Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
6. Towns along the Hungarian and Slovak border
Towns along the Hungarian and Slovak border sion of labour looks back on a long past. It can be stated that the municipality relations are the closest and most complex there along the whole Slovak and Hungarian border section, although crossing the border is made difficult by the Danube, a natural border. The river has not only separated, but also connected the people living there. In general, we may say that, in the course of history, the two banks of the Danube were always in a continuous economic interaction, which resulted from the industrial character of the right bank and the agricultural character of the left bank. The economic activities of the two sides completed each other. Matúšova zem had been famous for its fruit- and vegetable growing villages for centuries, whereas the other bank, going a bit too far but expressing its essential characteristic features, was called the Hungarian Ruhr District. Before 1920 this section of the Danube belonged to Komárom and Esztergom Counties, where there were settlements on both banks of the river. The settlements of the counties were connected with a high number of ferries and bridges (Štúrovo-Esztergom and Komárno-Szőny). The historical relations did not break off after the new borders had been marked out in 1920, but the fact that the Danube became a border river limited the possibilities of the settlements on the two banks considerably. After 1945 the possibilities of developing and maintaining relations became worse, which resulted in border crossing being restricted to the cross-border trade of the bridge in Komárom- Komárno and the ferry between Štúrovo and Esztergom. The situation did not change until the change of regime, when, after 1990, latent relations could begin prospering again. The common historical roots, the common administrative past and the purely Hungarian settlements on the Slovak side made developing relations easier. The proportion of the Hungarian inhabitants of settlements is 97-98%, the remaining 2-3% includes mostly Slovak families that were resettled from Hungary in accordance with the agreement on the exchange of the Slovak and Hungarian populations after World War II. The newlyestablished municipality system on both sides made the development of relations at a settlement level possible. The region could return to the previous division of labour. The area to the north of the Danube was agricultural in the past, too, and to the south of the Danube there were more industries. Building new bridges would encourage the appearance of new suppliers in the settlements on the left bank of the Danube. The Slovak side also expects industrial 150
