Discussion Papers 2008. No. 68.
Transborder Movements and Relations in the
Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions
CENTRE FOR REGIONAL STUDIES
OF HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
DISCUSSION PAPERS
No. 68
Transborder Movements and
Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian
Border Regions
Editor
Tamás Hardi
Series editor
Zoltán GÁL
PÉCS
2008
Discussion Papers 2008. No. 68.
Transborder Movements and Relations in the
Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions
HUSKUA/05/02/117 Scientific Basic Research for the Socio-economic Analysis
of the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Region
The project is implemented in the Hungary–Slovakia–Ukraine Neighbourhood
Programme by co-financing of the EU and the Republic of Hungary.
The research was supported by the Hungarian state. OTKA registration number:
T049065. Topic: Changes in the functions and gravitation areas of towns along borders in
the Carpathian Basin after changes in the role of borders and the enlargement of the EU.
Authors:
Zoltán Csizmadia PhD, junior research fellow, HAS West Hungarian Research Institute,
Gyır
Tamás Hardi PhD, research fellow, HAS West Hungarian Research Institute, Gyır
Zsuzsanna Lampl consultant, Forum Institute in Slovakia, Somorja
Márta Nárai junior research fellow, HAS West Hungarian Research Institute, Gyır
Adrienn Reisinger university professor assistant, Széchenyi István University Doctoral
School for Multidisciplinary Social Sciences, Gyır
Attila Tillinger PhD student, Széchenyi István University, Doctoral School for
Multidisciplinary Social Sciences, Gyır
ISSN 0238–2008
ISBN 978 963 9899 04 9
© Tamás Hardi
© Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
2008 by Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Printed in Hungary by Sümegi Nyomdaipari, Kereskedelmi és Szolgáltató Ltd., Pécs.
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Discussion Papers 2008. No. 68.
Transborder Movements and Relations in the
Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions
Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 5
1 Integration of the border region ..................................................................................... 7
2 The Slovak–Hungarian border region ........................................................................... 9
2.1 History of the border .................................................................................................. 9
2.2 Economic development ...................................................................................... 10
2.3 The urban network ............................................................................................... 11
3 Relations capital in the Slovak–Hungarian border region ........................................... 17
3.1 Basic features of the cross-border social relations ............................................... 17
3.2 Basic features of the cross-border institutionalised (official or adminis-
trative) interactions .............................................................................................. 21
3.3 Possible explanations for the frequency of the cross-border relations ................. 21
3.4 Possible obstacles of the strong cross-border ties ................................................... 23
4 Social capital and its spatial aspects ............................................................................ 24
4.1 Frequency and objective of border crossings ...................................................... 24
4.2 Image of the other people, the inhabitants of the other country ............................ 26
5 Economic relations ...................................................................................................... 28
5.1 Business foundation in Slovakia ............................................................................. 28
5.2 Business foundation in Hungary ............................................................................. 28
5.3 Investment propensity, economic movements ..................................................... 29
5.4 Cross-border commuting and the local labour market ......................................... 30
5.5 Commuting with educational purposes ................................................................ 32
6 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 35
References ........................................................................................................................ 37
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Discussion Papers 2008. No. 68.
Transborder Movements and Relations in the
Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions
List of figures
Figure 1 Urban hinterlands in border regions cut by the borders of Hungary .............. 12
Figure 2 Cities and towns along the Slovakian–Hungarian border by number
of inhabitants .................................................................................................. 16
Figure 3 Probable frequency of the relationships and the types of relationships ......... 18
Figure 4 Number of different kind of relations in the other side of the border
– ego-network multiplicity ............................................................................. 20
Figure 5 The complexity of the personal cross-border relationships ............................ 20
Figure 6 Destinations of the cross-border travels ......................................................... 25
Figure 7 Breakdown of the institutions of secondary education by the number
of the students with Slovak citizenship and Hungarian nationality,
2007/2008 – number of institutions ............................................................... 33
List of tables
Table 1
The frequency and institutional background of official relationships ............ 19
Table 2
The differentiation of network properties according to the nationality
of the respondents – Slovakian side ............................................................... 22
Table 3
The Obstacles of strong ties ........................................................................... 23
Table 4
Breakdown of the travellers by the frequency of the border-crossings,
in per cent ....................................................................................................... 25
Table 5
Breakdown of cross-border travellers by purpose of the travel....................... 26
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Hardi, Tamás : Transborder Movements and Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions.
