Brief overview of the ACCESS project developments during the spring of 2024

19 June 2024

During the first few months of 2024, numerous activities were completed within the #ACCESS project, aimed at removing legal barriers in the Hungarian-Slovak border region. The most significant achievment was that we systematically collected almost 300 border obstacles in the last year. The collected border obstacles were thematically classified and filtered, and the List of Obstacles was discussed with the programme office of Szechenyi Nonprofit Kft . In the upcoming period, we will focus on the obstacle package of 12 identified obstacles, while 10 issues will remain on a pending list.

We have collected the barriers through four channels:

  • a survey among border residents

  • expert interviews

  • workshops

  • an active barrier reporting platform on our website

1. Survey among border residents

The survey was carried out on five topics: cross-border shopping, employment, education, settlement and project implementation. The sample of 1,609 valid responses shows that residents of the Slovak-Hungarian border region face a number of difficulties in cross-border mobility and cooperation, many of which are legal in nature. According to respondents, there are difficulties in using business services such as banking, buying products and exchanging currencies, where legal barriers and lack of information are a significant problem. Similar challenges are encountered when dealing with formalities, employment and health care. Lack of language skills is also a major barrier, as the absence of bilingual signs and language deficits in official contacts make daily life difficult for people living along the border. Attending educational institutions and teleworking can also be problematic due to financial obligations and security restrictions. But even projects supported by the Interreg programme face technical and administrative challenges.

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2. Expert interviews

The expert interviews with Hungarian and Slovakian sector actors aimed to provide a more detailed picture of the existing difficulties and to categorise them. The interviews, mainly conducted online, revealed that different actors in the sector have different perspectives on the problems. The interviews also showed that, although cross-border cooperation has improved in recent years, legal obstacles still exist, the removal of which would improve the situation in certain regions, in particular around Bratislava and Košice.

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3. Reference group workshops

The third source of data were the workshops organised in the urban areas of influence which are most affected by cross-border mobility. A total of 9 reference groups were set up along the Hungarian-Slovak border, mainly with the participation of the heads of the municipalities concerned, who have up-to-date information on both mobility trends and the everyday obstacles that hamper them. As part of the series, which started in the winter, workshops were organised in March in Lučenec, Košice and Bratislava, focusing on the everyday problems faced by Slovak citizens who have moved to the Hungarian side, in the areas of public transport, healthcare and administrative management.

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4. Obstacle reporting platform

We have made our obstacle reporting platform permanently available on the project website. Since the beginning of the year, a total of 31 obstacles have been reported so far, which will be analysed by legal experts, who will then send a detailed response to the complainants and, depending on the nature of the problem, take further steps to resolve it.

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+ Online presence

As part of the #ACCESS project, we will also share information about the project on social media. In only nine months of activity, the ACCESS, the solution Facebook page has already gained a following of more than 2,900 people, who can read about the latest news on the Hungarian-Slovak border and the #ACCESS project, about the reported obstacles and interesting information on the border area in the form of quiz questions and infographics.

The project website is also active, where visitors can report additional obstacles, find out more about the project, our activities and the legal responses to the notifications received so far. Our news will also be shared on this site.

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Next steps

These activities have brought to our attention nearly 300 problems along the border. These problems were classified and filtered thematically, and the resulting shortlist was agreed with the programme bodies. As a result of these discussions, a first round shortlist of barriers was drawn up. In the next period, 12 sets of barriers will be processed (through further expert consultation, legal analysis and collection of related good practices) and 10 issues have been placed on the reserve list.

Building partnership!

The project is financially supported by the European Union,
within the framework of the Interreg Hungary – Slovakia Programme.

For more information visit www.skhu.eu.

Building partnership!

The project is financially supported by the European Union,
within the framework of the Interreg Hungary – Slovakia Programme.

For more information visit www.skhu.eu.

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