AEBR Annual Events 2023 in Košice (Slovakia) & Ukraine

List of medical equipment needs in Uzhhorod hospitals

AEBR Annual Events 2023 took place in Košice, capital of the homonymous Self-governing Region in Eastern Slovakia, and in the Ukrainian region of Zakarpattia between 8 and 11 November, and were organized in close collaboration with the Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives (CESCI) and CESCI Carpathia.

We started with the VII edition of the CB School, dealing with CB Labour Markets and the role of CBC at the external borders of the EU, with a special focus on Ukraine. The Historic Hall of the Rectorate at the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University of Košice hosted our CBS on Wednesday, 8 November 2023. See the final programme below with links to the presentations, videos and public documents.

AEBR Executive Committee and General Assembly (link) met in the morning of Thursday, 9 November, at the Velká Sála, the concert’s hall of the Tabačka Kulturfabrik. In the afternoon, the first day of our Annual Conference dealt with current challenges for CBC and Cross-Border Labour Markets.

The second day of the Annual Conference on Friday, 10 November, was organized in the Conference Hall of the Yasmin Hotel. Various sessions addressed the EU integration of Ukraine and the experience of the Visegrad countries. This event was co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through a Visegrad Grant from the International Visegrad Fund. Visit the project’s website.

On Saturday, 11 November, a study visit was organized across the border with Ukraine to the Region of Zakarpattia. Various activities had been organized at the Regional Council of Zakarpattia in Uzhhorod, in coordination with the Final Conference-Workshop of Carpathian Small Aviation, a HU-SK-RO-UA ENI CBC project with AEBR as associated partner. The conference was interrupted by an air raid siren just after arrival of AEBR delegation, 40 participants and almost 20 nationalities, and all participants were invited to continue in a safer room at the Faculty of Law’s facilities. The planned visit to projects and health facilities was cancelled due to the alarm and, after a networking lunch, AEBR delegation returned to Kosice to continue their trip back home on Sunday, 12 November.

AEBR Secretary General remained in Ukraine to participate in a CB Aviation Workshop in Berehove District on Sunday 12 November and further on to Satu Mare (Romania) for the Final Conference of the Carpathian Small Aviation project on Monday, 13 November.

Wednesday, 8 November

VII CB School

 

Historic Aula of the Rectorate, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice

The VII Cross Border School was an activity within the 21st Century Borders project, led by the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada), with the collaboration of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University of Košice (Slovakia) and the Research Institute of European Territorial Cooperation of the Uzhhorod National University (Ukraine).

The VII AEBR Cross Border School focuses on two broad topics:

Cross-border labour markets in border regions in Eastern and Western Europe.

The role of soft or para-diplomacy in cross-border cooperation and EUisation of external borderlands.

Read the call for papers.

final programme

(with links to presentations, videos and public documents) 

8:30               Registration

9:00                Welcome speeches and presentation of the VII CB School

• Alena Krunkova, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice
• Martín Guillermo-Ramírez, Secretary General, AEBR

9:30               1^st panel:   Cross-border labour markets in Europe

Keynote: The Ukrainian war refugees on the Polish labour market. Key findings from research of 2022-2023.  Joanna Kurowska-Pysz, Professor of the WSB University, Poland

Panellists:

• Daria Zaika, PhD Student and Volunteer Lawyer, Ukraine: Digital Labour Rights as a New Phenomena of Teleworking in a Cross border Context.
• Jean-François Clouzet, Lecturer at the Université Savoie Mont-Blanc, France: Get involved in the cross-border area on the EU’s external borders to participate in the EU project (online)
• Fabienne Schimek, Programme Manager of the Euro-Institute, Kehl, Germany: Quo vadis Franco-German cross-border labour market? About current projects, challenges and trends in the Upper Rhine Region.