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Discussion Papers, No. 68.
Introduction
Our study features the findings of a research conducted in the Slovak–Hungarian
border region, implemented in the framework of the Hungary–Slovakia–Ukraine
Neighbourhood Programme, co-financed by the European Union and the Republic
of Hungary. Two institutions participated in the research: the West Hungarian Re-
search Institute of the Centre for Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
(Gyır) and the Forum Institute in Slovakia (Somorja).
The aim of the research was to study the everyday movements of the popula-
tion living in the border region. We assumed that the accession to the Union and
the Schengen Zone would promote the integration of the border region, the devel-
opment and expansion of the cross-border interactions, and in the end the birth of
cross-border regions in the areas in good positions.
Along the internal borders of the European Union it is an ever more important
issue whether the integration of the states will bring about the integration of the
cross-border regions as well. The possibility is given, the borders can be crossed
without any problem, the movements of the citizens and the businesses are free
from any obstacles. The issue of integration is of special importance in the border
regions: the other state and its citizens are “physically close”; a single space built
on geographical logics can be created in the everyday life. It is a question, how-
ever, how the border affects the lives of the citizens in the border region. Do they
actually use the other side of the border? Can the border region of the neighbour
state become part of their everyday lives? In the use of workplaces and economic
opportunities which factor will be stronger: the nation state traditions or the logics
of the geographical proximity?
The answers to the questions above are different in all various border regions.
Integration is influenced by the historical past, the ethnic and geographical condi-
tions, the economic development and the differences of this, and not last the dis-
parities in the political, administrative and public services systems of the
neighbour states.
Travelling in Europe we experience that border regions do exist, we see existing
and formalised relations, but the “wall” between the two border regions are still
there, despite the physically non-existing borders (Paasi–Prokkola, 2008), the
number and content of the interactions do not increase to the extent that is ex-
pected. In other places the inhabitants of the border regions have a rich system of
relations with those on the other side of the border, irrespective of the relationship
of the two states and the officially created cross-border organisations.
Our research conducted in 2007 and 2008 was focused on the Slovak–Hungar-
ian border region. The research area was usually the 20-kilometre stripe along the
border, extended in accordance with our experiences in some places with settle-
ments and areas that functionally can be taken as border settlements or regions. Our
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Discussion Papers, No. 68.
research area is thus a functional area, home to approximately 2 million people,
which cannot be designated by administrative borders. We made a questionnaire
survey with the population, with a sample of 2000 people, and we also approached
approximately 500 commuting employees. We also made interviews with non-gov-
ernmental organisations, public institutions, local governments, economic actors
etc.
The Slovak–Hungarian border section is 679 kilometres long; this is the longest
border section of Hungary. Moving from west to east along the border the devel-
opment disparities are definite. A speciality of the border region is that even on the
Slovakian side of the border the number and proportion of the Hungarian ethnic
population is significant; there are settlements and areas where Slovak citizens with
Hungarian ethnicity are the majority.
In the border region the integration of the population and the economic actors is
increasing. Approximately 30 thousand employees from Slovakia work in Hun-
gary, and commuting from Hungary to Slovakia has also appeared by now. More
and more businesses have locations in the neighbour country, other choose school
or even placed of residence in the neighbour state. The agglomeration of Brati-
slava, the capital city of Slovakia, has reached Hungary by now, several hundreds
of Slovakian families have bought homes in the villages along the border of North-
west Hungary, in fact, the extension of the public transport of Bratislava towards
Hungary is an issue today. At the same time, Budapest has a strong gravity on the
border areas of Central Slovakia. On both sides we find smaller towns in the prox-
imity of the border whose theoretical (and more and more often the practical)
catchment areas reach into the other side of the border and integrate smaller areas.
For a part of the population it has become natural by now to do the shopping or use
services on the other side of the border. Due to the common past there are also fam-
ily and friendly relations.
The accession of the two states to the European Union in 2004 and to the
Schengen Agreement later also contributed to the development of the everyday
relations, but the process have decades of history by now. The occasionally
“cool” relationship of the two states cannot be felt in the micro-level relations, in
the economically more advanced areas of the borders we can see the first steps of
the birth of single border regions. The private sector is ahead of the official rela-
tions. A part of the inhabitants and the economic sector “use” the other side of the
border in their everyday lives. The separating role of the “mental border” is less of
a problem here than in some other European border areas. In the areas more devel-
oped economically (especially in the western part, the areas along the axis of the
Danube River, belonging to the hinterland of three capital cities: Vienna, Bratislava
and Budapest) the joint development is very dynamic. The rapid economic devel-
opment of Slovakia has also given a great momentum to the integration, and now
areas at the same level of development are building a common cross-border region
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and urban network. On the eastern part of the border this dynamism is less palpable.
