Carpathian Horizon
The area of the Eastern Carpathians is one of the most attractive and diversified geographical areas in Central Europe. Its specificity is created at the same time by regions with a low level, both in relation to regions in their countries and in the European system, at the level of socio-economic development. The enormous potential of human resources, natural resources and cultural heritage is still not properly used. An additional aspect which, depending on the approach, may be an obstacle and an advantage is the fact that the Eastern Carpathian region is divided by the external border of the European Union. In turn, the political significance of the partnership with Ukraine has a strategic dimension for each of the Carpathian countries (especially Poland).
High hopes for the development of the Carpathian areas were brought by the European integration process and the related hopes for financial support for investments and cooperation from the European Union budget. Unfortunately, it can be summarized that so far the support for the area of the Eastern Carpathians due to the progress of the European Union enlargement has been of little importance. Apart from the pilot financial instruments in the pre-accession period (PHARE CBC, TACIS CBC), and the first operational programs implemented under the Community Initiative INTERREG IIIA 2004-2006 and the imperfect Neighborhood Programs 2004-2006, there was no specific program supporting the development of the Eastern Carpathians, not only in terms of investment, but also in terms of supporting multilateral interpersonal and institutional cooperation or joint conceptual work.
The 2007–2013 programming period also did not make a breakthrough. In the area of the Eastern Carpathians, there are "de facto" financial instruments, which are identical to those in the 2004–2006 perspective. The basic ones include:
- European Territorial Cooperation 2007-2013 programs:
- Poland - Slovak Republic
- Hungary - Slovak Republic
- Hungary - Romania
- Central Europe (transnational program)
- Programs of the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument 2007-2013:
- Poland - Belarus - Ukraine
- Hungary - Slovak Republic - Romania - Ukraine
- Romania - Ukraine - Moldova
Another aspect related to the development of cooperation in the area of the Eastern Carpathians is the functioning of appropriate, professional cooperation structures. So far, the only attempt to create such supra-regional structures was the 1993 initiative to create the Interregional Union of the Carpathian Euroregion. This ambitious and era-advanced political initiative has unfortunately brought no tangible results. The most important reasons are: its political "top-down" nature, the lack of legal personality and formal-legal cooperation structures enabling the involvement of public, private and non-governmental sector entities, and the lack of financial support from the EU.
The situation has changed since March 2001, when the Association of the Carpathian Euroregion Poland started the process of formal and legal changes in the Carpathian Euroregion.
Objectives and conditions for the implementation of the Carpathian Horizon 2020 concept
It is proposed to adopt two perspectives to define the objectives of the project (concept) "Carpathian Horizon 2020". The first is the long-term perspective related to the strategic dimension of the concept. In its light, the result of activities will be the socio-economic development of the Carpathian Euroregion, and the most important special product, the Operational Program "Carpathian Space Program" implemented in the financial perspective 2014 - 2020. The functional component of this goal is the achievement by the basic structure of cooperation (Carpathian Euroregion as an institution) for the autonomous management of the program (Carpathian Euroregion as the Managing Authority of the Carpathian Space Program). In addition to the preparation of a special Operational Program "Carpathian Space Program", the function of implementing the concept of "Carpathian Horizon 2020" is to coordinate and agree in terms of programming provisions of other operational programs implemented in the area of the Carpathian Euroregion under the future EU cohesion policy.
Objectives in the medium-term perspective and the implementation of which determines the implementation of the Main Objective are, firstly, the creation of a professional cooperation structure based on national associations of local governments within the Carpathian Euroregion, and second ensure the organisation's ability to manage major tasks on behalf of the EU. Another identifiable medium-term goal is the preparation of a joint Development Strategy of the Carpathian Euroregion, which will set strategic directions for the development of the Euroregion, indicate priorities and measures and, above all, will be the basis for synchronizing the preparation of national and regional programs and, above all, the Carpathian Space Program.
Program Council
The Program Council of the Strategic Concept "Carpathian Horizon 2020" is a consultative body composed of politicians, experts, representatives of the world of science and the media from Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania. Membership in the Council is open to persons - representatives of other countries and environments, provided that the Council decides so. The aim of the Council is to provide opinions on activities undertaken under the Strategic Concept "Carpathian Horizon 2020", to set directions of activities aimed at the socio-economic development of the Carpathian area, including supervision over the developed Carpathian Strategy. The Program Council of the Strategic Concept Carpathian Horizon 2020, through its activities and the commitment of its members, promotes and provides support for the activities of the Carpathian Euroregion aimed at creating a common socio-economic space in the Carpathian region. The 1st Meeting of the Strategic Concept Program Council was held on 1-2 June 2011 in Świlcza near Rzeszów as part of the International Conference "Carpathian Horizon 2020 - Challenges for the Carpathian Regional Development Agency".
