Public Services Provision in a Cross‐Border Framework: The Bihor ‐ Hajdu‐Bihar Euro‐Region Case
Daniel Badulescu, Alina Badulescu and Catalin‐Adrian Bucur University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania daniel. badulescu @ gmail. com abadulescu @ uoradea. ro polbucur @ yahoo. com
Abstract: Cross‐border cooperation( CBC) is an important means to foster good neighbourhood relations between communities located on both sides of a border. One important form of CBC are the euro‐regions, fostered by the political changes in the beginning of the last decade of the 20th century and the accession of Central and Eastern European countries to the Council of Europe and then to the European Union. The settlement and development of more than 100 euro‐regions in last 50 years prove and confirm that the vision of the first promoters was correct. The cooperation in public services at euro‐regional level creates various opportunities and advantages for local communities on both sides of the frontier and contributes to improving the quality and diversity of public services’ provision. This paper focuses on the Bihor ‐ Hajdu‐Bihar Euro‐region, which is the most recently settled euro‐region in Romania and covers two NUTS 3 units in Romania and Hungary. As part of a wider research project addressing issues such as aims and achievements, benefits and limits, effectiveness and efficiency, sustainability and future prospects etc., this paper investigates, using a survey‐based research, some relevant aspects concerning the benefits, sustainability and prospects of the cross‐border cooperation actions, as from the perspective of the experts questioned, i. e. police managers and public order management staff. The paper also draws preliminary conclusions and provides further insights for ensuring the sustainability and enhancing the effectiveness of future cross‐border cooperation programs.
Keywords: public services, cross‐border cooperation, police and public order, Bihor ‐ Hajdu‐Bihar Euro‐region, benefits and sustainability
1. Introduction
The late 80s and early 90s experienced unprecedented political, social and economic changes in Europe, whose consequences are still present. Suggestive as they say, the EU integration process " melts " internal borders of the EU( e. g. European single market) but at the same time, " freeze " outside borders, for example, Schengen Agreement( Topaloglou, et al., 2005). These processes led to a significant geographic expansion of cross‐border cooperation, taking the form of intergovernmental commissions at regional / local level, crossborder Euro‐regions or " associations " with similar structure. As Perkmann( 2007, p. 3) stated,” the classical form of a Euro‐region is the‘ twin association’: on each side of the border, municipalities and districts form an association according to a legal form suitable within their own national legal systems”.
Studies on cross‐border cooperation development begin with Krugman’ s core‐periphery model( 1991), but new extensions and developments have emerged since then. Moreover, researchers have applied core‐periphery model to Euro‐regions, as usually border areas are peripheral regions( Uiboupin, 2007),( Niebuhr, 2005),( Topaloglou & Petrakos, 2006),( Katri‐Liis Lepik, 2009).
Applying and adapting the concepts and objectives of European regional policy to the realities of border regions’ development have led to a set of fundamental principles in this area. Thus, beside the key principles of regional development, i. e. subsidiarity, decentralization, participatory partnership and transparency( European Commission, 2001), the Association of European Border Regions( AEBR) has added two more principles for successful cross‐border cooperation( Association of European Border Regions; European Commission, 2000), i. e. the existence of a joint program or a concept for cross border development, and joint structures at regional / local level and independent sources of funding.
According to AEBR, regional cooperation relates to the following areas and sectors: environment, agriculture and planning; transportation and telecommunications security; economics and labour; border populations, social protection and public health, education, research, culture( Association of European Border Regions; European Commission, 2000). Among other relevant sectors, public order and security is undoubtedly one of the main categories taken into consideration within the cross‐border cooperation, addressing issues such as the security on cross‐border road and rail traffic fluidity, business and civil security, natural hazards
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