Europejskie Ugrupowanie Współpracy Terytorialnej
Project partners:
miasto Nowy Targ miasto Kezmarok

New publication: The Tatra Euroregion - Polish-Slovak Cross-border Cooperation Between Local Self-Governments

The publication we give in your hands summarizes 17 years of Polish-Slovak cross-border cooperation of local self-governments within the Euroregion Tatry, its history, major events and achievements.

Since the earliest stages of its activities, the Euroregion has outpaced the local and national changes which have been taking place in both countries. Today Poland and Slovakia are members of teh European Union and belong to the Schengen Pact, which opens new possibilities for cross-border cooperation. The experience gained in 17 years of work has encouraged both sides to incerease the efficiency and focus of their work. A distant, yet realistic, goal for the Euroregion aimed at increasing the qulity of cross-border cooperation in the transformation of Euroregion Tatry into a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation, or the creation of a separate organization for this purpose. The 15th Congress of the Euroregion, which took place on the 14th of April 2009 in Muszyna, passed an act towards this goal. The creation of the first such organization on the borders of Poland is not only an organizational and legal challenge requiring close cooperation based on unity, a non-rigid international border, and institutionalization of structures with a single budger, single currency, and clear legal principles of functioning, but also a challenge of prejudices and mentalities. With this i smind, the Polish and Slovak branches of the Euroregion Tatry together with the cities of Nowy Targ and Kezmarok are currently implementing a project entitled "From Euroregion Tatry to a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation", as part of the PWT PL-SK 2007-2013 program. The polish-slovak working group created for this purpose is currently preparing conventions and statutes which will define the future shape of the Grouping.

This is the first part of the publication, which summarizes the Polish-Slovak cross-border co-operation within the Tatry Euroregion, covering the period of 1994-2011. The publication has been translated into Slovak and English, and richly illustrated with photographs. The second part will be released next year. It will include the analysis and opinions, as well as papers and speeches delivered during the international conference "From the "Tatry" Euroregion to a European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation", held in Nowy Targ on 14-15 September 2011 under the Patronage of the Polish Presidency in the Council of the European Union.

Project co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development
Fund under the Republic of Poland - Slovak Republic Cross-border Co-operation Operational
Programme 2007-2013 and from the funds of the Malopolskie Voivodship