Representative Forum of the European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation HELICAS Was Held at the UNWE

A scientific conference on the Territorial Cross-Border Cooperation in Southeast Europe, the Institutional Vesting and the Role of Financial Incentives was held on 18 February 2023 at the UNWE. The Forum was organized by the European Group for Territorial Cooperation HELICAS /Holistic Efficient Local Initiatives for Cooperation and Synergies/ under the hosting of UNWE and it was attended by over 200 people - members of European institutions, representatives of universities, municipalities from Greece and Bulgaria, NGOs. The participants noted that it was the first such a large and serious forum on the topic of territorial cross-border cooperation in South-Eastern Europe.

"It is very important to develop the territorial cooperation between Bulgaria, Greece and North Macedonia and we are extremely happy that the UNWE is the host of this exceptional forum which discusses all aspects of the issue. Our university can work and partner with the state and local authorities, with other universities in Bulgaria and abroad as well as with the business. UNWE has established traditions in partnership. Together with nine other leading European universities in economics and social sciences we have created ENGAGE.EU - one of the selected university networks. We want our undergraduates to benefit from being European students", said in his welcome speech the Rector of UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov who is also Vice President of HELICAS.

Yannis Anastasiadis, Director of HELICAS EGTC, who is also the main initiator of the Conference, emphasized on the necessity of collaboration between the municipalities, the state, the regional government and NGOs in order to achieve better cross-border cooperation.

The main organizer of the Conference by the Bulgarian part is Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mihail Musov, Vice Rector for Research and International Affairs of UNWE, who is also a member of the HELICAS General Assembly /in the picture on the left/. He was awarded a gift by Simos Daniilidis, Chairman of HELICAS EGTC, Mayor of Neapoli – Sykies.

Vasilis Gavrielis, Director of Amfictyony EGTC, posed 2 questions in his speech: what role will citizens play in these areas and how to stimulate them to not be only observers? "We are all European citizens and we have to overcome the obstacles between us. I believe in a new European patriotism", said in conclusion Mr. Gavrielis.

Dimitris Maravelias, Chairman of Hellenic Agency for Local Development and Local Authorities, spoke about the organization which was established in 1985 and has participated in a number of European programmes to improve the state of local government.

Dr. Spyridon Spyridon, Managing Director of Hellenic Agency for Local Development and Local Authorities, raised the issue of the enlargement of the European Union, pointing out that all organizations, including universities, local authorities and national institutions should help to strengthen the process of cross-border cooperation.

After him a statement made the President of the Regional Union of Municipalities of Western Macedonia Georgios Dastamanis, Mayor of the Municipality of Grevena which borders 2 countries - North Macedonia and Albania. He explained that they work together with their neighbours on European programmes that help to get to know the problems of municipalities in the neighbouring countries and solve them.

Other mayors from the border regions also made statements and raised the issue that small municipalities do not have enough resources and should be supported in order to strengthen the good neighbouring relations.

The former Prime Minister of Greece Georgios Papandreou who is currently Chairperson of Sub-Committee on Democracy of the Council of Europe and Member of the European Parliament, was a guest in the first panel on the Importance of Cross-Border Cooperation of Sub-National Actors to Maintain Peace and Stability in Southeastern Europe and the Western Balkans. He outlined that for the first time such a large forum on the topic of cross-border cooperation was held and expressed thankfulness to the Rector of UNWE for hosting it. "In order to have a good dialogue between Greece, Bulgaria and North Macedonia there must be the sincere desire of the citizens themselves to work together. Our region has overcome much in the last 200 years but now the European Union unites us, we confess common values, a common vision for the future, we live in peace and respect the rules. That`s why we have to create a European Union of citizens, a European Union that is green, fair and gives all citizens the same rights, to make a society of peace and democracy. Together we can make miracles", said the great Greek politician Georgios Papandreou who was not only a Prime Minister of Greece but also Minister of Education and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"We all travel free on both sides of the borders, the social cohesion is very important and Bulgaria should join Schengen quickly and soon", said George Kremlis, Principal Advisor to the Greek Prime Minister on energy, climate, environment and circular economy issues, Member of the Board of the European Public Law Organization, Honorary Director of the European Commission. He pointed out that Greece becomes a key hub for providing energy supplies for neighbouring countries, mentioning the launch of the interconnector in October 2022 through which Greece has started to provide natural gas for Bulgaria when Russia stopped supplies. He also examined the project for connecting the three Greek ports of Thessaloniki, Kavala and Alexandroupolis with the Bulgarian ports of Burgas, Varna and Rousse in which Mr. George Kremlis is personally involved. He proposed that in the future the port of Odessa should also join this project in order to build a corridor of solidarity from south to north. In conclusion Mr. Kremlis said: "We all need a united Europe and we must rediscover it".

In the second panel on the Territorial Cross-Border Cooperation in the New Programming Period. Challenges, perspectives, priorities were discussed specific European projects under the INTERREG Programme, which has been working for 15 years and there have already been built hospitals, universities, sports halls in the cross-border areas. It was concerned the topic of the 87 European territorial cooperation groups in 23 member states, their benefits and the necessity to build new ones in the next period 2021-2027 was also discussed. The issue of the necessity to harmonize the regulations in the neighbouring countries was also raised as many legal obstacles are created in the work on common projects "sometimes at an absurd level". In the panel took part Slaven Klobucar, Committee of Regions, Antonios Karvounis, Head Department of International and European Relations Hellenic Ministry of Interior, Niall Sherin, Centre of Expertise for Good Governance, Council of Europe. Moderator of the panel was Prof. Grigoris Zarotiadis, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Political Sciences of AUTH, Secretary of the Board of HELICAS EGTC. They all united around the idea of building sustainable communities to work together in the cross-border areas, to have common goals, citizens to cooperate across political borders and they also consolidated that they should work in this direction.

The Rector /on the left/ with George Kremlis, Prof. Grigoris Zarothiadis, Georgios Papandreou, Simos Danilidis

In the third panel on the Subnational Actors in Cross-Border Cooperation. The Importance of Financial Incentives. Barriers and Stereotypes to Institutionalized Cross-Border Cooperation took part Panagiotis Paschalidis, Mayor of Prespes, Eros Ervin, CESCI Balkans, Elisavet Pavlidou, Chemical Engineer MSc, Director of European Projects Department, Lever Development Consultants, George Papapostolou, Food Scale Hub. Moderator of the panel was the Director of HELICAS EGTC Yannis Anastasiadis. Issues related to the importance of cross-border cooperation for maintaining peace and stability in Southeast Europe and the Western Balkans; the challenges, prospects and priorities for territorial cross-border cooperation in the new programming period - 2021-2027; the importance of financial incentives, barriers and stereotypes to institutionalized cross-border cooperation were discussed.

Eros Ervin, Yannis Anastasiadis, Panagiotis Paschalidis, Elisavet Pavlidou, George Papapostolou