This is an area where less developed regions meet each other. Nevertheless the city
of Košice and its environment is developing, and the labour market of this region is
now seeking skilled employees on the Hungarian side of the border.
Of course there are still many obstacles to the complete integration. The na-
tional systems (education, health care, public administration, bureaucracy etc.) still
have difficulties in handling the natural processes of cross-border areas. Those
who cross the borders are actually foreign citizens but still “local inhabitants”. It is
difficult to put them into the traditional categories of “domestic” and “foreign”
citizens, and the administrative problems coming from this may cause difficulties
e.g. in the joint and thus more rational use of health care institutions. These prob-
lems often lead to harmful phenomena; some use the existing differences for e.g.
tax evasion purposes. Our experiences suggest that these phenomena are impor-
tant but their significance is relatively small compared to those natural processes
that bind the border regions and strengthen its integration.
1 Integration of the border region
Border regions are those areas along the state borders whose life and socio-eco-
nomic processes are considerably influenced by the existence of the state border
(Hansen, 1983). By now the separating role of the borders within the European
Union has weakened in importance. We do have to emphasise the fact that the ex-
tension of the border region is now regulated not (only) by the state border itself but
also the spatial structural characteristics of the separated border areas, the cross-
border linkages of the urban and transport networks, and the different socio-eco-
nomic features of the two sides of the borders. These factors together make those
cross-border civil and economic movements that make the border regions of the
nation state areas so peculiar. These days and in the region in our survey those areas
can be taken as border regions whose everyday lives are basically influenced by the
interactions maintained with the neighbour border region. The literature on spatial
borders more and more often refers to the fact of practical life that the sharp separa-
tion of regions (areas belonging to different states in this place) is now outdated and
its more and more transitory zones among the systems that become typical
(Fleischer, 2001; Novotny, 2007). In reality the two definitions together are valid, as
the role of the state border shaping the spatial structure still cannot be neglected,
even if the physical barrier of the state border has ceased to exist in the case of the
internal Schengen borders. Even in the case of the total elimination of the state bor-
der (like the internal German border) the borderline lives on coming from its his-
torical role, as it played an important role in creating the development and network
characteristics of the border region during the development of the nation state. The
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internal borders of the EU only secure the complete freedom of border crossing; the
differences of the nation state systems regulating everyday life still exist. The exter-
nal borders of the European Union and the non-EU borders are still a physical bar-
rier to the free development of interactions. This double definition thus involves the
functional approach to the border region and is less suitable for the designations on
administrative grounds. We can see that neither definition allows us to make a sharp
and exact designation of the border regions, as each function has its own space of
action different from the others: employment creates a catchment area different
from that of shopping etc. Also, in many places we must make a compromise, e.g.
when making the reference area of this present survey. Based on the findings of our
researches conducted beforehand, we automatically specified a 20-kilometre stripe
as border region, then we enlarged this zone on empirical ground by mostly urban
areas that are the centres of the cross-border movements and the first important
stations along the roads crossing the borders.
Our definition of border region can be based on the examination of the following
phenomena:
− We must look at the position of the border region in the order of the regions
of the neighbour countries by level of spatial development; also, the intro-
duction of the development disparities among the border regions gives us
important information. Besides the featuring of the structural basis and the
centre-periphery relations it is important to know those development axes of
spatial development that have been or are born in the frameworks of spatial
units, macro-regions bigger than the nation states. These may be determined
by the urban network, the historical state or empire frameworks but also by
the spatial features of the modern economy on European scale.
− One of the most important influencing factors of the movements (or poten-
tial movements) of the inhabitants is the space of action of the cities, the
relationship of the urban network and the state border. The separating role
of the border narrows down the theoretical hinterlands and vice versa, there
are areas that are not in the hinterland of any Hungarian town or city or are
only weakly integrated, they are peripheries without urban centres. In gen-
eral we can say that one of the most important manifestations of the histori-
cal spatial development role of the state borders is the transformation of the
urban hinterlands. The majority of our daily movements are linked to the
characteristics of the settlement network: employment, or the use of differ-
ent services, schools are less and less restricted to the place of residence, we
have jobs or use these services in different settlements or centres. For the
population in the border region these can be in the same country but can
also be other settlements closer in space but in the territory of another
country.
