Suchergebnisse

This paper aims to give a comprehensive picture of the objectives and perspectives behind the creation of the Central European Initiative (CEI). It also analyzes the role of CEI in the political, economic and social transition in the post-Socialist states. The article studies how CEI helped the integration of the Central European countries to the Western institutions, especially to the European Union (EU). The cooperation was founded in 1989 by Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Yugoslavia. It was unique and special in the era, as it had member states from totally different political and economic blocks. There are more approaches to explain the creation of this cooperation. According to the Liberal one, the founder states wished to create a flexible platform for the cooperation of countries from different blocks. This was also a political initiative to overcome on the divisions of bipolarity and the Cold War. The laid down political objectives in the official documents included the values represented by the European institutions. These values were adopted by the post-Socialist states. At the project level, the initiatives of CEI indirectly contributed to the economic and social transition in these countries. CEI and EU progressively built their close relations, and the support of EU integration became the mission of CEI. If we study the EU accessions in the region, we can state, CEI had a successful and important role in bringing closer the post-Socialist states to the EU.

The presentation is a summary of the experiences of régiónál development over a quarter of a century, from the aspect of Hungárián bordér researches. European integration and the unfurling Schengen process changed the relationship of Hungárián régiónál Science and bordér researches in the interpretation of territorial processes. There was a gradual shift of focus by régiónál policies: the so-called "Trianon-syndrome", the analysis of the traditional controlling and restricting functions of State borders was gradually replaced by the analysis of the character of cross-border cooperations. From the point of view of development policy, the tight relationship of régiónál Science and bordér research was founded by the need fór the utilisation of internál and extemal resources, which is the prime motivation of cross-border relations. It is beyond doubt that the use of Hungárián and even more so the EU régiónál supports can effectively serve the moderation of the development disparities of bordér regions, the catching up of the extemal (bordér) peripheries, the "unification" of the spatial structural functions disintegrated by the Peace Treaty of Trianon, the creation and cohesion of a functioning macro-regional economic space in the Carpathian Basin - and all in all the issue of European integration, the improvement of neighbourhood relations.

This article sets out a conceptual basis for measuring Vojvodina's regional autonomy in Serbia's European perspective. Serbia is a potential candidate country for EU accession, implementation of the European Partnership (2008) will be examined through the mechanisms established under the stabilization and association process. In 2009, the Serbian Parliament ratified the new autonomy statute for Vojvodina. While the national government could not entirely close its eyes to the EU regionalization requirements the provincial government had the opportunity to express its demands. The Statute of Vojvodina was to set out the key principles that should underlie effective regional democracy, covering areas such as financial autonomy and legislative powers. Parallel with regional autonomy one sees the challenges of personal autonomy and Hungarian National Council in the sphere of freedoms relating to language, education and cross-border cooperation. The article concludes by examining measures of Hungary's national policy towards capacities of AP Vojvodina, aiming at faster integration of Serbia, and Hungarian minority communities living in the border area.

The aim of the study is to present the position and possibilities of Vojvodina in the European territorial cooperation with special focus on the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. Firstly, I examine the external relations of Vojvodina. I analyse the institutionalisation and the future of the DKMT Euroregion and the Banat-Triplex Confinium EGTC from the aspect Vojvodina, because these cooperations are significant component of the European integration process. The European territorial cohesion includes all the cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperations and democratic local and regional structures, forming under the identity of the EU Danube Strategy. This macro-regional strategy covers parts of 8 EU countries and 6 non EU countries (include Serbia) and faces numerous specific challenges: big socioeconomic disparities, underdeveloped potential of the Danube waterway, a unique environment threatened by pollution –to name just a few. Accordingly, there is a need for a stronger than usual cooperation dimension and for an integrated cooperative response across borders. Finally, I summarise how the Danube Strategy can achieve greater effect and reveal how macro-regional cooperation can help tackle local problems in Vojvodina, providing alternative solutions to problems stemming from legal and institutional differences of the border regions.

All actors in Central-East Europe face the changing role of different regions. In Hungary, the regional policy of the new government recasts chances and duties of former development regions with primary focus on counties. The article deals with a specific region along Southern course of river Tisza. We prove that this part of a wider European region, a sometime organic one, is actually object of reintegration. We analyze different conditions and dimensions of altering relations which play eminent role in the reinforcement of the organic character. The perspective of local actors in the next period, can be found in he new European Danube Strategy, as long as they are ready to organize themselves on appropriate regional base. Danube Strategy will be filled with real content if each identity region will be ready to accommodate itself in the new and wider European structure of a functional macroregion called Danube Region. We conclude that appropriate management of conditions supports the ongoing European and inner integration process.

