#ACCESS

Along the shared border of Hungary and Slovakia, integration has progressed noticeably thanks to the European accession. Not only has foreign trade between the two countries increased spectacularly since 2004, reaching a record level of 17 billion euros in 2022, not only has the number of road border crossings open 24/7 increased (from 6 before the regime change to nearly 40), but also cross-border commuting affects tens of thousand workers of the border region, while more than 1,000 Slovak students attend Hungarian schools, and nearly 20,000 Slovak citizens already live in Hungary. Cross-border urban agglomerations similar to those in Western Europe have emerged in the area of Bratislava and Košice, and shopping tourism has become part of the everyday life of the people living here since the inauguration of the Schengen Area in December 2007: about 75% of the turnover of the border shopping centers in Hungary is generated by Slovakian customers.
All these phenomena support the importance of the strategic project called ‘Promotion of legal accessibility along the Slovak-Hungarian border’ (abbreviated: #ACCESS). The project lasts from May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2029, and the two implementing partners, the Budapest-based Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives (CESCI) and the Košice-based CESCI Carpathia, would like to identify and eliminate as many legal and administrative obstacles as possible that make the current border flows and the lives of the people living in the border area difficult. Problems such as the fact that ambulances cannot cross the border for rescue purposes (not even from the ambulance station in Bratislava to Rajka, which is located in 3 km from the border); that healthy food made by local producers can only be sold on the other side of the border under extremely difficult administrative rules; that many qualifications are not automatically recognised in the neighbouring country; that, despite the EU rules, the administration related to employment is problematic, primarily in the field of social security; that social services are not available for people living on the other side of the border, etc.
In the framework of the six-year long project, the partners will systematically strive to find solutions to as many of these problems as possible, and, thereby strengthening the internal cohesion of the border region, making life easier for the people living in the border area, and promoting mutual trust between the two nations. To this end, in the first round, around 12,000 border citizens will be asked about their experiences, and representatives of 40 institutions that also perform tasks related to the borders or have been part of such developments and projects (e.g. water authorities, national parks, labour offices, etc.) will be interviewed. Based on the received information, the analysis of the relevant national and EU legislation begins, followed by the formulation of proposals for solutions, with the adaptation of existing Western European good practices.
During the identification of solutions, legislative amendments, informative materials, and specific project proposals are created to help eliminate obstacles and compensaste for the lack of information. The #ACCESS project provides opportunities to identify the problems of cross-border agglomerations and also for the citizens of the two countries to directly report cross-border legal and administrative obstacles that make their everyday lives difficult. For this purpose, as a result of the project, an information portal will also be created, with an online obstacle reporting interface and an inventory presenting the solutions. The aim of the partners is to further strengthen cross-border integration between the two neighbouring countries, thereby promoting mutual understanding and building trust.