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− The development of the transport network usually has a mutually reinforc-
ing interaction with the above two factors. The cross-border sections of the
elements of the large-scale networks are usually designed for transit traffic
and are not very important in themselves for the border regions. The actual
crossing of the border is not a loss of time these days, the former function of
the border, the stopping of the traffic does not exist any longer. These
tracks, however, may be very important for the accessibility of the border
regions, which may lessen the peripheral situation that is often caused by
other factors. The other important level of the transport network is the ele-
ments of the network connecting the inner areas of the border region, whose
cross-border integration is often much more problematic than that of the
large axes. One of the most important determining factors of the spatial
structure of the border regions are these roads (including bridges, ferries and
lines of public transport), as they directly influence the accessibility of the
centres (including the ones on the other side of the border).
All these designate the range of those movements and interactions that shape the
internal network and integration of the border regions. The number, intensity and
direction of these movements allow us to differentiate among the basic types of the
cross-border interactions, on the basis of which we can define the basic inner
structure of the whole border region (alienated, co-existing, mutually cooperating
and integrated border regions). These types are splendidly featured by the model of
Martinez (Martinez, 1994, 7), that we used during our work.
2 The Slovak–Hungarian border region
2.1 History of the border
The Slovak–Hungarian border region is situated in an area that belonged to single
state formations until the end of World War I: the Kingdom of Hungary and the
Austro–Hungarian Monarchy. The state border between Czechoslovakia and Hun-
gary was created by the peace treaty concluding World War I. The state border did
not follow the ethnic border: significant areas with Hungarian majority were an-
nexed to Czechoslovakia. In the peace treaty of 1920 the border was designated
mainly on the basis of economic, military-strategic and transport geographical con-
siderations (Hevesi–Kocsis, 2003), thus the network of personal relations, the as-
pects of the settlement network and ethnic considerations, all important for the or-
ganisation of the everyday life, were not considered during the decision-making.
The border was pushed northwards in connection with the Munich Treaty in 1938,
and this situation existed until the end of World War II. Then the agreement on the
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ceasefire restored the situation existing before 1938, and the peace treaty annexed
another small area to Czechoslovakia from the area of Bratislava. After the disinte-
gration of Czechoslovakia, Slovakia inherited the state borders.
The border regions are multi-ethnic areas. On the Slovakian side the proportion
of the Hungarian ethnic population is significant along the total border section; in
fact, there are still areas with Hungarian majority, especially along the western
part of the border. In some districts Hungarians make over 80% of the inhabitants.
(In the whole of Slovakia the proportion of Hungarians is around 5%, most of
them live in the zone along the border.) Along the eastern section of the border the
situation is different, areas and villages with both Hungarian and Slovakian major-
ity can be found here.
On the Hungarian side we also find inhabitants and villages of Slovak ethnicity.
Although the proportion of Slovaks within the population of Hungarian is small
(0.17%), along the border we still find many villages where Slovak ethnicity lives.
2.2 Economic development
The amount of GDP produced at NUTS 3 level clearly indicates that the most de-
veloped areas of both states can be found along the common border. The strong
economic concentration of the western border section is undeniable. The capital
cities of both countries have a significant and still growing share of the production
in their countries. Bratislava in 1995 possessed 24.6% of the GDP produced in Slo-
vakia, and this share grew to 27.3% by 2005. The concentration of Budapest is even
bigger, as it was 33.9% already in 1995, to increase to 35.9% by 2005. Among the
NUTS 3 units along the border, the growth of the western ones is dynamic. Both in
Hungary and Slovakia the increase over the national average was typical in these
areas from 1995 to 2005. In Slovakia it is Trnava after Bratislava that boasts of the
highest production per capita, but during the whole of the decade the districts of
Nitra and Zilinsky show the fastest growth after Bratislava. Their share from the
production of Slovakia also increased during this decade, while the proportion of
Banská Bystrica, Prešov and Trenčín districts decreased. In the east it is only the
Košice district that shows a considerable growth, approaching the national average.
All these demonstrate that the economic power of Slovakia is concentrated in the
western and northern areas of the country, in the east Košice stands out as an island.