11:00             Break

Parallel sessions:

11:30 Parallel session 2/a – Colourful Cross-Border Cooperation in Ukraine  (Historic Aula)

• Irina Yaremak, Associate Professor of Electric Power, Electrical Engineering and Electromechanics Department of Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine: State and Trends of EU-Ukraine Cross-Border Energy Cooperation.
• Yaroslav Lazur, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Uzhhorod National University, Ukraine: EGTC as a form of development of cross-border cooperation of higher education institutions in the Visegrad Group states and Ukraine.
• Mariya Vasylievna Mendzhul, Professor of the Department of Civil Law and Procedure at the Uzhhorod National University, Ukraine: Digitization of Educational Services of Higher Educational Institutions as a Catalyst for Cross-Border Cooperation.
• Lyudmila Progoniuk, Associate Professor at the Department of Public Management and Administration and International Economy of the National Agrarian University of Mykolayiv, Ukraine: Prospects for the Development of the Cross-Border Labor Market in the Context of Regulating Migration Processes in the Ukraine-Slovakia Region.

11:30 Parallel session 2/b – Hot topics of Cross-Border Cooperation in Europe  (Minerva Building)

Moderation: Martin van der Velde, Radboud University Nijmegen (Gelderland, the Netherlands)

• Francesco Cappellano (Assistant Professor, WSB University, Poland), Laurie Trautman (Director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University, USA), Joanna Kurowska-Pysz (Professor of the WSB University, Poland): Societal Challenge and Border Regions: a comparative study across North America and EU border regions.
• Bence Varga, Research and Analysis Assistant at HÉTFA Research Institute and Center for Economic and Social Analysis: The social and economic impact of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic on cross-border relations between Hungary and Slovakia.

12:30 Lunch Break

13:30 Round-table discussion: Perspectives of Cross-Border Cooperation in Ukraine

Moderated by Martín Guillermo-Ramírez, Secretary General, AEBR, Berlin (Germany)

Participants:

Tatiana Shaban (University of Victoria), Yuliia Fetko (Uzhhorod National University), Natalia Prelucan (Uzhhorod National University), Taras Ivanovich Griadil (Uzhhorod National University)

14:30 Break

15:00 Global Perspectives: Research and Practising of Borders – keynote session

Conducted by Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, Professor at the University of Victoria (Canada): Defining what is researching and practicing borders.

• Laurie Trautman, Director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University (USA): Global Perspectives: Research and Practising of the Canada – United States Border Relationship.
• David Newman, Professor of Geopolitics, Dept of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University (Israel)
• Andrzej Jakubowski, Assistant Professor, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin (Poland): Cross-border teleworking – the cases of the US/Canada and the EU.
• Fernando Bustamante, Ecuador Central University, Quito (online)

17:00 Closure

 

19:00 CESCI invited registered participants for dinner at Pivovar Hoštinec.

 

Thursday, 9 November

Venue: Velká Sála, Tabačka Kulturfabrik, Košice.

AEBR Executive Committee meeting

From 9:00 to 10:30

 

AEBR General Assembly

From 11:00 to 13:00

 

AEBR Annual Conference:

 

General challenges and obstacles for CBC

14:00       Introduction by AEBR: preliminary results of b-solutions and further perspectives to solve CB obstacles, including the cross-border tool

14:10        Presentation of the reflection process initiated by DG REGIO on post-2027 Interreg, Ms Simona Pohlová, Deputy Head of Unit D.2 Interreg – CBC – Internal Borders, DG REGIO, European Commission, Brussels (Belgium)

14:30        Presentation of the B-SHAPES Horizon Europe Project, Ms Sara Svensson, School of Education, Humanities and Social Siences, Halmstadt University (Sweden), with a focus on Euroscepticism in cross-border areas

14:45        Controlling and managing the borders of the Gaza Strip, with a focus on the question of why the border failed to live up to its role, despite the huge amounts of resources poured, and a brief history of how the border has functioned in recent years (not only for defense but also for cross border movement of workers, goods etc) by Prof. David Newman, Professor of Geopolitics, Dept of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University (Israel)

15:15        Coffee break

Cross-Border Labour Markets

15:50         Working session on obstacles to the effective implementation of CB Labour Markets:

