"The Process of Oradea"
International Conference "Health & Cross-Border Cooperation: Challenges and Prospects"
Oradea (Romania) On June 5, 2014
Following the success of the first conversations during the Franco-Hungarian decentralized cooperation seminar in 2011 in Budapest and the conference in September 2012 in Oradea (RO), the Cesci (Hungarish institute for cross border cooperation), INFH (France Hugary cooperation initiative), Oradea Metropolitan Area (OCA) and the MOT (Frensh agency for cross border cooperation) wanted to continue and deepen this cooperation through the establishment of "Process Oradea", which aims to promote the Hungarian-Romanian border cooperation with the French expertise. This initiative will further strengthen the Franco-Hungarian partnership between CESCI, INFH and MOT in the field of cross border cooperation.
After this first conference between actors cross-border cooperation of the three countries (Hungary, Romania and France), both at local national level on the implementation of projects and to exchange experiences of European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) the partners wanted to organize exchanges on the specific theme of health, particularly given the European news.
The Conference on Health and attended by 65 participants, including health professionals, elected officials and community leaders, and responsible for the Hungarian-Romanian border cooperation. However, we regret the absence of members of the Hungarian and Romanian governments, including Secretaries of State for Health and for cross-border (under appointment in the two countries following the establishment of a new government in Hungary and a cabinet reshuffle in Romania).
With 450 km of common border and 450 projects for a total budget of 225 M € (78% in infrastructure), cross-border cooperation is a major challenge for the regions concerned in both countries and accumulate as many handicaps economic and social. 39 projects have emerged in the field of Health in the amount of 33.5 M €, including cooperation between hospitals (underlined importance of financial support from the EU through ERDF).
Different interventions have shown that the challenges were the same as that for French-Hungarian Romanian border situations even if the French seemed more advanced especially given their prior and efforts.
Despite the difficulties, we have seen a real grassroots mobilization and health professionals with great projects: radiotherapy (between Szeged and Timisoara), early detection of rare inherited disorders (between Timisoara, Arad and Szeged ), outpatient health services between the Department of Bihor (RO) and Debrecen (HU) and between the Municipality of Oradea and University of Debrecen, on cardiovascular diseases, rehabilitation of operating theaters and emergency hospitals. About emergencies, if looks good cooperation between Romanian and Hungarian (common trainings for disasters), a real lack of coordination with the Hungarian Fire Department Hajdu-Bihar (HU) has been reported by the Romanian side.
In addition, stakeholders have pointed to the absence or lack of means for the development of prevention policies. The desire to establish cooperation EAST / WEST in this area was strongly expressed.
Two very important issues were also raised: the departure of many health professionals (many of Romania but also in Hungary) and significantly lower populations in border areas (serious demographic problem in both countries and high emigration from Romania) . The need for cooperation is crucial for these border regions, particularly in view of the rising costs in the field of infrastructure and medical equipment.
The French system of mutual and financing of social security interested largely Hungarians and Romanians. Real exchange request in these areas was expressed. Tripartite meetings could thus be usefully organized on these two subjects.
Participants also stressed the obvious interest to invest in health and believe that health should be part of EU policies. As required by the directive of 2011, the dialogue in this area should continue, in order to achieve homogenization systems. After the result of the last European elections, marked by high abstention and rise of nationalism, the EU would have great interest in becoming more social. Borders, as it was called by our stakeholders, are a great opportunity to develop a European awareness and to demonstrate that the EU can provide to its citizens.
Finally, the thematic objectives Hungarian-Romanian border to the 2014-2020 strategy were presented:
• Protection of the environment
• Development of infrastructure (especially roads) to enhance mobility
• Employment and economic growth through the development of "clusters" (very few in Romania and some in Hungary)
• Develop direct links between citizens Border
In conclusion, the necessary and indispensable political will, was again recalled to overcome many difficulties. For this purpose, it was proposed to use a parliamentary committee in order to support the Hungarian-Romanian border cooperation. In addition, to encourage and enable the development of local initiatives, the issue of decentralization arises again acutely as in Hungary, where we are witnessing a particularly excessive recentralization and Romania, where (large) cities seem to have little power in negotiations and decisions on cross-border projects.
The French intervention, particularly appreciated, by representatives of regions of Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine and the hospital Cerdanya and MOT, with the participation of INFH, helped strengthen the French influence in Central Europe.
This conference helped to consolidate the "Process Oradea" original partnership between INFH, Cesci MOT and OCA Oradea. It is expected to continue in 2015, through a new theme will be chosen by mutual agreement between the partners.