On the Hungarian side of the border it is the western areas too that show the fastest
growth, and the highest amount of goods produced, only surpassed by the capital
city. The weight of Budapest (and Pest county) within Hungary exceeds that of
Bratislava and Trnava districts together in Slovakia, both in value produced and the
number of population. Despite the basically high level of development of the west-
ern counties in Hungary then the regional disparities in the whole of Hungary and
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also across the border counties are bigger than in Slovakia. In Hungary the western
counties (Gyır-Moson-Sopron and Komárom-Esztergom counties) grew far above
the national average in the decade in question, and have become the most developed
Hungarian counties after Budapest by now.
Symmetry is clearly visible: along the western section of the border the most
advanced areas of the respective countries can be found on both sides. In Slovakia
the three neighbouring western districts (Bratislava, Trnava and Nitra), in Hun-
gary Budapest and three counties (Pest, Komárom-Esztergom and Gyır-Moson-
Sopron) produce half of the GDP of the respective country. Especially in Slovakia
this proportion seems to be growing. On the other hand, the development level of
the eastern part is below the average on both sides; although Košice stands out as
an island in Slovakia, Miskolc is unable to have the same function in Hungary.
2.3 The urban network
The borders in the Carpathian Basin are young historical creations, and in many
places the spatial structural elements (transport axes, urban hinterlands) crossing the
present borders did no cease to exist; they may only have weakened to some extent.
The weakening of the separating role of the borders allows their partial re-creation.
At the same time we cannot neglect the fact that over the last decades, both in Hun-
gary and in the neighbour states, processes affecting the spatial structure took place
(industrialisation, urbanisation, transformation of the administrative structures and
the ethnic relations) that in many places do not allow the automatic restoration of
the spatial relations that had existed before the designation of the borders (Figure
1). On the other hand, there are new, formerly non-existing spatial needs that cross
the present borders (suburbanisation, commuting of the labour force).
The borders drawn in the early 20th century had an impact on the further devel-
opment of the cities and other settlements in the vicinity of the borders. Several
cities lost some of their previous functions, but some settlements came out as
winners, especially in areas where the region was cut by the border from its for-
mer centre (Hardi–Pap, 2006). After the designation of the borders there were
several cities that lost the major part of their hinterlands and thereby their central
functions within the new state territories, and their population hardly increased
during the 20th century, parallel to the decline of their central roles (e.g. Balassag-
yarmat, Kráľovský Chlmec). These cities and towns, having lost their county and
district functions, found themselves in lower hierarchy categories. In the areas
along the present borders, especially in the mountainous areas, the average size of
the towns was smaller anyway than in the Great Hungarian Plain, thus the same
hierarchy levels concerned smaller towns in these regions (Beluszky–Gyıri, 2005).
These small towns, having lost their administrative functions, were practically
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Figure 1
Urban hinterlands in border regions cut by the borders of Hungary
Legend: 1 – Boundary of 30 km border zone; 2 – Historical state border; 3 – Zone
of influence.
Source: Kovács, 1990.
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deprived of any considerable urban development during the 20th century. Espe-
cially in the eastern, mountainous section it is typical that the peripheral situation of
the border regions is due to a large extent to the tearing apart of the urban hinter-
lands. Areas of considerable size remained without service centres during the 20th
century, as the small and medium-sized towns were cut from their rural hinterlands
by the border, and the substituting centres were far away in bad traffic access. The
designation of the border deprived several towns and cities of their county seat role,
and there were towns (especially in the east) that could not develop further after the
loss of their hinterlands (Mezei, 2006).
On the other hand, many towns and cities were born or strengthened, climbed
up in the hierarchy during the past decades, having services with more significant
attraction on the other side of the border than at any time of their past. Such a city
is Bratislava itself, together with South Komarno (Sikos–Tiner, 2007) and Sal-
gótarján.
Of course there were cities that developed due to political and economic ef-
fects. In the socialist era, in addition to the political decisions also the economic
policy decisions, giving preference to industrialisation-linked urban development,
often favoured the cross-border regions and settlements. In Hungary the goal was
the development of the northeast-southwest “industrial axis “, in the neighbour
countries the objective was to increase the proportion of the urban spaces. Parallel
to this, industrial development also affected settlements in the proximity of the bor-
ders, as they were either traditional urban/industrial centres or were important due
to their geographical location. This way a considerable industrial development took
place along the Danubian section of the Hungarian–Czechoslovakian border (Brati-
slava, Gyır, Komárom/Komarno, Nové Zámky, Lábatlan, Nyergesújfalu etc.),
and also along the eastern section (Salgótarján, Ózd, Putnok, Kazincbarcika,
Košice). All these factors explain why in the socialist era the border regions were
not always identical with the regions in the economic peripheries; several border
regions and cities had a considerable development in these decades. There are
many essays drawing attraction to this fact (Rechnitzer, 1999; Süli-Zakar, 2000;
Baranyi, 2004).
