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 Foto: Karin Janda-Ott / JTS |
Cross-border nature protection: Flourishing cooperation Annual Event 2010 on 13 April in Water Museum of Bratislava (SK) April 2010
The Municipal Department 27 for EU-Strategy and Economic Development of the City of Vienna in its function of Managing Authority was hosting the third Annual Event of the cross-border cooperation programme Slovakia - Austria. The Event took place on Tuesday, 13th April 2010 in the representative premises of the Water Museum of Bratislava. Approximately 100 participants from public organisations and private enterprises attended an exhibition of achievements and activities in the field of management of protected areas. |
EU-money covers urgent need to protect wetlands
Martin Hutter, representing the Managing Authority of cross-border cooperation programme Slovakia - Austria, opened the event and presented 4 projects approved in 2009, which are dedicated to activity field "Cooperation and joint management of protected areas". These projects have a cumulated total budget of 3.5 million Euro. Funding resources for further projects are available!
Doris Fried (Weinviertel Management) and Milan Janák (Daphne) introduced "ramsar skat", a project approved in december 2009. Objectives of the project running till 2012 are cross-border activities to preserve the unique variety of endangered species in the area of Morava-Thaya wetlands, as well as additional visitors' attractions to raise awareness among the general public.
Franz Steiner (via donau) and Stephan Nemetz (Umweltbundesamt - Environment Agency Austria) presented the new project idea "MoRe" - revitalisation of Morava river. Based on Slovak-Austrian memoranda on protection of environment and in coordination with similar activities in adjacent areas, preparatory activities of restoration measures shall be carried out: Among required prerequisites are feasibility study, detailed planning and status-quo analysis. An application for funding of these activities by the cross-border cooperation programme Slovakia - Austria has been submitted.
The highlight of the event was a field trip to the wetlands. First stop was at the ruins of Devín castle, where Morava river joins Danube. From this point, numerous species of animals and plants have spread along Morava up to northern Europe. Further, evidence of human settlements date back until Stone Age. The second part of the field trip led to Lake Devín, the largest wetland area of western Slovakia. Nowadays, drainage and agriculture are threatening this valuable landscape.
Better jointly than individually
Augustín Pullmann, vice-governor of Trnava self-governing region, reported in his opening speech, that regional cooperation is often just the beginning, and spreads across borders on national and even European levels. In that spirit a cooperation agreement between Lower Austria and Trnava has been signed recently.
Milan Ftáčnik from the Slovak Association of Communities and Cities (ZMOS) knows numerous examples of successful cooperation on community level. ZMOS supports its members in their search for cooperation partners. The cross-border cooperation programme Slovakia - Austria 2007-2013 is an important funding source for cooperations with Austria. Further, cooperations established reach as far as to Scandinavia.
85% of communities of Lower Austria are joined together to 59 Small-sized Regions. Marianne Vitovec from the government of Lower Austria, department for Land Use Planning and Regional Policy, explained that many challenges of communities are tackled rather jointly than individually. As a support, the government of Lower Austria provides special funding for Small-sized Regions. The adaptation of public transport services to the needs of the citizens, or inter-communal sharing of infrastructure and staff are only two examples of the manifold visible success stories of cooperation on the level of Small-sized Regions.
Pupils free of borders
The following panel discussion featured mayors and representatives of communities and regions as well as experts in the field of cross-border coperation, who discussed experiences and perspectives of inter-communal cooperation.
For communities and regions, cooperation is a great opportunity to increase efficiency. Mutual exchange of experience always provides added value to the cooperating partners.
The projects implemented in the framework of the cross-border cooperation programme Slovakia - Austria 2007-2013 successfully stimulate cooperation. Investments into education, research and development are essential instruments to increase regional competitiveness. Further, the construction of the planned cross-border bridges over river Morava/March was considered important, since first of all the citizens should benefit from cross-border cooperation. Anyway, children are cutting-edge: since a few years, the languages of neighbouring countries are taught in several Lower Austrian nurseries, and the public cross-border bus connection Bratislava-Wolfsthal is used by many pupils either way.
After a break, new cross-border initiatives have been initiated: Representatives of Regional Bodies and Regional Managements brought partners together across borders. The Joint Technical Secretariat provided information about the project application and submission procedure.
Limit for ERDF-Cofinancing introduced
Exchange of experience with delegation from Bosnia-Herzegowina
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On 25th February 2009 a delegation from Bosnia-Herzegowina visited Managing Authority and Joint Technical Secretariat. 9 representatives of Steering Committee and Joint Technical Secretariat of cross-border cooperation programmes as well as the transnational programme South-East under the framework of IPA (Instrument of pre-accession of the European Regional Development Funds), which Bosnia-Herzegowina is involved in, came to gain important information and advice for their own programme management from the cross-border cooperation programme Slovakia - Austria 2007-2013. The Study Tour visited also the Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria and the programmes CENTRAL Europe und INTERACT, before continuing to Bratislava. |
Date for submission of projects postponed until 31st of March 2009!
The Monitoring Committee of the Cross Border Co-operation Programme 2007-2013 has decided in the framework of a written procedure to postpone the deadline for submission of projects until March 31-st 2009.
200 attended the annual event 2008 on 4th december in the festival room (Festsaal) of Vienna City Hall
About 200 participants from public as well as private organisations followed the invitation by the City of Vienna, Municipal Department 27 for EU-Strategy and Economic Development to the annual event of CBC SK-AT 2007-13 programme on 4th December in the festival room of Vienna City Hall.
