Interreg programmes, the many opportunities, but also the obstacles faced by communities straddling borders: this and much more was discussed at the European meeting of cross-border cities, which has taken place in Gorizia over the past few days, organised by the Mitteleuropa association and the EGTC GO. On Thursday, 27 June, the meeting took place at the Hotel Entourage, where distinguished national and international guests discussed the above-mentioned topics. The president of Mitteleuropa and of EGTC GO, Paolo Petiziol, emphasised the desire to make an important contribution to both Brussels and the local area in a sort of 'G12'. Obviously, the importance of collaboration between peoples was highlighted several times, by institutional guests such as the Minister Plenipotentiary for Cross-border Cooperation Unit of the MAECI Andrea Cavallari, the Ambassador of Austria in Slovenia Elisabeth Ellison-Kramer, the Ambassador - Consul General of the Czech Republic in Milan Ivan Počuch. The President of the FVG Regional Council Mauro Bordin also brought the greetings of the Governor Massimiliano Fedriga, while the representatives of the EGTC GO municipalities - the Mayor of Gorizia Rodolfo Ziberna, the Deputy Mayor of Nova Gorica Anton Harej and the Mayor of Šempeter-Vrtojba Milan Turk, the Prefect of Gorizia Dr. Raffaele Ricciardi, the Magnifico Rettore of the University of Udine Roberto Pinton - were also present, prof. Georg Meyr for the University of Trieste and Nina Kodelja for the CEI. Regional Councillor for Culture and Deputy Governor Mario Anzil also spoke at the end of the proceedings.

The first panel was introduced by Dr. Slawomir Tokarski, Director of DG Regio of the European Commission, who emphasised the importance of the Interreg programmes in making the voices of the 'peripheries' heard, which often coincide with cities straddling borders. Mr. Tokarski also emphasised the efforts to sound out the opinions and needs of the citizens of the Interreg project areas also in view of the next programming period (2028-2034). Representatives of EGTCs and similar bodies on the borders between Slovenia and Austria, Latvia and Estonia, Spain and Portugal, the Netherlands and Germany, Switzerland and France presented their experiences and major obstacles to cooperation. It was agreed that the problems faced by cross-border cities are very often common to other areas, which helps to share good practices. One of the problems of places straddling the border is often that of the 'brain drain', i.e. the difficulty of having sufficient opportunities to keep young people in the area. In this sense, the Interreg instruments are very useful, because they make it possible to invest in infrastructure and other projects that help to enrich the area.

The wishes for the future expressed by some international delegates, furthermore, concerned the creation of an organisation to act as a bridge between the European EGTCs and the institutions in Brussels, and the simplification of Interreg procedures. The content of the projects mentioned by the delegates often concerned similar topics: infrastructure (often bridges), health (hospitals, shared services), education (kindergartens, schools), transport. Themes on which EGTC GO director Romina Kocina also focused her presentation, as they were dealt with in the ITI projects concluded in previous years (Soča-Soča and Health-Zdravstvo). The director also gave an overview of the current work of EGTC GO, of course talking about the European Capital of Culture, the SPF projects and the Transalpina/Trg Evrope square model. Through the B-solutions project, EGTC GO has in fact prepared guidelines for the administrative procedure to be followed to organise events on the square, which is half in Italy and half in Slovenia. The administrative procedures in this case are duplicated, as are the costs, and it would be desirable to find a solution to simplify this process. Other cross-border cities also have to deal with similar problems, which reinforces the importance of meeting in international forums such as the one organised by Mitteleuropa.

A presentation of the Carpathian Euroregion projects followed in the afternoon, while this morning (Friday 28 June) the forum moved to the premises of the Nova Gorica Municipality, where the GO! 2025 projects were presented.

Gorizia and Nova Gorica will be protagonists once again next year, when, at the end of March, they will host the Interreg annual event, a prestigious forum where the focus will also be on the themes proposed for the 2028-2034 programming.