The cities formulating cross-border regions can be classified into three catego-
ries: capital cities, middle towns in the border region or in the vicinity of border,
and finally the small towns along the border.
This border region is shaped by the effects of three capital cities. All three
capital cities can be found close to the state border, accordingly their hinterlands
reach beyond the borders in some form. Each has significant, although different
impact on the development of the border region. Vienna and Budapest have been
restoring their traditional catchment areas since the middle of the 1990s. It is espe-
cially Vienna that has outstanding opportunities in this respect. Vienna has actually
made Bratislava its “twin city”, what is missing for the faster common develop-
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ment is primarily the direct and good quality transport connection. The commut-
ers’ trains of the Austrian railway company (Euroregion trains) have scheduled
lines and preferential tariffs from Vienna towards Tatabánya and Szombathely in
Hungary, and also towards the border region of the Slovakia and the Czech Re-
public. It is no wonder then that in the western part of the border region it is the
central relations directed towards Vienna that are strengthening. Budapest has,
may have a similar function in the central part of Slovakia. However, the infra-
structure background for this is missing, and the establishment and organisation of
these systems is blocked by political problems, among other things. There is no
high quality road and rail access from Budapest to Central Slovakia; although its
construction fits into the network development plans of the Union, the designation
of the tracks is a matter of political debates between the two countries. Compared
to the two big capital cities, the cross-border role of Bratislava is much more mod-
erate. Bratislava is strengthening its relations to Vienna, there are several fast ship
lines between the two cities (Wienslava–Bratiswien), the motorway has already
been built and the construction of through train, in fact, high speed railway line is
also probable. The cross-border attraction of the capital city of Slovakia is mostly
built on the suburbanisation process. Real estate prices in the rapidly growing
Bratislava are in a sharp contrast with the relatively lower real estate prices on the
other side of the border, in the Austrian and Hungarian areas, which are peripher-
ies in their respective countries. The outmigration of the inhabitants of Bratislava to
these areas started quickly, and they commute across the border towards Bratislava.
This process has an increasingly important impact on the Hungarian areas along the
border, as they are in an extremely good transport position. Outflow is further rein-
forced by the elimination of the control on border crossing; on the other hand, it is
set back by the fact that the Hungarian areas – unlike the Austrian ones – lack sub-
urban public transport towards the capital city of Slovakia. Infrastructure is given
(motorway, railway). If transport is organised, the agglomeration of Bratislava will
reach right to Mosonmagyaróvár, as not only the population moves out from a big
city going through suburbanisation, but also the economic actors that follow the
inhabitant, seeking lower cost locations (or rented offices), as it has already hap-
pened in the agglomeration of Vienna and Budapest. In addition there is a geo-
graphical point of outstanding value, a crossing of motorways in the vicinity of a
big city, like the crossing of the motorways M1 and M15 in the Hungarian terri-
tory.
Along the total length of the border we find small and medium-sized towns
from Gyır to Košice and Sátoraljaújhely, and these towns are expanding their
catchment areas to both sides of the border in some way. In some places it con-
cerns the commuting of the labour force (Gyır), in other places it is in commerce
(Salgótarján, Sátoraljaújhely), in other places it is in the field of public services,
almost the total of life (Komárom, Esztergom). In western part we find cities in
14
Hardi, Tamás : Transborder Movements and Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 42. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 68.
the direct proximity of the border which are bigger and have more significant
economic potential (Mosonmagyaróvár, Gyır, Komárom and Komarno, the twin
cities Esztergom and Sturovo [Figure 2]), in the eastern part of the border region
the bigger cities are farther away from the border. Not even the hinterlands of the
towns with 20 to 50 thousand inhabitants, offering an almost complete range of
central functions, cover the whole region. Along this long border section we find
Salgótarján, Ózd and Kazincbarcika, in Slovakia Lučenec and Rimavská Sobota in
the vicinity of the border. All are small towns, even the county seats, except Sal-
gótarján. The major centres (Košice and Miskolc) are situated a bit farther from
border. In Slovakia the urban development of the last decades took place more
north of the border (with the exception of Košice), while the majority of the towns
that were middle towns in the early 20th century were not able to increase the
number of their population (Horváth, 2004). As a result of this, significant areas
without urban centres emerged, especially in the contact zone of Borsod-Abaúj-
Zemplén county and the district of Košice.
