The Association "Carpathian Euroregion - Poland" came forward on June 2, 2011 with further initiatives in its efforts to create a special operational program within the European Union, in practice, for large EU money for the development of the Carpathians.

This time, during the conference in Rzeszow, the Euroregion Board presented the International Program Council, which had been established the day before.

Also presented was the project of the "Carpathian Regional Development Agency," which is to be formally established in 2012 and will be responsible for coordinating the activities of individual regional development agencies throughout the Carpathians over the next few years.

The Program Council of the Carpathian Euroregion has included and will continue to include influential representatives of all major political options in the countries belonging to the Carpathian Euroregion. Marek Kuchcinski, deputy speaker of the Polish Sejm, has been appointed chairman of the Program Council. The function of vice-chairmen will be held by: from Ukraine - Borys Tarasiuk (former Minister of Foreign Affairs and currently chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on European Integration); from Slovakia - Deputy Speaker of the Slovak Parliament; from Romania - Petru Luchan (MEP, active in the Carpathian group of MEPs). Representatives from Hungary will be notified in the near future.

During the press conference, Marshal Marek Kuchcinski stressed that the members of the Program Council, representing various Carpathian countries and different political options, will lobby in their communities, as well as at the pan-European forum, for the Carpathian Horizon - 2020 operational program, i.e. for the European Union to set aside a special fund for the civilizational development of the Carpathians. - The Council includes members of the European Parliament from both Poland and other countries.

And this is what is important to move the issue of the development of the Carpathians from the level of border cooperation - to the pan-European level. Along the way we have the issue of cooperation of all the Carpathian countries. And in my opinion, one such big step to raise the profile of this problem will be a large conference on the development of the Carpathians, consisting of several panels and presentations, with the participation of all the Carpathian countries. At this conference, which will be organized during the Polish presidency, the Carpathian Horizon 2020 project will be presented to the entire European Union, the European Parliament and Ukraine. And this will be a strong element of promotion.

This is a thing worth getting involved in, as it should give benefits to facilitate the preparation of strategy and management, as well as finding financial instruments to be used for the development of the Carpathians," said the head of the Program Council, Marek Kuchcinski. Vice President of the Association "Carpathian Euroregion - Poland", Dawid Lasek, reminded that the Carpathians are the last area within the European Union whose development has not yet been covered by special EU assistance. He also announced the preparation of the "Carpathian Horizon EU" website by the end of June, as well as the press organ of the Program Council (the first issue is scheduled for October).