Citizen’s summary 2016

The Annual Report 2016 of the Interreg V-A Slovakia-Hungary Cooperation Programme has been prepared pursuant to Annex X of Commission implementing regulation (EU) 2015/207. The report is intended to give a brief overview of the activities that were undertaken in the frame of the programming process, focusing on the year 2016. 

In the first half of 2016 the preparation of the first Call for Proposals of the Interreg V-A Slovakia-Hungary Cooperation Programme was in focus. During the 2nd and 3rd Monitoring Committee (MC) meeting, which took place on 9th March (in Budapest) and on 30th June (also in Budapest), the ruling documents and the application package were discussed and approved. 

Finally the 1st Call for Proposals (CfP - SKHU/1601) has been launched on 29 July 2016 with an allocation of 67,5 MEUR. Related to the 1st CfP the programme held 14 Info days, 8 in Hungary and 6 in Slovakia; eventually one info day was held in all eligible counties. These events were organized in cooperation with the self-governing regions and county governments. And as the MC members of the programme, who have extended professional network in the field of cross-border cooperation placed banners on their websites about the launch of the CfP, the number of reached potential applicants was presumably higher than ever before. 

The deadline for the submission of the applications for the 1st Call for Proposals was 3rd November in Priority Axis (PA) 1 “Nature and culture” and 4 “Enhancing cross-border cooperation of public authorities and people living in the border area” and continuous in Priority Axis 2 “Enhancing cross-border mobility”. Altogether 348 applications were submitted: 199 in PA1, 145 in PA4, and 4 in PA2. In PA1 Nature and culture the allocated ERDF fund was 25 386 977 EUR 199 applications were submitted with an amount of more than 250 MEUR of ERDF which is ten times higher than the allocated amount. Concerning PA4 the programme had a similar level of interest; the allocated ERDF amount was 7 480 765 EUR, 145 project proposals have arrived with a total ERDF amount of 43 MEUR, which is six times higher than expected. In PA2 the number of applications was relatively low, four proposals were submitted, which can be explained by the fact that applications can be submitted continuously.

On 13th September 2016 the programme organized its opening conference in Belá, SR, which event was merged with this year’s European Cooperation Day in Štúrovo with a HUSK flagship project visit (Cargo ferry riding between Esztergom and Štúrovo). The event was open for the public. The number of participants was 112 people.

The planning of the Small Project Fund (SPF) has been ongoing during the year. The Monitoring Committee members on their fourth meeting on 29th November 2016 approved the selection criteria for the umbrella projects. The call for SPF the umbrella projects was launched in March 2017. 

The first Call for Assessors was also launched with the submission deadline of 2nd December 2016. The call was published on the programme’s official website, on social media platforms and advertised by banners – the same way as in case of the Call for Proposals. The interest in the assessors call was unexpectedly high, so the programme has reopened the call to give the opportunity for more application. 

The update of the content of the website and social media platforms was also continuous; the 3rd place was awarded to our programme on the Interreg Annual Meeting 2016 by the European Commission on 6th June 2016 in the Best Interreg V website competition. The three language versions, the special section for the visually impaired, the user-friendly platform and the transparent and updated information content was mentioned as the best qualities of our website.