Alina Badulescu, Daniel Badulescu and Catalin‐Adrian Bucur
However, the optimism about the positive effects of EU neighbourhood programs on the development of border regions – such as TACIS( Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States), PHARE( Poland and Hungary Assistance for Reconstruction of Economy), or INTERREG – has to be tempered by significant circumspections about the effectiveness of these programs. Last but not least, Pitoska( 2006), analysing EU‐Balkans cooperation, has shown that these programs have positive, but quite modest, effects on socio‐economic development of border regions.
3. Cross‐border cooperation in public services within Bihor – Hajdú‐Bihar Euroregion: from premises to achievements
After the transformations occurred in the early 90s, gradually Romania made the first steps on fostering crossborder co‐operation, so that at present many counties or regions in Romania are involved in 12 cross‐border cooperation structures, with all neighbouring countries( EU or non‐EU). The most recent but still one of the most dynamic is Bihor – Hajdú‐Bihar Euroregion, located in the north ‐ west of Romania and eastern Hungary, on Romanian‐Hungarian border area.
Bihor ‐ Hajdú‐Bihar Euroregion was created in 2002 at the initiative of the Bihor County Council( Romania) and Hajdu‐Bihar Self‐Government( Hungary), who recognized the important role played by cross‐border cooperation in common interest areas of the European integration.
Natural and demo‐economic features of Bihor – Hajdú‐Bihar areal represent favourable conditions underlying the potential for a better cooperation: an important“ gateway” of the European Union with eastern Europe, a shared history between the two border communities, the natural complementarities, diversified economic sectors; existence on both sides of two major cities as poles of attraction: Oradea( on the Romanian side) and Debrecen( on the Hungarian side), situated at a distance of 60 km, the presence of a significant Hungarian minority on the Romanian territory and a small Romanian communities in Hungary; easy interconnection of communication routes, location of these two counties on a major road axis, e. g. E60, remarkable tourism potential.
All these favourable conditions were exploited in several cross‐border cooperation projects that have received pre‐accession funds of PHARE CBC even before 1998( when the border between Romania and Hungary became eligible for this program). Thus, during 1996 – 2003, there were allocated 28 million Euros for crossborder projects for the Romanian part and 34 million Euros for the Hungarian part( BRECO, 2012). Subsequently, the PHARE CBC( Cross‐Border Cooperation) Program was implemented in Romania( from 2004 to 2006), together with INTERREG IIIA sub‐program in Hungary.
Overall objective was togetherness of individuals, communities and businesses in the border area in order to facilitate the joint development, based on the key strengths of the border region. Good results achieved up to now in the Euroregional cooperation mechanisms act as a good prerequisite for the future. Until August 2012, according to data presented on the official website of the Hungary‐Romania Program, there are 365 beneficiaries of financed projects( 234 in Hungary and 120 in Romania) and around 150 projects under evaluation( Hu‐Ro CBC Programme 2007‐2013, 2012).
Among the projects undertaken in the framework of the Hungary‐Romania 2004‐2006 CBC Program, in the area of public order and security, we can mention that Bihor County Police Inspectorate has accessed in 2006 EU funds for implementing the project " Operational mirror network and data transfer ", with the final purpose of creating an operational transfer data centre and network in Bihor county’ s capital and main city Oradea( Romania). As Liviu Popa, the manager of the Bihor County Police Inspectorate at the time, and project manager stated, " the idea for this project arose from a desire to fill the future structural changes that will occur when Romania will enter in the Schengen area. After the border police dissolving, the role of domestic police will be extremely important in monitoring persons and goods trafficking on the border with Hungary "( Popa, 2007). The project has effectively contributed to improving collaboration between Bihor County Police Inspectorate( Romania) and Hajdu‐Bihar County Police Directorate( Hungary), based on the existing cooperation protocol between the two organizations, by developing a system to ensure real time data exchange and enhancing coordination between these institutions in the case of possible crisis situations( Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2010).
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