the revision of the EGTC Regulation” was submitted.

6 Hungarian proposals for the revision of the Regulation Unified legislation of participation from entities of third states Settlement of limited liability's matter Simplification of the accession procedure to an established EGTC Participation of civil society in cooperation - fix of criteria system Approximation of review for national legislations

7 Best practices of Hungary-based EGTCs Ister Granum EGTC Boundless destination The EGTC plans to create a unified regional tourism destination strategy and its institution along with local and regional investments. In the examination procedure the project's original budget decreased to EUR without the amendment of the project activities. The procedure of contract conclusion was completed in the first quarter of 2010, and the 24 months long project started on 1st March 2010 within the meaning of the signed support contract

8 Laboratory of European cohesion Within the meaning of the support contract the project started in November 2009, and the first professional and financial report has already been submitted. Its goal to examine in which areas it enables cross-border institutional development under the laws of the two countries Health, land use, carrying out social tasks and other areas are still not exploited subjects of cross border cooperations. Expert involvement to map the latitude as well as to set out proposals for the two countries' decision-makers

9 Abaúj in Abaúj EGTC Achieved by EU, Citizenship support by charge d'affaires of Hejce local government, The 2 years long networking program, starting in 2008, ended in November contact-making events in 5 countries: Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary With EU assistance: a four day sister city event in 2010 held by Fony local government Sister city relationship with Kézdiszentlélek settlement (Transylvania)

10 Abaúj tourism without borders The 2008 first Hungary- Slovakia Cross-Border Program with the support of 10 and indirect support of 6, the duration of the project is 18 month, The project was closed in the end of February 2011 hosting an international tourism conference, The budget of the project is nearly 1,4 million euro, from which 85% is ERFA, 10% homeland co-funding and 5% own contribution, The partnership was achieved within the framework of the project in the settlements of Upper Hungary and Hungary, renovating 5 old buildings.

11 Thank you for your attention ! Dr. Erika Szabó