Milestone No. 1

The consultation process of the Cross-Border Review project launched by the Commissioner of Regional Policy of the European Commission, Ms Corina Creţu lasted from September 2015 until the end of 2016. The main goal of the consultation process was to get as comprehensive picture as possible on the legal and administrative obstacles still existing along the internal borders of the EU Member States.

Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives submitted an application to the call of DG Justice half a year before the starting date of the EU level project with a view to identifying the obstacles existing in Central Europe. After the proposal had been refused by the DG, CESCI addressed the Hungarian Ministry of Justice with the project idea. The experts of CESCI implemented the project called Legal accessibility between February and September of 2016 with the support of the Ministry of Justice, in parallel and using the synergies common with the EU level project but applying different methodology. The objective of the project was to identify the legal and administrative obstacles making cross-border cooperation and daily life in border areas difficult. At the same time, the CESCI’s project went further than the EU project when drafting concrete, sometimes textual recommendations in order to eliminate these obstacles.

The first Legal accessibility project ended with succes in the second half of 2016: the experts of CESCI unfolded the background of 39 legal  or administrative obstacles in total and drafted the recommendations for solutions – based on European best practices. The documentation running to some 600 pages treated four thematic areas (cross-border mobility, health-care, labour mobility and short supply chains – local products) with special emphasis and it tackled also two horizontal issues facilitating the systematic (non ad-hoc) treatment of the problems: the first targeted the potential institutional background of legal accessibility; the second envisaged the elimination of the shortages in access to information.

Due partly to the Cross-Border Review, the Hungarian project received a positive feedback at European level and at professional circles. This good resonance means that the topic is relevant and it is worth dealing with it in the future. At the same time, it is important also from the point of view of the future of the population and the local municipalities of the border areas to find solution to the unfolded problems.

The activities of the project


Stakeholder workshops


Sectorial interviews


European outlook – good examples


Analysis of the legal background


Compilation of recommendations


Final report