Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
6. Towns along the Hungarian and Slovak border
Towns along the Hungarian and Slovak border derland areas would like to solve their backward situation. The participants are the representatives of local and regional authorities and the actors of social and economic life. Thanks to municipality actors, they also play a political decision-making role; therefore they can form connections with domestic and European decision-making organs. The establishment of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), which also has an influence on the policy of the European Council and the European Union regarding cross-border cooperation, is proof of their strength. They have created an international legal framework and formed the policy of financial support. The latter involves the programmes INTERREG, PHARE CBC and TACIS CBC. There are several models of euroregional structure, one of them being when there are mirror organizations on both sides of the border, which, often deceptively, call themselves a ‘euroregion’, and the two mirror organizations sign a cooperation agreement with each other. In case of the Sajó-Rimava Euroregion, the organizations are called this both in Hungarian and in Slovak, and the joint organization also bears this name, adding Cross-Border Cooperation. Similarly, the Ipoly-lpeľ Euroregion established an association from Ipoly-lpeľ Euroregion Cross- Border Cooperation, originally on the Hungarian side, and Ipeľský Euroregión: the Association of Legal Entities (Figure 24, Table 43). In the other model, the participating members on both sides sign a cooperation agreement themselves. An elected body and a president, a presidency and a secretariat (work organizations), as well as work teams comprise the common organization of euroregions. They are elected by the members, and the participants are nominated to work committees. Only exceptionally have independent offices been set up to fulfill the functions of the secretariat and work organization. On the other hand, in several euroregions one of the members operates the work organization, or perhaps there is one secretariat on both sides (e.g. the Carpathian Euroregion, which, due to its huge size, is not marked on the map). Where an organization of joint legal entity has been set up, there is a centre or headquarters, and an office in the other country, or offices in other countries. The operation costs of the secretariat or work organization are covered by the annual contributions of the members, in most cases in proportion to the number of the inhabitants, but in some cases costs are shared equally. 162
