Event report

At the EDIC UNIZA University Library in Žilina, we welcomed the initiative of EC President Ursula von den Leyen to ask European citizens about their ideas about our common grouping. The Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFE) is a tool for us to make the logistically challenging process shape and content. The first event we have prepared is the online debate on the future of Europe with regional actors who understand the Slovak situation and also have more than a good understanding of the European processes and procedures. The debate focused on the European Green Deal and its anchoring in the regions. We invited representatives of organisations that have long been dedicated to the strategic management of territorial development and the efficient use of European projects in the debate. The invitation was received by Viera Terek, a long-standing expert in strategic planning and project management, Ján Pavlík, Director of the Regional Development Department of ŽSK, Marcela Herichová, Chair of the LAG Horný Liptov, Peter Madigár, manager of the LAG Terchovská dolina, Kvetoslava Legerská, MÚ Ružomberok and Inga Pavlíková, LAG manager Horný Liptov. Opening the debate, the moderator Alena Mičica, EDIC, UNIZA University Library, gave an introduction to the EU’s core development areas as presented by the President when she took office. The debate focused more on the issue of plans which have a direct impact on the development of the regions of Žilina Self-governing Region. Participants have invited concrete and practical insights into the EU LEADER programme, on the possibilities of using all possibilities for cooperation within the Community. Participants repeatedly drew attention to inconsistencies and frequent disharmony in intentions, instructions and rules coming directly from Brussels and national level. There is still an assessment of the direct users of European support and coordinators that the EU guidelines honour the principle of clarity and simplicity, but that complicated requirements and rules on one and the same subject are presented from the national level. In the view of the participants, this deprives us of action, flexibility and thus more dynamic development in the regions and the country as a whole. Qualified actors are not involved in the preparation of major national strategic plans, and comment processes and public debate are sometimes completely lacking. Calls have been made for a much more frequent presence of MEPs in the region, whether in the form of debates, presentations, citizens’ dialogues and all other forms that would make it possible to explain the agenda of MEPs. Meetings between MEPs and representatives of national structures would be of added value in order to clarify who is calling for a rule, whether the EU or the government and its authorities. A substantial part of the debate was devoted to the objectives of CoFE, a philosophical background dedicated to our future. The future is represented in human communities by young people and therefore strong recommendations were made for CoFE to focus on them and reflect their ideas for reform. It is clear to all of us that the essence of the reforms will be a simple, but most urgent, effort to keep life on Earth of adequate quality. European Green Deal will be a difficult task but also a great hope of change.