Rába-Danube-Váh EGTC

The main purpose of the RDV EGTC is to strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion in the area of operation; to promote cross-border regional cooperation by the various development axes and to create a permanent institutional structure covering the entire Hungarian-Slovak Danube area. The RDV EGTC is dedicated to support every initiative that can draw the attention of the world to the region. The most important aspect of successful cross-border cooperation is that people accept and understand each other and they are able to continue to work together.

It is necessary to encourage and support the cooperation between communities, which brings people closer to each other. On the one hand, it requires the establishment of programmes that take into consideration the experiences of the recent years from both points of view, namely the supervisors and the implementers. On the other hand, it is essential to provide opportunities for cooperation that in the long term enhances trust within the objectives and mechanisms promoted by the European Union and the partnership between the organisations of the two countries. Through the realized projects, the Small Project Fund provides one of the most appropriate and spectacular opportunities that reach and touch the most people.

For the RDV EGTC, it is important to review the future plans, developments, their background and to precisely define and elaborate the objectives in time. The strategy reflecting to the directives and objectives drafted in the Interreg V-A Hungary-Slovakia Cooperation Programme, and taking into consideration of the RDV EGTC’s and its partners’ experiences acquired in the 2014-2020 programming period, as well as the needs and objectives expressed by territorial actors aims to establish the successful future operation of the Small Project Fund and to define its proposed operational framework.

Every similar programme that ensures the reinforcement of regional relations, the exchange between the citizens of different countries, the mutual understanding and tolerance  and cultural, educational and economic opportunities ,  with the purpose of fostering the development of the region can be a good practise during drafting of the Small Project Fund’s implementing measures. Therefore, these issues have been studied, and the relevant experiences, working practices and procedures have been considered during the design of the strategy.

In the framework of the thematic preparation, an online questionnaire was sent to the territorial actors in order to assess the importance and the current state of cross-border partnerships and there was also an opportunity to share experiences, difficulties, possible needs and emerging project ideas from the past events. In addition, difficulties and critical factors for application and implementation expressed during previous consultations by stakeholders – mostly applicants – were summarized.

As a result of the complementary preparatory activities, considering and reflecting on the 2021-2027 Interreg V-A Hungary-Slovakia Cooperation Programme, procedural proposals were drafted for the small projects under the next cooperation programme.