3 languages, 8 Euroregions, many common concerns
On Tuesday, October 24, 2023, the PRO EUROPA VIADRINA Euroregion (PEV EAFRD) hosted a meeting of 8 Euroregions from the German-Czech and German-Polish border regions. This meeting at the Collegium Polonicum was attended by 20 representatives of these Euroregions in person and 4 others online.
In his welcoming address, Mr. Rainer Schinkel, Chairman of the German supporting association of the PEV Euroregion, emphasized that the border regions of Germany with Poland and the Czech Republic share a common history and that similar challenges call for joint action. Like many other of these Euroregions, the PRO EUROPA VIADRINA Euroregion will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2023. He was therefore delighted to be able to welcome the managing directors and employees of the German, Polish and Czech offices of these 8 Euroregions and thanked them for their excellent cooperation and the many joint initiatives. For example, he referred to the joint presentation of the Euroregions to the European Commission in 2017, in which the importance of small project funding by the EU for our border regions was underlined (small project funds (SPFs) are now firmly anchored in EU regulations and will continue to be available to support cross-border cooperation in the future).
Rainer Schinkel lists other examples of joint action, such as the "Open Appeal of the German-Polish Border Region" (2021) in view of the border closures during the Covid-19 pandemic, the "Open Appeal on the Oder" on the occasion of the devastating fish mortality in the Oder catchment area (2022) or the joint letter from all 8 Euroregions to the German Federal Government "Eastern Europe Cycle" to improve cross-border rail connections to Poland and the Czech Republic (2023). Against this backdrop, he is optimistic about the future and is looking forward to the exchange today, said Schinkel.
The two managing directors of the PEV ER, Krzysztof Szydłak and Toralf Schiwietz, then presented the PEV ER, its activities and the status of preparations for future small project fund support in the Brandenburg – Lubuskie program area. This was followed by an intensive exchange on the situation and procedures for funding small projects in the individual Euroregions, which differ significantly in many cases, although the EU regulations apply equally to all program areas. For example, questions regarding the sponsorship of KPF projects, their funding priorities and the maximum funding rates, the methodology for simplified billing via lump sums and questions regarding pre-financing via advances were discussed. With regard to the question of pre-financing, the approach for a new joint approach quickly emerged, which Steffen Schönicke, Managing Director of ER Egrensis, Saxony/Thuringia working group, took up in his closing remarks. Similar to the Brandenburg-Lubuskie program area, advances should also be made possible in all other border regions to secure the KPF projects.
Steffen Schönicke, who initiated the regular meetings of the German-Czech and German-Polish border regions with the Egrensis Euroregion, was pleased about the extensive and profound exchange of experiences from which all participants benefit, and held out the prospect of maintaining this type of dialog between the Euroregions, which has already proven to be a network of the German-Czech and German-Polish Euroregions.
Toralf Schiwietz (GF); Euroregion PRO EUROPA VIADRINA, Middle Oder e.V.
Frankfurt (Oder), 30.10.2023