Regions and regionalism are rather flourishing in Europe. But what do regionalism and the expression "Europe of regions" exactly mean? There are three approaches to the question: first, the concept of cross-border interregionality between the Member States of the European Union; second, the effort to make regions the basic building blocks of European integration instead of states; and finally, the objective to introduce a three-tier structure to the European Union which would extend the already existing tiers of the European Union and the Member States with a third one, the territorial units within nation-states. The first approach (interregional cooperation) has long been adopted; the second approach (the vision of Europe made up of regions instead of states) is rather utopian. The third one is subject to fierce debates: a three-tier European Union with European, nation-state and regional levels. Although the form, motives and causes of movements promoting regionalism may vary greatly, 1 their purpose is the same for autonomous, federalist and separatist movements alike: to relativise the existing central nation-state. Thus, advancing European integration has become a natural ally for them as – from their perspective – it meant the disfunctionality of traditional nation-states. A supranational and therefore multinational and multicultural community promises much more room for development than a classic nation-state.

A régiók nem csak a közelmúltban jelentek meg az európai politika színpadán, mint önálló szereplők, tevékenységüket már évtizedek óta jegyzik. Ennek középpontjában mindenekelőtt a régiók határokon átnyúló együttműködése áll, ezt egészítették ki a régiók transznacionális megállapodásaival, amelyek arra szolgáltak, hogy a nemzetállamok kormányaival valamint a nemzetközi szervezetekkel, különösképpen az Európa Tanáccsal és az Európai Közösséggel szemben érdekképviseletüket gyakorolják. Az utóbbi időben a régiók egyre energikusabban és követelőbben hívták fel magukra a figyelmet. Tevékenységük súlypontja jelenleg nyilvánvalóan az EU és az integrációs folyamatokon belül helyezkedik el. A régiók mint az EU-kontextus politikai tényezői igen sokrétű tevékenységet mutatnak fel, amelyek az "Európa régiói" megjelölésben foglalhatók össze. Az elnevezésből, mint sokszor használatos szlogenből azonban hiányzik egy egyértelmű és ugyanakkor közös megegyezéssel alapuló, elfogadott tartalom. Regions appeared as autonomous entities on the European political stage not only in recent years. The activity of regions has been recorded for decades. It focuses above all on the cross-border cooperation of regions, and was supplemented by the trans-national agreements of regions, which served to practice their representation against the governments of nation states as well as international organisations, in particular, the European Council and the European Community. Most recently, regions have drawn attention to their presence more and more and when doing so have found increasing attention. Their centre of activity is now obviously located within the EU and the integration processes. Regions as the political factors of the EU context show a wide range of activities that can be summarized under the label of 'the regions of Europe'. The name, as a frequently used slogan, is lacking a clear and at the same time jointly agreed, accepted content. Regions and regionalism are rather flourishing in Europe. But what do regionalism and the expression Europe of regions exactly mean? There are many approaches to the question, the concept of cross-border interregionality between the Member States of the European Union, or the effort to make regions the basic building blocks of European integration instead of states, and the objective to introduce a three-tier structure to the European Union which would extend the already existing tiers of the European Union and the Member States with a third one, the territorial units within nation states. The first approach has long been adopted, the second approach is rather utopian. The third one is subject to fierce debates: a three-tier European Union with European, nation state and regional levels.

During the past centuries many great philosophers and statesmen dreamt about the possible constitutional scope of exceeding Europe's political division and fulfilling the unified/united Europe. Most conceptions outlined the practical realization at a supranational level, although in the last decades there has been a greater emphasis on the sub-national (regional, micro-regional) level or else the "multi-level" Europe. Considering its scientific importance there has been less mention of the importance of the local, regional networks, however, their functionality –in the form of sister town connections –has been experienced by many towns in Hungary. In my thesis I intended to shed light on the fact that the sistertown connections –if being able to overstep the mayors and the local authorities' protocol meetings -and it can be the pledge of their viability, take a prominent part in framing the "bottom up" Europe. The personal, civil relationships, the common interests and the solutions to collective problems may all lead to a continuity in the increasingly "multigeared" European integration. In order to present the subject matter I selected the analysis of sister town connections related to the county town, Zalaegerszeg. My research questions were as follows: to what extent the sister town connection of Zalaegerszeg has changed in terms of geographical and content orientation, what elements of networking, independent from any political orientation, have been used, how the intensity fluctuation of the connections can be explained. The conclusion of my research is that the citizens, the civil organisations and the local authority of Zalaegerszeg, whose number of sister towns –fourteen –is greater than the Hungarian average, build their sister town connections in a conscious way, meanwhile integrating them functionally and successfully at a local level into the network of international connections.