Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
6. Towns along the Hungarian and Slovak border
Towns along the Hungarian and Slovak border sibility of unprecedented large-scale cooperation at last. It was of fundamental importance that the two parties agreed that the conditions ensured by them would be the same for the state and municipality participants of cooperation as those for cooperation in their own countries. They made a list of 15 headings concerning the main areas where cooperation should especially be encouraged. These include settlement and regional development, the utilization of the borderland from the aspect of ecotourism, the development of the infrastructure of transport, enterprises, investments, the promotion of job creation and agricultural development. The importance of the concerted development of public services, such as the utilization of public health institutions for the population of the neighbouring country, was emphasized in extra headings. Since the participation of various organizations in the implementation of many different services was counted on, the organizations to be supported were also listed. This was how local governments, civil organizations and foundations, together with some other non-profit-making organizations, enterprises and publicly financed institutions were legally raised to the level of administrative organs. An extra article emphasized that the listed organizations could establish contact with each other independently and freely, without any authorization procedure, simply by observing the laws. The Hungarian and Slovak Intergovernmental Joint Commission for Cross-Border Cooperation was set up. With regard to the special fields, 11 intergovernmental joint commissions were established. By setting up a commission to support the cross-border cooperation of municipalities, their number rose to 12 in 2001. Cooperation would be necessary, since each of the topics is affected by some cross-border influence, such as road construction, environmental protection, country planning or disaster recovery, etc. The statutory regulation of certain topics is insufficient, because the necessity of carrying out cross-border tasks is not provided by statute. Services should be organized jointly, which would need the harmonization of the laws and decrees by both countries to clarify legal relations and cover the costs. The most active intergovernmental joint commission was the small regional joint commission. With regard to its work certain important characteristics should be pointed out. The proposals to restore the bridge between Esztergom and Štúrovo or open further border stations strengthened the relations between the two countries and made transportation easier. The symbolic discussion 156