Download the programme
José L. Osete,
International Technical Expert
TÖOSZ,
International Conference "Health & Cross-Border Cooperation: Challenges and Prospects"
Oradea (Romania) On June 5, 2014
Following the success of the first conversations during the Franco-Hungarian decentralized cooperation seminar in 2011 in Budapest and the conference in September 2012 in Oradea (RO), the Cesci (Hungarish institute for cross border cooperation), INFH (France Hugary cooperation initiative), Oradea Metropolitan Area (OCA) and the MOT (Frensh agency for cross border cooperation) wanted to continue and deepen this cooperation through the establishment of "Process Oradea", which aims to promote the Hungarian-Romanian border cooperation with the French expertise. This initiative will further strengthen the Franco-Hungarian partnership between CESCI, INFH and MOT in the field of cross border cooperation.
After this first conference between actors cross-border cooperation of the three countries (Hungary, Romania and France), both at local national level on the implementation of projects and to exchange experiences of European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) the partners wanted to organize exchanges on the specific theme of health, particularly given the European news.
The Conference on Health and attended by 65 participants, including health professionals, elected officials and community leaders, and responsible for the Hungarian-Romanian border cooperation. However, we regret the absence of members of the Hungarian and Romanian governments, including Secretaries of State for Health and for cross-border (under appointment in the two countries following the establishment of a new government in Hungary and a cabinet reshuffle in Romania).
With 450 km of common border and 450 projects for a total budget of 225 M € (78% in infrastructure), cross-border cooperation is a major challenge for the regions concerned in both countries and accumulate as many handicaps economic and social. 39 projects have emerged in the field of Health in the amount of 33.5 M €, including cooperation between hospitals (underlined importance of financial support from the EU through ERDF).
Different interventions have shown that the challenges were the same as that for French-Hungarian Romanian border situations even if the French seemed more advanced especially given their prior and efforts.
Despite the difficulties, we have seen a real grassroots mobilization and health professionals with great projects: radiotherapy (between Szeged and Timisoara), early detection of rare inherited disorders (between Timisoara, Arad and Szeged ), outpatient health services between the Department of Bihor (RO) and Debrecen (HU) and between the Municipality of Oradea and University of Debrecen, on cardiovascular diseases, rehabilitation of operating theaters and emergency hospitals. About emergencies, if looks good cooperation between Romanian and Hungarian (common trainings for disasters), a real lack of coordination with the Hungarian Fire Department Hajdu-Bihar (HU) has been reported by the Romanian side.
In addition, stakeholders have pointed to the absence or lack of means for the development of prevention policies. The desire to establish cooperation EAST / WEST in this area was strongly expressed.
Two very important issues were also raised: the departure of many health professionals (many of Romania but also in Hungary) and significantly lower populations in border areas (serious demographic problem in both countries and high emigration from Romania) . The need for cooperation is crucial for these border regions, particularly in view of the rising costs in the field of infrastructure and medical equipment.
The French system of mutual and financing of social security interested largely Hungarians and Romanians. Real exchange request in these areas was expressed. Tripartite meetings could thus be usefully organized on these two subjects.
Participants also stressed the obvious interest to invest in health and believe that health should be part of EU policies. As required by the directive of 2011, the dialogue in this area should continue, in order to achieve homogenization systems. After the result of the last European elections, marked by high abstention and rise of nationalism, the EU would have great interest in becoming more social. Borders, as it was called by our stakeholders, are a great opportunity to develop a European awareness and to demonstrate that the EU can provide to its citizens.
Finally, the thematic objectives Hungarian-Romanian border to the 2014-2020 strategy were presented:
• Protection of the environment
• Development of infrastructure (especially roads) to enhance mobility
• Employment and economic growth through the development of "clusters" (very few in Romania and some in Hungary)
• Develop direct links between citizens Border
In conclusion, the necessary and indispensable political will, was again recalled to overcome many difficulties. For this purpose, it was proposed to use a parliamentary committee in order to support the Hungarian-Romanian border cooperation. In addition, to encourage and enable the development of local initiatives, the issue of decentralization arises again acutely as in Hungary, where we are witnessing a particularly excessive recentralization and Romania, where (large) cities seem to have little power in negotiations and decisions on cross-border projects.
The French intervention, particularly appreciated, by representatives of regions of Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine and the hospital Cerdanya and MOT, with the participation of INFH, helped strengthen the French influence in Central Europe.
This conference helped to consolidate the "Process Oradea" original partnership between INFH, Cesci MOT and OCA Oradea. It is expected to continue in 2015, through a new theme will be chosen by mutual agreement between the partners.
Download the programme
José L. Osete,
International Technical Expert
TÖOSZ,