Newsletter

Background and EC regulation

The cohesion policy of the European Union provides a framework for financing a wide range of projects and investments with the aim of encouraging economic growth in EU Member States and their regions. The policy is reviewed by the EU institutions once every seven years. The next round of programmes is to cover the period 2014 - 2020.

On 17 December 2013, the European Parliament and the Council adopted the new legislative package governing Cohesion Policy investments for 2014-2020 . According to the current set-up, European Territorial Cooperation has even been reinforced as separate cohesion goal by dedicating a legislative act (Regulation no. 1299/2013) to the specific provisions for this field. The existing strands of cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation have been maintained, thus the future of the HURO Programme is ensured.

A comprehensive list of thematic objectives has been defined in the new ERDF Regulation (Regulation (EU) No. 1301/2013). Of the 11 thematic objectives, ETC programmes may choose a maximum of 4 thematic objectives to which at least 80% of the ERDF allocation shall be concentrated, ensuring a stronger result orientation that incentives good projects. The thematic objectives, and thus the development directions chosen need to reflect the national/regional priorities of participating countries, and respond to the strategic needs of the programme area, analysing common problems and their strategic solutions, as well as practical experience from the current period.

Preparation of operational programmes for the next period must also take account of the Europe 2020 strategy as well as the Strategy for the Danube Region, and contain proposals that will contribute to the attainment of the targets set out in their agendas. Topics to be addressed by programme priorities may include many traditional cooperation topics, like transport, environment and preserving natural and cultural heritage.

Programming

On 4 October 2011 a high level technical meeting was held on future strategic planning where the two Member States, Hungary and Romania, agreed upon setting up a Joint Working Group (JWG) with the aim to elaborate the new programme 2014-2020. The JWG is the main body making decisions about the future programme and comprises national and county level stakeholders, along with advisors from the EC and the two national authorities.The JWG has gathered on 7 occasions until now.

The first milestone of the strategic planning process was already reached, which has been the preparation and adoption of the Strategic Territorial Analysis. The document contains a comparative analysis of the border area and can be consulted here.

As a next step, following decision of the JWG on the thematic objectives to be selected for the future programme, the consultants shall prepare the Common Territorial Strategy containing the main development directions to be followed.

The next programme is to be prepared consecutively, in line with the Common Territorial Strategy. The programme shall be subject to an ex ante evaluation and strategic environmental assessment (SEA). An ex ante evaluation is required for each programme in order to improve the quality of its design, while the SEA is needed in order to analyse the environmental impacts of the programme and includes both consultations with the relevant authorities and with the general public.

On the occasion of the last, 7th JWG meeting held on 23 January 2014, in Debrecen, Hungary discussions continued regarding the selection of thematic objectives taking also into consideration the analyses made by planners and ex ante evaluators. As a result of this debate, a sub-group was established having as members the presidents of the 8 county councils from the eligible area, to provide a common ground for the identification and development of proposals for strategic projects.

In addition, the Scope and Syllabus for starting the SEA was presented and approved. Starting with 19 March 2014 the consultation procedure concerning the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) was initiated. As a first step, the Office of the Prime Minister of Hungary sent out the official request for the responsible authorities from both Hungary and Romania to consult the Scoping Report for SEA.

The HURO website has dedicated a whole new section for the 2014-2020 period that contains all the relevant information and updates in this topic. We invite you to visit it regularly.