Two weeks ago, on 23 February, another conference "Europe of the Carpathians" took place in Krasiczyn. It concerned the European development policy and support from the new Community budget for the international Carpathian regions. The participants discussed the following issues Declaration. The following is the content of this document.
"CARPATHIAN EUROPE"
KRASICZYNSKI DECLARATION
FEBRUARY 23, 2013.
We, the participants of the conference "Europe of the Carpathians" in Krasiczyn, share the conviction that the Carpathians are an important element of the European regional wealth. With its unique characteristics, the Carpathians are today one of the two most important mountainous regions in Europe. Following the recent enlargement of the European Union, they also form its eastern border. This significantly increases the importance of this area in ensuring sustainable development and cohesion of the Community.
Nowadays, the people of the Carpathian macro-region are facing numerous difficulties. The lack of transport infrastructure, the visible differences in the social situation, including high structural unemployment, mean that without precise developmental measures, the situation of the inhabitants of the Carpathians will deteriorate. Activity for modernization and development of the Carpathian macro-region is necessary not only from the point of view of selected member states, but also from the point of view of the whole European Union, especially in the context of its future enlargement to the east.
We believe that it is necessary to coordinate efforts for the Carpathians in many areas. Their essence should be to strengthen interstate, regional and cross-border cooperation in economic, social and cultural terms, so that the macro-region presents a coherent vision of development on the European Union forum. Only a joint effort of societies, parliaments, governments and local authorities of the Carpathian countries will create the possibility of effective advocacy for the interests of the Carpathians on the European forum.
National parliaments can play an important role here by creating the Carpathian Parliamentary Cooperation Network. This network should enable regular contacts of parliamentarians from the Carpathian countries in all areas of their interest. An important step leading to the establishment of such a network will be the establishment of Carpathian parliamentary groups in individual national parliaments and in the European Parliament, and in the future, the establishment of a Carpathian parliamentary assembly will be considered.
We emphasize the importance of the Carpathian Euroregion Association as an institution that coordinates and activates activities for the development of the area. We support the proposal to create a transnational European Territorial Cooperation Operational Programme for the area of the Carpathian Euroregion in the perspective 2014 - 2020 under the name "Carpathian Horizon 2020". Such a solution would contribute to improve the coordination and increase the effectiveness of the existing financial instruments of the European Union supporting multilateral territorial cooperation. The programme should include all areas that will apply to join it.
At the same time, we call on the European Union to more actively support the goals of as set out in the Carpathian Convention signed in Kiev on 23 May 2003, and we call for acceleration of efforts for the EU to formally accede to this Convention as a party. In particular, closer cooperation on water and forest management is necessary. We also consider it important to implement the tasks enshrined in the Protocol on Sustainable Tourism to the Carpathian Convention.
We are pleased to note numerous examples of cross-border cooperation between partners from the Carpathian countries. We consider the initiative to begin work on the publication of the Carpathian Encyclopedia as extremely valuable. For this purpose we are establishing a working group of representatives of a number of universities interested in the problems of the Carpathians.
We are closely following the progress of activities related to the renovation of the former Astronomical Observatory on the summit of Pop Ivan in Czarnohora and the construction of the academic cooperation center in Mikuliczyn, which involves Warsaw University and the National University of Carpathia in Ivano-Frankivsk in a joint project.
We draw attention to the common pastoral traditions that have been part of the basic forms of activity for centuries Carpathian highlanders. An initiative worth promoting in this regard is the international Carpathian Redyk-Transhumance 2013, organized this year as a traditional hike with sheep from Romania, through Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Further development of border infrastructure will greatly facilitate the development of cooperation between the Carpathian countries - members of the European Union - and Ukraine. Therefore, we strongly support increasing the number of border crossings on Ukraine's western border.
In addition, to meet the concerted demands and opinions of the circles and institutions associated with the media sectorWe support the initiative to create an international platform for cooperation of the Carpathian media in order to jointly promote and develop and implement effective systems of information exchange.
We also emphasize that the overarching goal of all activities should be the development of a European macro-regional development strategy for the entire The Carpathians, with the participation of all countries and regions concerned and the European institutions.
The establishment of the strategy would be a breakthrough for territorial cohesion and enhanced cooperation not only between the Carpathian countries and regions but also between the European Union and its eastern partners. The macro-regional Carpathian Strategy ("Carpathia 2020" - CEEC - Cooperation, Economy, Environment, Culture) should be primarily oriented towards cooperation, including economic development, environmental protection and culture. The inclusion of the "Via Carpathia" road into the TEN-T trans-European transport network should be an element of this strategy.
This route, running through eastern areas of the EU, should become a kind of core around which a sustainable development of the whole Carpathian macro-region will be formed.
Krasiczyn, 23 February 2013
