Conference of EGTC approval authorities was organised in Lovasberény.
Between 27th and 28th February the first annual meeting of the EGTC approval authorities was organised in Lovasberény, Hungary.
Beside Hungary the neighbour countries were represented at the conference. Not just approval authorities but EGTCs and the Hungarian CESCI and the French MOT attended the event which was hosted by the Hungarian Ministry of Public Administration and Justice.
The objective of the conference was to exchange experience among approval authorities and to discuss problems and questions arising in the neighbouring countries. Furthermore, to get to know each others’ rule of law, the opinion of the European Commission that leads the amending process of the EGTC Regulation, and also to hear the best practices.
Besides the solution of problems arising from the different legal regulations, the approval authorities’ further task is to eliminate the hindering factor of the variant public administration and political systems regarding the economic development ambitions of the local level.
Dr. Katalin Fekete head of department greeted and introduced the participants. After that dr. Viktória Zöld-Nagy deputy state secretary responsible for the development of territorial public administration opened the session. In her introductory speech she emphasized need for the regular meetings of approval authorities which is also supported by the Committee of the Regions.
Representing the member states’ approval authorities the following experts made a speech: Dr. Nóra Ivády deputy head of department, Zuzana Hofericová (Slovakia), Iuliu Bara (Romania), Elisabeth Fercsak (Austria) és Roman Lavtar (Slovenia).
The European Commission was also represented by José Antonio Ruiz de Casas who talked about the planned amendment of the EGTC Regulation and its objectives. Regarding the EGTCs he highlighted the triple priority of continuity (long-term cooperation), comprehensibility (simplified establishment and operation) and the flexibility (harmonization).
The participants of the conference set down their proposals in a declaration.
The presentations can be found here:
EGTCs:
CESCI speech
MOT speech
You can find pictures in the Gallery.