Analysis of conceptual documents on national level

The main target of the Common Spatial Development Strategy Of The V4+2 Countries (Společný dokument územního rozvoje států v4+2 (2010))⁵⁸ is the definition of the development centres, development axes and traffic network in the V4+2 countries in compliance with the valid European and national development documents and international agreements.

The second target of the strategy is to identify the cross-border development axes and missing cross-border traffic network connections.

In the Central European context these issues/problems are included in the following national documents of the countries concerned:

 CZ: Integration of Czechia in the Central European region of the EU

 PL: Strengthening and Integration of Poland to the EU

 HU: Territorial integration to Europe

 SK: ?

 RO: Utilization of the peripheral location of Romania as a connecting line between the continental and intercontinental level

 BG: Development of the regional cooperation and support of good neighbour relations and partnerships.

58 Common Spatial Development Strategy of the V4+2 Countries: https://bit.ly/2MVMknW

The Strategy of regional development 2007-2013 (Strategie regionálního rozvoje 2007-2013 (2006))⁵⁹ mentions the economical and social regeneration of the border regions, free movement of persons after joining the EU and the tasks of euroregions. This document tries to solve problems related to the barriers/obstacles between neighbouring communities.

The regional development policy of the Czech Republic (Politika územního rozvoje ČR (2009))⁶⁰ was designed mainly for the national level but it still has some cross-border elements. The main topic of the document is the definition of the national level centres and axes which can be connected with other axes outside Czechia (e.g. the Axis OS3 from Prague through Liberec and farther away to the border with Germany and Poland).

The Strategy of regional development of the Czech Republic 2014-2020 (Strategie regionálního rozvoje ČR 2014-2020 (2013))⁶¹ emphasizes the following terms: periphery, regional disparity, unemployment in the border regions, etc. Peripheral regions are characterised by poor traffic connections, depopulation, lower salaries and therefore the cooperation between municipalities, cities and cross-border cooperation in the Central European region should be supported as an important factor against peripherality.

The Statement of the Government of Slovakia for the period 2012-2016 (Programové vyhlásenie vlády Slovenskej republiky⁶² (2012)) points out that the Slovakian government aims at supporting regional and cross-border cooperation (i.e. different euroregional associations and implementation of the cross-border programmes financed by the EU) mainly with the V4 countries.

Another conceptual document titled The National strategy of the regional development of Slovakia 2020 – 2030 (Národna stratégia regionálneho rozvoja Slovenskej republiky 2020 - 2030 (2009)) the issue of border and cross-border cooperation is handled only at regional level. The authors analyse the strengths and opportunities of different cities (Trnava, Trenčín, Banská Bystrica, Nitra) or the development of business activities (Košice, Prešov).

The regional development concept of Slovakia 2001 (Koncepcia územného rozvoja Slovenska 2001 – záväzná časť v znení KURS (2011))⁶³ emphasises the development of the

59 Strategy of regional development 2007-2013: https://www.databaze-strategie.cz/cz/mmr/strategie/strategie-regionalniho-rozvoje-cr-2006?typ=struktura

60 The regional development policy of the Czech Republic: http://www.uur.cz/images/1-uzemni-planovani-a-stavebni-rad/politika-uzemniho-rozvoje-aktualizace-1-2015/APUR-konecny-text-05062015.pdf

61 The Strategy of regional development of the Czech Republic 2014-2020: https://www.mmr.cz/getmedia/08e2e8d8-4c18-4e15-a7e2-0fa481336016/SRR-2014-2020.pdf

62 The Statement of the Government of Slovakia for the period 2012-2016:

https://www.vlada.gov.sk/data/files/2008_programove-vyhlasenie-settlement structure at national and regional level. The term „cross-border cooperation” is only mentioned in the chapters about tourism.

The Polish document titled National development strategy 2020: active society, competitive economy, efficient state (2012)⁶⁴ aims at emphasising the development of border regions at local/regional level. The border/peripheral regions are characterised by low traffic density and by cultural and social differences. The document mainly focuses on the situation in the important border regions with Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine.

The National Strategy of Regional Development 2010–2020: Regions, Cities, Rural Areas (Krajowa Strategia Rozwoju Regionalnego 2010-2020: Regiony, Miasta, Obszary wiejskie (2010))⁶⁵ defines the targets of regional development on different administrative levels in Poland including the cities and rural areas. The document declares that border regions have a development potential in many spheres, for example in infrastructure, education, health care and ICT infrastructure.

According to the strategy, only those projects which are necessary on both sides of the border should be supported. The topics connected to this area are environmental legislation, tourist industry, development of traffic connections and good relationships between cities and rural areas.

All the above materials are designed for national level but there are also documents which are designed for two or even three countries. Let us mention two examples.

The first document is Trojzemí 2020. Perspectives of development of the border region Saxony – North of Czechia – Silesia (Trojzemí 2020. Perspektivy rozvoje příhraničního území Sasko – Severní Čechy – Dolní Slezsko (Obrebalski 2011)). The analysis is very complex and describes many topics (regional economy, business, innovations, perspectives of the development, etc.) in all three national parts of the region.

Based on Eurostat data, the document deals with cross-border commuting; and it presents the example of the Nisa University which was established in 2000 based on the agreement of three universities, namely the Technical University of Liberec, the Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz and the Politechnika Wrocławska.

64 National development strategy 2020: active society, competitive economy, efficient state:

http://www.mir.gov.pl/english/regional_development/development_policy/nds_2020/strony/default.aspx 65 National Strategy of Regional Development 2010–2020: Regions, Cities, Rural Areas:

http://www.mir.gov.pl/english/regional_development/regional_policy/nsrd/doc_str/strony/doc.aspx

The other conceptual document is the Study of the development of the Czech-Slovak borderland (Studie rozvoje česko-slovenského příhraničí (2008))⁶⁶. This publication describes 12 Slovak and 8 Czech districts where more than 2 million inhabitants are living.

The vision of the cross-border cooperation is detailed in priorities like sustainability, technical and transport infrastructure, coordination with Austria and Poland, etc. The most important tasks and the topics of mutual cooperation are identified for the areas between Hodonín and Skalica, Zlín and Púchov and Ostrava and Žilina.