Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)

6. Towns along the Hungarian and Slovak border

Actors of administration

That the Slovak party has accepted CSEMADOK (a cultural organization for the Hungarian ethnic minority in Slovakia) as a partner can be regarded as a diplomatic step forward. The fact that Borsod-Abaúj- Zemplén and Banská Bystrica Counties agreed to support the cooperation of the Slovak and the Hungarian ethnic minorities contributed to it, because in Slovakia there are no local governments for minorities, so CSEMADOK had to be accepted. The main organizational role in the joint programme will be played by the local government of the Slovak minority of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County. To facilitate cooperation, the president of the local government of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County and the national president of CSEMADOK signed a letter of intent concerning cooperation in April 2007. In this way, the two organizations have a similar legal status implicitly.

County local governments have to adjust themselves to the changing Slovak political environment. Since the change of government in 2006, the officials of Hungarian ethnicity, who maintained former relations, have disappeared. Again, the Slovak interests gravitating to the north have come into prominence over Hungarian interest gravitating to the south. This can be seen in the case of Banská Bystrica, because, geographically, the county centre is too far in the north and therefore the development of Hungarian and Slovak cross-border relations does not fall within the sight of the authorities. Slovak policy is aimed at building a large national motorway network, so the repairs of the short minor roads of just a few kilometers between villages, so important from a Hungarian point of view, are not in the focus of their attention any more.

The four county development strategies concerning Nógrád and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, as well as Banská Bystrica and Košice Counties, have not been completed yet, although they would be necessary first of all for nature protection. Due to the huge clear water capacity and sewage-water management, the proportion of vulnerable areas is considerable in this section of the border.

However, the letter of intent of the four counties has already been signed in which the areas of cooperation are marked out. Joint planning was launched in general topics on a presidential level in 2002. A general agreement on cooperation was drawn up and signed on 7tn April 2004 in Kráľ near Bánréve. The way to this event had been rather long because talks had had to be held with each of the partners to ensure actual quadrilateral cooperation. At first, there were some difficulties with Nógrád County, probably because it wanted to give preference to its

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