By the location of the centres, the border region can be divided into five typical
functional zones.
1) The agglomeration of Bratislava. This involves the traditional suburban
zone of the Slovakian side right until Somorja, the main commuting region
of the capital city of Slovakia. The agglomeration of Bratislava has reaches
across the state border by now; it involves the area of Mosonmagyaróvár
close to the border and also some Austrian territories. The agglomeration is
contiguous to the agglomeration of Vienna; the impact of the two capital
cities is jointly shaping the area.
2) The zone of the Danube cities. This entails Gyır and the so-called Danube
city pairs, e.g. Komarno/Komárom and Sturovo/Esztergom. It is especially
the transport geographical location of the two Komárom settlements and
Gyır that leads to the birth of considerable cross-border catchment areas. The
special importance of these city pairs is given by the fact that they can actu-
ally be taken as single urban agglomerations by now. Together they have a
population in excess of fifty thousand, so their common services and eco-
nomic attraction is equal to that of a medium-sized Hungarian city, not to
mention the high density of population in the economic agglomeration along
the right bank of the Danube River (from Almásfüzitı to Dorog).
3) Zone of the mountainous towns. This zone reaches from the mouth of the
Ipoly River to the edge of the hinterlands of Košice and Miskolc. Its western
part is adjacent to the agglomeration of Budapest, including Vác. On the
other hand, the low level of urbanisation along the Ipoly River is also due to
the drainage effect of Budapest. The area between the Börzsöny Mountains
and the Ipoly River gravitates to the city of Esztergom, allowed by the
15
Hardi, Tamás : Transborder Movements and Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 42. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 68.
Figure 2
Cities and towns along the Slovakian–Hungarian border by number of inhabitants
Cities and Towns
Above 100 thousand inhabitants
D
Du
D
D n
u a
nn
n j
aj
a
a e
j
j c
ec
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ec
ec
.
50 to 100 thousand inhabitants
20 to 50 thousand inhabitants
10 to 20 thousand inhabitants
Capital Cities
Borders
Vah
Va
V
V
Vah
Va
V
NUTS 3 Borders
ndava
ndav
nda
nda
nd
nd v
nda
nd v
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OO
Highw ays
Ho
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aaa
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Košice
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Treb išov
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T
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Tisz
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Tis
BRATISLAVA
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Salgótarján
Miskolc
Balassagyarmat
Šamorín
Dunajsk á Streda
Nové Zámk y
Bátonyterenye
Sa
S
S j
aj
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Mosonmagyaróvár
. Eger
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Esztergom Vác
Mo
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ni
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i
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Komárom
Dorog
Gyır
Tata
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sasa
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cc
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iti-
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uu BUDAPEST
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baba
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se
se
R
RRR
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Berettyó
a
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Székesfehérvár
Beretty
Berett ó
Beretty
Berett
Bere ó
Beretty
Berett ó
Beretty
r
r
c
caa
l
a a
a
l ll
Source: By the author.
16
Hardi, Tamás : Transborder Movements and Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 42. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 68.
Schengen borders and the planned bridges across the Ipoly. At the northern
feet of the North Hungarian Mountain Range there are the already mentioned
towns with 20 to 50 thousand inhabitants (Salgótarján, Ózd, Kazincbarcika,
Lučenec , Rimavská Sobota), but they are somewhat farther from the border
(10–20 kilometres). Directly on the border we only find smaller centres
(Šahy, Balassagyarmat).
4) The hinterlands of Košice and Miskolc. The border regions of the two cities
are characterised by a deficient urban system, especially on the Hungarian
side (being one of the least urbanised areas in Hungary). North of Edelény
in the Zemplén Mountains we do not find any major central settlement. The
areas right on the border may gravitate to Košice more than to Miskolc,
even on the Hungarian side.
5) The area of the triple border in the east. This region has a weak urban net-
work in both countries. Smaller centres can only be found on the Hungarian
side, such as Sátoraljaújhely and Sárospatak. Especially the latter has
strong cross-border attraction. On the Slovakian side, Trebišov can be
found a bit farther from the border, and its services are too weak to have
attraction on the Hungarian side of the border as well.