Moderation: Mr Frédéric Siebenhaar, AEBR Task Force Labour Market, Eurodistrict PAMINA EGTC (DE/FR)

• Ms Leyre Azcona, Project manager, Euroregion Nouvelle-Aquitaine Euskadi Navarra EGTC (ES/FR)
• Ms Madelene Kutt, Senior Advisor, Innlandet County Council (NO): A Nordic case, cross-border labour market, mobility and obstacles
• Other cases: Xosé Lago García, Xunta de Galicia, ES-PT ; Nicki Eppich, DE-NL

16:45        Working session on the institutional approach:

Moderation: Martín Guillermo Ramírez, AEBR Secretary General

• Mr Balazs Lengyel, European Labour Authority
• Ms Niina Malm, Member of the Finnish Parliament, South Karelia
• Mr Dirk Peters, DG Regio

17:45        End of the works

19:00       Gala dinner offered by Košice Self-governing region at the historic hall of the East Slovak Gallery, Hlavná 27, Košice.

 

Friday, 10 November

Venue: Hotel Yasmin, Tyršovo nábrežie 1675/1, Košice

AEBR Annual Conference:

EU integration of Ukraine across borders

This activity is co-financed by the Governments of Czechia,
Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from
International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance
ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.

 

Ukraine on the road to EU integration (reconstruction, cooperation, pre-accession). What lessons to learn for Ukraine from the V4 countries’ experiences in the field of cross-border cooperation?

The focus will be Ukraine’s EU integration and learning about the experiences of the Visegrad Four countries in cross-border cooperation during their  EU accession process and beyond. The following day, the participants will make a study trip to Uzhhorod (Transcarpathia) across the Ukrainian border.

08:00   Opening of the registration  desk

09:00-09:30 (CET)     Greetings

Moderation: Ms Caitriona Mullan, AEBR Strategic Advisor

• Mr Karol Pataky, Vice-President of the Košice Self-governing Region, host of the event
• Mr Olivér Várhelyi, Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement (video message)
• Mr Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President of the AEBR, Speaker of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community of Belgium
• Mr Kopylenko Oleksandr, Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation (online)
• Mr Petr Mareš, Director of the International Visegrad Fund

09:30-10:30     Achievements of Ukraine in the field of EU integration

Moderation: Ms Yuliia Fetko, Director of the Research Institute on European Territorial Cooperation of the Uzhhorod National University

• Mr Oleksandr Ilkov, Director General of the Government Office for Coordination on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine (online)
• Ms Myroslava Lendel, Vice-Rector, Uzhhorod National University
• Mr Mykhailo Buromenskyi, Professor, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Co-chairman of the Commission on Legal Reform under the President of Ukraine
• Mr Yaroslav Lazur, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Uzhhorod National University, Member of the Scientific Advisory Council under the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Uzhhorod, Ukraine)

 10:30-11:00     Coffee break

11:00-12:00     CBC in the V4 countries – lessons and future perspectives

Moderation: Mr Rudolf Bauer, Director of CESCI Carpathia, Košice (tbc)

• Mr Martin Lačný, Assistant Professor, University of Prešov, Slovakia: CBC in the context of regional development of the SK-UA borderlands.
• Ms Zsuzsanna Fejes, President of CESCI, associated professor, Ludovika National University of Public Services, Budapest, Hungary: Evolution of CBC in Hungary – lessons and future perspectives.
• Mr Hynek Böhm, Assistant Professor, Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic: CBC in Czechia.
• Ms Joanna Kurowska-Pysz, Associate Professor, WSB University, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Poland

 13:00-14:30     Lunch break

14:30-15:30     Cross-border cooperation in the V4 countries – the daily practice

Moderation: Ms Kitti Dubniczki, Director of CESCI, Budapest (tbc)

• Ms Andrea Cap, Director of the Tisza EGTC (HU/UA)
• Mr Ondřej Havlíček, Director of the Euroregion Neisse–Nisa–Nysa (DE/CZ/PL)
• Ms Anna Palka, Cross-border project and process management specialist, EGTC TRITIA (CZ/PL/SK)
• Ms Julianna Máté, Director of the Via Carpatia EGTC (HU/SK)

 15:30-16:00     Coffee break

16:00-17:00     Round-table discussion: What lessons can be learnt from the EU integration of the Visegrad countries?

