Evolution of thematic areas of cross-border cooperation under EU programs in selected countries of Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Cross-border cooperation of Polish regions with neighboring regions in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Ukraine was supported through community programmes as early as the 1990s. However, it has developed on a much larger scale through cross-border programmes implemented after the accession of Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic to the European Union. The article aims to present the changes in the objectives and thematic areas of support undertaken in the cross-border cooperation programmes: the Czech Republic-Poland, the Slovak Republic-Poland, and Poland-Belarus-Ukraine in two EU financial perspectives: 2004-2006 and 2014-2020. The article is an attempt to answer the following research questions: Have the goals of cross-border cooperation changed and if so, how? Are there differences in the thematic areas of cross-border cooperation? Are there any differences between the thematic areas of cross-border cooperation on the Czech-Polish, Slovak-Polish, and Polish-Belarusian-Ukrainian borderlands? The existing data was analyzed, using mainly the method of examining programme documents of three cross-border cooperation programmes implemented in two periods of EU programming. The study showed that the goals of cross-border cooperation in the first financial perspective in all the analyzed programmes were very similar and generally concerned with the improvement of the standard of living and the socio-economic integration of the neighboring regions. In the last perspective, these objectives were much more diversified and corresponded to the needs of the supported regions at that time. In the case of the Polish-Czech and Polish-Slovak borderlands, the common goal was to invest in education, training, and vocational training for skills and lifelong learning. On the other hand, in the case of the Polish-Slovak and Polish-Belarusian-Ukrainian borderlands, the following objectives turned out to be common: preservation and protection of the natural environment (including the cultural one) as well as improvement of the accessibility of regions and development of transport as well as communication networks and systems. Thematic areas of cooperation corresponded to the defined goals within individual programmes. In the 2004-2006 perspective, the cross-border cooperation concerned mainly the development and modernization of infrastructure and the broadly understood socio-economic development. In the last financial perspective, the specification and specialization of the areas of support were visible. In the case of the Polish-Belarusian-Ukrainian borderland, special attention was paid to border management, mobility and migration, and border security.