Representatives of the “Tatra” Euroregion during the European Week of Regions and Cities OPEN DAYS

On 11-14 October 2011 members of the Polish-Slovak Commission on the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation attended the 9th European Week of Regions and Cities. The Commission, co-chaired by Mr Boguslaw Waksmundzki, Chairman of the Council of "Tatry" Euroregion Assosiation and Mr Stefan Bielak, Member of the Council of Zdruzenie Region Tatry, carries out its activities within the networking project "From Tatry Euroregion to European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation" - co-financed by European Union from the European Regional Development Fund and from the funds of Malopolskie Region.

OPEN DAYS is an annual event organized by the Committee of the Regions and the Commission's Directorate-General for Regional Policy. This year's headline read: "Investing in Europe’s future: Regions and cities delivering smart, sustainable and inclusive growth". The event gathered nearly 6000 participants, for whom over 100 seminars, workshops, debated, exibitions and side events had been prepared. It was an unique opportunity to meet with members of the European Commission, Committee of the Regions and institutions involved in shaping the European Union's cohesion policy, and to establish contacts, exchange experiences and discuss the most current challenges of cohesion policy. This year's debates structured around the isues of "Europe 2020" strategy as well as the novelties included in the legislative proposals for 2014-2020 cohesion policy put forward/presented by the the European Commission on 6 October 2011. One of the presented proposals concerned the amendment of the regulation (EC) no 1082/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation. More information can be found on the Committee of the Regions website.

The main aim of the visit was to identify the results achieved by the existing EGTCs and to ascertain the prospects of the EGTCs' development as an effective legal instrument that allows territorial authorities to implement cross-border, interregional and transnational cooperation on new principles. This was particularly important in the context of the works of the Euroregion "Tatry" on the creation of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation on the polish-slovak border area carried out under the networking project "From Tatry Euroregion to European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation". The workshop titled "Added value and efficiency through the use of article 37.6(b) and EGTC" presented the achievements of regions cooperating at interregional level within the objectives of Cohesion Policy, thanks to article 37.6(b) of Regulation 1083/2006.

"Cross-border cooperation from a research and Innovation perspective: Focus on European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation" - the workshop underlined the growing importance of the European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation by presenting innovative initiatives. The acheivements in this field were presented by: Hungary ("Regions of Knowledge" programm), the Upper Rhine Tri-national Region, the EUROMETROPOLE in Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai and in Galicia - Norte Portugal.

Committe of the Regions organized the workshop of the EGTC Platform – The proposal of revision of the EGTC Regulation. It was chaired by Michel Delebarre, President of the CoR Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy, and the main speakers were Marceli Niezgoda - Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Regional Development, Johannes Hahn- Commissioner for Regional Policy, Mercedes Bresso - President of the Committee of the Regions. The workshop brought together the members of the European Parliament, the representatives of the exisiting EGTC as well as territorial cooperation support organisations. This was the major seminar reviewing the proposal of revision of the Regulation (EC) 1082/2006 presented by European Commission on 6 October 2011. The workshop was complemented by a thematic exhibition presenting the main outcomes of the application of the regulation on EGTC.

The delegation attended many meetings, during which the issues of  territorial cooperaton and its evolutoin in the context of the EU's cohesion policy were discussed, as well as the effective use of European funds and the implementation of  the Strategy Europe 2020 objectives.

During the workshop "Euroregions to develop their territories" Euroregion Tatry took the opportunity to present its extensive experience in implementation of the objectives under the Polish-Slovak Cross-border Co-operation Operational Programm 2007-2013.

During a visit in the European Parliament, the delegation met with Ms Roza Thun, Member of the European Parliament. The discussion concerned the activities of the Euroregion "Tatry", the prospects of its development and plans regarding the transformation into a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation. The results of the use of European funds in the Polish-Slovak border area were talked about, as well as the possibility of improving the procedures for implementation and management of projects under cross-border cooperation programme Poland-Slovak Republic 2007-2013.