Meet our new member: EGTC GO / GECT GO / EZTS GO – Interview with Tomaz Konrad, Romina Kocina and Ezio Benedetti
As part of our commitment to fostering strong regional health collaboration, we are delighted to welcome EGTC GO / GECT GO / EZTS GO as a new full member of EUREGHA!
In a special welcome interview, we had the pleasure of speaking with Romina Kocina (Director of EGTC GO), Ezio Benedetti (EU Projects Coordinator at EGTC GO) , and Tomaž Konrad (Deputy Director of EGTC GO) to explore their vision, expertise, and how EGTC GO will contribute to our network. You can find the full interview below!
EUREGHA continues to grow, and we look forward to introducing more new members to our expanding community in the coming months. Stay tuned for more updates!
What motivated EGTC GO to join the EUREGHA network, and how does this collaboration support your cross-border mission?
The starting crucial assumption beyond the decision of EGTC GO to join EUREGHA is that health cooperation is among the statutory goals of the Entity since its establishment in 2012. Secondly, the EGTC GO decided to join the EUREGHA network moving from its previous project experiences in the field of cross-border health cooperation in the border area between Italy and Slovenia (three municipalities of Nova Gorica, Gorizia, Šempeter-Vrtojba). The main results and achievements in this field were recorded during the implementation of the Interreg Ita-Slo ITI project named Salute-Zdrastvo between 2017 and 2022 for which the EGTC GO won the EGTC Award 2022. This is a recognition that the CoR (Committee of the Regions) delivers every two years to give visibility to the best practices of all the EGTC in Europe.
This project aimed at strengthening the offer and improving the quality of social and health services for the population living around the EGTC GO and in the border areas where the public bodies involved operate. The project specifically aimed to strengthen the institutional capacity for cooperation by mobilising public authorities and operators to plan shared solutions to common needs in the health and social services sector. The project involved the establishment of joint cross-border medical teams in the field of mental health, autism and normal pregnancy, as well as the creation, on an experimental basis, of a Single Centre for cross-border reservations. In the perspective of integration with the social-assistance sphere, the project dedicated a pilot action to cross-border services and interventions for the inclusion of vulnerable groups in the population.
Following the completion of this unique project experience, where the EGTC acted as sole beneficiary, in 2023 we joined a project consortium led by the Municipality of Ajdovscina (Slovenia) for another Interreg VI-A Ita-Slo project named SANITAS. SANITAS is currently in its second phase of implementation and the project activities should end in May 2027.
The SANITAS project addresses a common challenge of adapting to climate change through more comprehensive, coordinated and strengthened cross-border cooperation, improving equipment, skills and speed of response to natural disasters through the implementation of preventive measures in the cross-border programme area. The expected results of the project include the signing and implementation of the Cross-Border Protocol in the field of primary health care in the wider cross-border area of Slovenia and Italy, further cross-border cooperation between the project partners in order to obtain as many co-signatories as possible, and further cooperation of health and rescue teams in activities that will enable them to be adequately prepared for a rapid response to natural disasters.
The combined results and experiences of these two projects moved the EGTC GO towards the idea that a further development of its competencies and knowledge in the field of CB health cooperation is strategically relevant to further enhance cross-border cooperation in our area consistently. Moreover, according to the advice we received from several members
of our network (e.g. CESCI, Cerdanya Hospital), who recommended us to join EUREGHA, we evaluated positively and as great opportunity to join to further enlarge and enforce our network and implement new project ideas.
As a cross-border entity bringing together Gorizia, Nova Gorica, and Šempeter-Vrtojba, what are your key priorities in strengthening integrated health and care services across borders?
The key priorities of the EGTC GO in strengthening and improving integrated health and care services across borders can be summarized as follows. First, the EGTC GO aims at promoting bilingualism among health and emergency operators to tackle one relevant obstacle to further enforce the possibility for the citizens on both sides of the border to decide whether to use health services and diagnostic opportunities in Slovenia or in Italy. Also, bilingualism would enhance the possibility of a more consistent cooperation between the two health services in case of climate emergencies or other catastrophic events on the border which require joint efforts and stronger cooperation between local authorities. The concerns related to the progressive ageing of population and the issues elderly people and most vulenrable individuals encounter in getting access to basic health services in the cross-border area represent another point of interest for us.
The idea to have a joint Single Centre for cross-border reservations, which was introduced by the Salute/Zdrastvo project, is still valid and could be revised an adapted to current circumstances, going over the obstacles which hampered its overall interoperability in previous years. Also, CBC on mental health issues is of interest and relevant for the EGTC GO, both considering the legacy of Franco Basaglia, who started its “psychiatric revolution” in Gorizia during the 60s, and the presence of a huge architectonic complex, which was the former psychiatric hospital located exactly on the border, which was used to the purposes and infrastructural interventions foreseen by the Salute/Zdrastvo and still has a great potential of improvement using a bottom-up approach in order to directly involve the citizens through participatory strategies and idea.
Finally, the different connections existing between culture, cultural sector and health are also of great interest for us moving from the legacy of the European Capital of Culture GO! 2025 which was hosted for the first time ever by the two twin cities of Gorizia and Nova Gorica last year.
What are the main legal, administrative, or organisational challenges you encounter in delivering cross-border healthcare and services?
The main legal and administrative obstacles to a full and consistent development of cross-border healthcare and services we encountered during these years are related to two main aspects. First, the fact that the Italian universalistic healthcare system is organized at a regional level, with a full deployment of the subsidiarity principle, whereas in Slovenia the system is strongly centralized, with minimum or residual competencies at a local level. This situation complicates the relations and connections between the two health systems which by an administrative point of view have difficulties in establishing a continuous and coherent cooperation (Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional health authorities often struggle to communicate and cooperate with the Slovenian Ministry of health that is competent for most of the issues). Second, administrative barriers are still hampering and slowing down a consistent cooperation between health authorities in our cross-border area. This dimension encompasses both administrative procedures and emergency responses. Fionally, we would like to highlight once more the possibility to learn and apply good practices from other cross-border areas, especially for what concerns bilingualism.
What good practices or innovative approaches from your cross-border cooperation could be of interest to other regions across Europe?
We believe that our positive experiences recorded during the implementation of the Salute/Zdrastvo (2017-2022) and SANITAS (2025-2027) projects could represent an added value for the other members of the network.
of our network (e.g. CESCI, Cerdanya Hospital), who recommended us to join EUREGHA, we evaluated positively and as great opportunity to join to further enlarge and enforce our network and implement new project ideas.
Besides we would like to share and discuss about the role of EGTC Health Committe which represents the liasion between citizens, local community and politics, representing a typical example of participatory approach to health issue which have relevance in a cross-border dimension
Looking ahead, what are your expectations from engaging with EUREGHA and contributing to EU-level discussions on cross-border health and territorial cooperation?
Our main expectations in joining EUREGHA lie on the possibility to learn from other experiences and good practices, building and implementing new project ideas and partnerships, and developing a strong set of connections in the field of CB health cooperation leading to recommendations and proposals addressing EU institutions. We believe we can contribute to further enhancing the attention of the EU on this topic as we represent both a pilot area where different approaches and ideas can be tested cross-borderly, and a legal-administrative laboratory where obstacles and barriers can be
individuated and analysed in the frame of the new BridgeforEU regulation.
In fact, the EGTC GO has been recently awarded with the BE-EGTC project, along with another EGTC from our area, which was funded under the first BridgeforEU call for proposal in order to establish the Cross Border Focal Point for the collection and analysis of cross border legal and administrative obstacles which are still impeding the full development of the cross border potential in many fields, including health.
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