To enhance the visibility and perception of the V4 cooperation, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Budapest had a kickoff meeting on 16 June 2021 as part of the ‘Closer to the Citizens’ initiative.
Ambassador Tibor Bial invited the Slovak, Polish and Hungarian participants so that they could give new momentum to the process of eliminating legal and administrative obstacles among the V4 countries, with a view to their shared interests. These obstacles currently hinder a number of policy cooperations and regional project development.
In their welcoming addresses, the representatives of all 4 countries expressed their delight that they could work together for the elimination of legal and administrative obstacles. They agreed that there was a need in several areas to bring the V4 cooperation closer to the people, i.e. to make the implementation of V4 projects simpler.
This was followed by presentations describing issues for discussion. Dr. Katalin Fekete, Chief Government Adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, discussed the significance of grassroots initiatives and how these can be turned into projects. Gyula Ocskay, Secretary General of the Central European Service for Cross-border Initiatives, introduced the everyday challenges of people living in border areas that could be solved by a legally accessible environment achieved under the V4 cooperation. Dr. Edit Szilágyiné Bátorfi, Director of the International Visegrad Fund, described the role the Fund plays in sustainable territorial development through exemplary projects already implemented. Dr. Julianna Orbán Máté, director of the Via Carpatia EGTC, which is active in the Slovak-Hungarian border area, provided an overview of the tasks performed by EGTCs with already steady operation in some border areas as institutionalised cooperations.
The kickoff meeting resulted in a discourse commending the need for legal accessibility, and participants urged one another to keep this issue on the agenda.