Moderation: Mr Martín Guillermo Ramírez, AEBR Secretary General

• Ms Nathalie Verschelde, deputy head of unit, DG REGIO, European Commission
• Mr Michal Lebduška, Research Fellow, Association for International Affairs, Czechia
• Mr Gyula Ocskay, Secretary General of CESCI, Gyula
• Mr Wojciech Opioła, Assistant Professor, Opole University, Poland
• Mr Eduard Buraš, advisor to the PM for cross-border cooperation, Slovakia

17:30                  Closing

Free evening

 

Saturday, 11 November

Study visit to Uzhhorod

9:00 am (CET)       Departure from Košice (in front of Hotel Yasmin) by bus

11:30 (EET)           Arrival in Uzhhorod (Regional Council of the Transcarpathian Region, moved to the Faculty of Law of the Uzhhorod National University due to air raid alarm)

Moderation: Mr Yaroslav Lazur, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Uzhhorod National University, Member of the Scientific Advisory Council under the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Uzhhorod, Ukraine)

Greetings

• Mr Viktor Mikita, Governor of Transcarpathia, Head of the Transcarpathian Regional Military Administration
• Mr Roman Saray, President of the County Council, Co-president of the Tisza EGTC (HU/UA)
• Mr Ivan Myronyuk, Vice-Rector for Scientific Research of Uzhhorod National University
• Mr Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President of the Association of European Border Regions
• Mr Eduard Buraš, advisor to the PM for cross-border cooperation, Slovakia
• Mr Martín Guillermo Ramírez, AEBR Secretary General

Presentations and interactive session

• Ms Yuliia Fetko, Director of the Research Institute on European Territorial Cooperation of the Uzhhorod National University: With science for cooperation
• Ms Natalya Nosa-Pylypenko, Project Manager of the Regional Innovation Agency, Uzhhorod: With development projects for cross-border cooperation

14.00 Lunch at Restaurant Grant

16.00 Return to Košice by bus

Sunday, 12 November 

Return of participants

 

Post-conference: Carpathian Small Aviation

On Saturday 11 November, before the arrival to Uzhhorod of AEBR Delegation, 40 participants and almost 20 nationalities, the Final Conference-Workshop of Carpathian Small Aviation, a HU-SK-RO-UA ENI CBC project with AEBR as associated partner, took place at the Regional Council of Zakarpattia. The conference was interrupted by air raid sirens just after arrival of AEBR delegation, and all participants were invited to continue in a safer room at the Faculty of Law. The planned visit to projects and health facilities was cancelled due to the alarm and, after a networking lunch, AEBR participants returned to Kosice to continue their trip back home on Sunday, 12 November.

The scheduled closing activities of the Small Aviation project continued in in Berehove District on Sunday 12 November with a CB Aviation Workshop and further on in Satu Mare (Romania) on Monday, 13 November for the Final Conference of this project.

As a main output, a follow-up project on small e-aviation is under preparation to be submitted to Interreg NEXT, and an information package for other cross-border regions dealing with or interested in this field.

A focus on small regional airports as multi-purpose hubs, sustainable/clean fuels, e-approaches such as hydrogen-based or other sources of energy, and the consolidation of cross-border energy communities will also be taken into account to promote similar initiatives in other Interreg programmes. Last but not least, a coordinated Interreg Europe intervention is being considered by the project partners: regional airports, development agencies, municipalities, regional governments and universities.

The coordination with other initiatives promoted by DG REGIO with the involvement of AEBR, such as b-solutions to analyze those legal and administrative obstacles for the implementation of these initiatives (Ukraine should be included as eligible), or Interreg Volunteer Youth to promote the concept in other Interreg programmes and among the youth, has also been highlighted by the partners.

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