Objective 3 – European Territorial Cooperati on Operational Programme Cross-border Cooperation Slovenia-Hungary 2007-2013 CCI NUMBER: 2007CB163PO053 December 2007 As approved by Commission Decision No C(2007)6511 as of 20/12/2007 OBJECTIVE OF THE PROGRAMME TO PLACE THE CROSS -BORDER REGION ON THE EUROPEAN MAP AS A CULTURAL , HEALTH AND NATURAL PRECIOUS AREA FOR LIVING AND WORKING . Operational Programme Slovenia - Hungary 2007-2013 page 2/65 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 7 1.1 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................... 7 1.1.1 Previous experiences with the implementation of cross-border activities ............ 7 1.2 RELEVANT STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS AND REGULATIONS ............................................ 7 1.3 PROGRAMMING PROCESS .......................................................................................10 2 SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE PROGRAMME AREA .................................12 2.1 IDENTIFICATION OF COOPERATION AREA ..................................................................12 2.2 GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF COOPERATION AREA ............................................15 2.3 DEMOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................16 2.3.1 National and Ethnic Minorities ...........................................................................17 2.4 HUMAN RESOURCES ...............................................................................................17 2.4.1 Labour Market ...................................................................................................17 2.4.2 Education, Research and Development ............................................................19 2.5 CULTURE ...............................................................................................................20 2.6 HEALTH ..................................................................................................................20 2.7 ECONOMIC DESCRIPTION ........................................................................................21 2.7.1 Agriculture and Rural Development ...................................................................22 2.7.2 Industry .............................................................................................................23 2.7.3 SMEs ................................................................................................................24 2.7.4 Services ............................................................................................................24 2.7.5 Tourism .............................................................................................................24 2.8 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES ................................................25 2.9 ENERGY .................................................................................................................26 2.10 TRANSPORT ...........................................................................................................26 2.11 ENVIRONMENT AND NATURE PROTECTION ...............................................................27 2.11.1 Nature Protection ..........................................................................................27 2.11.2 Water Treatment ...........................................................................................28 2.12 LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT .....................................................................29 3 SWOT ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................30 4 PROGRAMME STRATEGY .........................................................................................32 4.1 STRATEGIC PREMISES ............................................................................................32 4.2 MAIN PRINCIPLES ...................................................................................................32 4.3 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE ...........................................................................................33 5 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE SELECTED PROGRAMME PRIORITY AXES .................35 6 PROGRAMME PRIORITY AXES AND ACTIVITY FIELDS ..........................................36 6.1 INCREASE THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE COOPERATION AREA ..................................37 6.1.1 Development of Joint Tourist Destination ..........................................................37 6.1.2 Preservation and Development of Culture .........................................................37 6.1.3 Improvement of Cross-border Traffic Connections ............................................38 6.2 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ..................................................................................38 6.2.1 Regional Development Cooperation ..................................................................38 6.2.2 Preventative Health Care ..................................................................................38 6.2.3 Environment Protection and Management ........................................................39 6.2.4 Efficient Energy Use ..........................................................................................39 6.3 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE .........................................................................................39 6.4 HORIZONTAL ACTIVITIES .........................................................................................40 6.4.1 Horizontal Objectives ........................................................................................40 Operational Programme Slovenia - Hungary 2007-2013 page 3/65 6.4.2 Description of Horizontal Activities ....................................................................40 The influence of horizontal activities: ............................................................................40 7 BENEFICIARIES ..........................................................................................................42 8 INDICATORS ...............................................................................................................43 9 FINANCING PLAN .......................................................................................................45 10 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURES AND PROCEDURES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME ............................................46 10.1 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURES FOR THE PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION ...................47 10.1.1 Administrative structures ...............................................................................47 10.2 PROCEDURAL REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION (PROCEDURAL ORGANISATION ) ............................................................................................51 10.2.1 Lead beneficiary (Lead partner principle) ......................................................51 10.2.2 Project life cycle ............................................................................................52 11 PUBLICITY AND COMMUNICATION ..........................................................................58 12 EX-ANTE EVALUATION ..............................................................................................60 12.1 PROCESS AND CONTENT OF EX -ANTE EVALUATION ....................................................60 12.2 SUMMARY OF THE CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EACH KEY COMPONENT OF EX -ANTE EVALUATION .................................................................................61 12.2.1 Appraisal of the socio-economic analysis and the relevance of the strategy to the needs identified.......................................................................................................61 12.2.2 Evaluation of the rationale of the strategy and its consistency .......................61 12.2.3 Appraisal of the coherence of the strategy with regional and national policies and the community strategic guidelines ........................................................................62 12.2.4 Evaluation of expected results and likely impacts ..........................................62 12.2.5 Appraisal of the proposed implementation systems .......................................63 12.3 ACTIONS TAKEN TO IMPROVE THE PROCESS ACCORDING TO EX-ANTE RECOMMENDATIONS ...........................................................................................................64 ANNEX: CATEGORISATION OF FUNDS ...........................................................................65 Operational Programme Slovenia - Hungary 2007-2013 page 4/65 TABLES, MAPS AND SCHEMES TABLES Table 1: Preparation of OP .................................................................................................. 10 Table 2: Cooperation area ................................................................................................... 16 Table 3: Change in the number of inhabitants and population density (inhabitants per km 2) 16 Table 4: Natural population fluctuation and distribution of inhabitants by age (%) in the cooperation area ................................................................................................................. 17 Table 5: Persons in employment and employment structure by education attainment ......... 18 Table 6: Unemployment structure by sex, age and education attainment of unemployed .... 18 Table 7: Education attainment of inhabitants