Discussion Papers 2005. 
Hungarian–Romanian and Hungarian–Ukrainian Border 
Regions as Areas of Co-operation Along the External Borders of Europe 9-10. p.
Preface 
This Discussion Paper of the Centre for Regional Studies is indeed timely. Our 
understandings of borders, border regions and crossborder cooperation have been 
affected by overlying geopolitical events, reflecting concerns of the times and the 
ways in which Europe and its internal and external borders have been perceived. 
2004 marked an historical year in the process of European enlargement; ten Central 
and Eastern European states, as well as Malta and Cyprus, joined the European 
Union. Above and beyond that, a new round of enlargement is likely in 2007 as 
Romania and Bulgaria prepare for membership. Viewed from the co-operation 
perspective, particularly the regional and local cross-border kind, EU enlargement, 
the imposition of Schengen criteria for visas and cross-border mobility as well as 
new “partnerships” with Ukraine and other neighbouring countries provide a 
rapidly changing geopolitical context. As the EU takes on new members and its 
external boundaries gradually shift, socio-economic and political transformations 
are taking place at the borders that not only portend new regional development 
opportunities but also many potential problems and tensions. One of the central 
questions that emerges from these simultaneous processes is one of “re-bordering” 
in all of its multifaceted senses.  
The “Wider Europe” initiative, unveiled last year by the EU Commission, 
expresses a will on the part of the EU to avoid future divisions due to socio-
economic disparities, political divergences and conflicts of interest. This is to be 
achieved through comprehensive co-operation agendas that transcend political, 
economic and cultural dividing lines. The EU appears genuinely committed EU to 
an “alternative” geopolitics, based on partnership and non-exploitational 
interdependence. This, however, requires regional partnerships that can flexibly 
manage heterogeneous economic and socio-political realities. At the same time, 
however, economic particularism and selective border regimes could have 
profoundly negative effects on the eastern border regions of the new EU-25, 
particularly in the case of Hungary and other new member states. This could also 
exacerbate development gaps between the EU-25, the future EU-27 and non-EU 
states. Additionally, while free trade and open borders are upheld as necessary for 
economic partnership, securitisation and stricter regulation of the EU’s external 
boundaries threaten to limit the extent to which transnational civil society and 
socio-cultural co-operation can flourish.  
Stifling border interaction that could be vital to economic and social 
development locally would confirm fears of a “Fortress Europe”. Hence, at the 
shifting borders of the EU it will be necessary to find mechanisms that mediate 
between external pressures and local concerns and transcend socio-economic, 
political and systemic asymmetries. This book examines capacities for “region-
building” on Hungary’s eastern borders in anticipation of the next round of EU 
 
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James Scott : Preface. In: Hungarian–Romanian and Hungarian–Ukrainian Border Regions 
as Areas of Co-operation Along the External Borders of Europe. 
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2005. 9-10. p. Discussion Papers, Special Issue
enlargement and the inauguration of the EU’s New Neighbourhood Policy. This 
includes, among others, co-operative structures, governance practices, conflict-
minimising dialogue and strategies for joint economic development. For several 
years now, the Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences 
has been carefully scrutinising potentials for border transcending co-operation 
practices and urban networks between Hungary, Romania and the Ukraine. It is 
only fitting that the pioneering work of Bela Baranyi and his co-authors receive 
greater international attention at this crucial period of Europe’s geopolitical 
transformations. 
 
 
Berlin, August 2005. 
 
 
James Scott 
EXLINEA Project coordinator 
Free University of Berlin 
 
 
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