Czech-Polish Intergovernmental Commission on Cross-Border Cooperation

Since 2000, the Euroregion Silesia has been actively involved in the work of the Czech-Polish Intergovernmental Commission for Cross-Border Cooperation, which is managed on the Czech side by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and on the Polish side by the Ministry of the Interior and the State Administration of the Polish Republic. This Commission was established on the basis of an agreement between the governments of both countries in September 1994 and its task is to establish the directions and forms of cross-border cooperation, to examine the problems that make such cooperation difficult, and to prepare certain recommendations to remedy these problems. This Commission shall include working groups on the various areas of activity. An important success of the Czech-Polish Euroregions was the establishment of a working subgroup for Euroregional Cooperation in September 2001, lead by representatives of Euroregion Silesia. In 2007, on the basis of a Commission decision, this subgroup was transformed into a separate working group and is currently one of the best cooperating groups of the Czech-Polish Intergovernmental Commission. The work group of Euroregional Cooperation is currently working under the leadership of the Polish part of Euroregion Silesia and the Czech part of Euroregion Glacensis.

 

The Euroregion Silesia has hosted the annual meeting of the Czech-Polish Intergovernmental Commission three times: in 2004 the meeting was held in Opava (CZ), in 2008 in Ostrava (CZ) and in 2013 in Racibórz (PL).

 

The Jubilee 25th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission took place in Cieszyn (PL) in June 6-7, 2019. Daria Kardaczyńska, Director of the Polish Secretariat of the Euroregion Silesia, prepared a presentation for the meeting on '25 years of Euroregion activities and a working group on Euroregional Cooperation'. At the end of the meeting, thanks were given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of the Interior and the State Administration of the Polish Republic to the subjects that contributed to the development of Czech-Polish cross-border cooperation. Euroregion Silesia was one of the awarded.