DI Rudolf Schicker, councillor for urban Development and Transport in Vienna, underlined that the programme is an important instrument to demonstrate that cross-border cooperation generates a variety of positive impacts. A common coordinated approach is particularly vital to overcome the current financial crisis. Ing. Daniel Ács, state secretary of the Slovak Ministry of Construction and regional Development, appreciated the year-long tradition of quality cooperation between Slovakia and Austria, and expressed from the Slovak point of view an immediate need to provide the necessary infrastructure in order to carry on and improve cross-border relations.
Laila Řstergren from Directorate General of Regional Policy of the European Commission confirmed that European Territorial Cooperation will remain prioritised objective of the European Commission beyond 2013. In the following panel discussion, the common labour market, coordination of trainings and education, transfer of technology as well as cross-border culture and tourism activities were indicated as immediate future challenges of cross-border cooperation.
During the coffee-break there was a performance by the Pressburg Klezmer Band.
In the second part of the event, new innovative ideas for cross-border cooperation activities were discussed, new contacts were established and existing ones renewed. The JTS and representatives of the regions provided competent consultation and information about the programme.
Lead Partner Seminar on 7th October 2008 in Vienna
More than 50 representatives of lead partners and project partners from the first approved projects attended the first lead partner seminar on 7th October 2008 in Vienna. The event was organised by the JTS, together with members of the first level control and the regional bodies, the lead partners and the project partners were given important information and individual consultation on how to successfully start their projects.
Cross-Border Programme Slovakia-Austria 2007 - 2013 is seeking a Programme Manager/Financial Manager
For the support of the bilateral Joint Technical Secretariat in Vienna we are seeking a Programme Manager/Financial Manager. The deadline for applications is 7 July 2008.
Further information including the Application Package can be downloaded.
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Cross-border cooperation programme Slovakia – Austria 2007-2013 opens call for proposals!
Applications submitted until 7th April 2008 will be put forward to selection in June.
Vienna, March 10, 2008: The cross-border cooperation programme Slovakia – Austria 2007-2013 has opened its call for proposals. The application pack including Annexes, a guidance for applicants and the rules of eligibility are now available in the downloads section of the programme homepage.
Project applications completed and submitted to the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) in Vienna until 7th April 2008 will enter the first round of project selection by the Monitoring Committee on 12th and 13th June 2008.
Following a formal, eligibility and quality assessment of each application, the Monitoring Committee consisting of Slovak and Austrian representatives will select projects that promise to deliver added value to the border region.
Applications can be submitted anytime throughout the whole duration of the cross-border cooperation programme. The dates for further Monitoring Committee meetings with selection of applications shall be announced by the Managing Authority/JTS on the programme homepage.
The cross-border cooperation programme dedicates a total of 73,4 million of financing (ERDF and national public budget) for cooperation projects involving partners across Slovak and Austrian eligible border regions.
The current cross-border cooperation programme has for the first time introduced a new quality of cooperation between partners based on a lead partner principle. Partnerships include at least one Slovak and one Austrian partner usually from the public sector; however, private organisations can also become project partners in the programme Slovakia-Austria 2007-2013.
Projects should aim at improving regional competitiveness and sustainable development of the region by focusing on one of the two programme priorities: P1 “Learning region and economic competitiveness”, P2 “Accessibility and sustainable development”.
Applicants seeking guidance in the development of their project ideas can contact the Regional Bodies’ representatives from Vienna, Lower Austria, Burgenland, Self-governing Region of Bratislava and Trnava or the Joint Technical Secretariat located in Vienna.
For contact details, the application pack and further information please browse this homepage.
We are looking forward to CREATING THE FUTURE of the Slovak-Austrian Cross Border region.
The Team of SK-AT Cross- Border Cooperation Programme.
The City of Vienna, Managing Authority for the Future Cross-border Cooperation Programme Slovakia-Austria 2007-2013, organised a Kick-Off Forum for the Programme on 19 June 2007 in Bratislava. A total of 107 participants attended the forum, ranging from local to national authorities involved in the programme or as future project applicants.
The symbolic kick-off was a ride on river Danube with the Twin City Liner, co-funded by INTERREG funds, from Vienna to Bratislava. In the Hotel Danube in Bratislava the participants were welcomed by Walther Stöckl, (City of Vienna), and by official representatives from the Austrian Embassy and the Slovak Ministry of Construction and Regional Development.
The following presentations of the programme stakeholders gave a comprehensive overview on the cornerstones for the period 2007-2013. The introduction was given by Alexandra Deimel (Certifying Authority) and Milan Gál (Slovak Ministry of Construction and Regional Development) with a presentation of the milestones of the programming process. This was followed by an outline of the programme, its priorities and organisational structure by Martin Hutter from the designated Managing Authority. Elise Blais from Interact explained the lead partner principle, which is now compulsory and therefore one of the major novelties in the new programming period 2007-2013. Success stories from the Interreg IIIA Programme Austria-Slovakia 2000-2006 were presented, and finally Christiane Breznik (City of Vienna) gave an overview of the scope of European Territorial Cooperation in the period 2007-2013.
The Kick-Off Forum ended with a walk around the old town in Bratislava.