3 Relations capital in the Slovak–Hungarian border region
3.1 Basic features of the cross-border social relations
In the Hungarian and the Slovak sample of the questionnaire survey (a total of
1,000 people in the Hungarian and 996 in the Slovak sample) there are significant
differences as regards the cross-border personal relations. On the Hungarian side
one quarter, on the Slovak side half of the questioned persons had some sort of
contact in the neighbour country (Figure 3). Our expectation regarding the different
ethnic composition was verified: in the Slovak border region the proportion of in-
habitants with such contacts was 27% higher. This relationship index measures the
existence of the connections, irrespective of their number and character. As regards
the number of respondents, in the Hungarian sample 250, in the Slovak sample
more than 500 persons were suitable for a more detailed analysis.
In the questionnaires filled out on the Slovak side, due to the overrepresentation
of the social layers with secondary school and higher education certificates, the
activity of relationship network is probably higher than the actual proportions, due
to the conversion mechanism of the relationship capital and the cultural, and also
the closely related economic capital. This phenomena is well described by
Bourdieu (Bourdieu, 1997).
17
Hardi, Tamás : Transborder Movements and Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 42. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 68.
Relationships were measured in five forms: family, friends, acquaintances,
colleagues and business partners. The probability of the existence of relations
follows the same logic in both countries, but the proportions are much higher also
in this case on the Slovak side. The biggest share of the inhabitants has family rela-
tions on the other side of the border, which is natural, coming from the historical
past of the border region. The second most frequent type of relationship is acquaint-
ances, followed by friendships. Colleagues and business partners make a negligible
part (2 to 4%) of the personal interactions in both countries. The proportions and
their differences are very informative: more than one-third of the inhabitants on the
Slovak side have relatives, 28% have acquaintances and 25% have friends in Hun-
gary; the same relationships of the Hungarian respondents were only 13%, 11% and
9%, respectively (Figure 3).
Figure 3
Probable frequency of the relationships and the types of relationships
Relative frequency – Answer yes
Difference
27.4%
22.7%
17.4%
16.2%
Source: Questionnaire survey of inhabitants (2008).
18
Hardi, Tamás : Transborder Movements and Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 42. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 68.
Based on Mark Granovetter (1988) we can differentiate between strong ties
(relatives or friends) and weak ties (acquaintances, colleagues or business part-
ners), which have different values and functions at the level of the individual and
the whole social structure. Also in this approach the frequency of strong ties is
higher on the Slovak side (Table 1).
Table 1
The frequency and institutional background of official relationships, %
Hungarian sample
Slovak sample
Had contact to any office or authority
2.7
10.1
in the last five years
(N=27)
(N=99)
Frequency (first mention)
– daily
3.7
2.1
– several times a week
0.0
1.1
– several times a month
3.7
13.8
– less frequently
92.6
83.0
What sort of institution? Most fre-
Police (8)
Labour Office (22)
quent mentions of first institutions
Border Guard (6)
Hungarian Tax Authority (19)
and the number of mentions)
Municipal government (2)
Police (14)
Land Registry Office (2)
Municipal government (7)
Registry Office (5)
Border Guard (4)
Source: Questionnaire survey of inhabitants (2008).
The proportion of multi-layer, multiplex relationship networks is much lower.
Both strong ties (i.e. friends and relatives) were mentioned by 32 Hungarian re-
spondents, only (3.2% of the sample), whereas there were 158 such respondents
(16%) on the Slovak side. As regards the three weaker ties – acquaintances, col-
leagues and business partners –, involving less emotional elements and intensity,
only 10 Hungarian and 47 Slovak respondents mentioned such ties, which mean
very low proportions: 1% and 5%, respectively. Of course the borders and the his-
torical vicissitudes annihilated many relations or did not allow the birth of such ties
(Figure 4).
The inhabitants living in Slovakia have more complex relationship systems in
Hungary (Figure 5). The majority has only one type of relationship, of course,
and as we have formerly seen, these are usually family ties or less intensive ac-
quaintanceships. Of all Hungarian respondents having any sort of ties, 70% have
only one kind of relationship. In the Slovak sample the proportion of such respon-
dents is much lower (48%), almost half of them (47%) have personal networks
consisting of 2 or 3 sorts of relationships simultaneously (this proportion is only
28% on the Hungarian side).
19
Hardi, Tamás : Transborder Movements and Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 42. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 68.
Figure 4
Number of different kind of relations in the other side of the border
– ego-network multiplicity
Source : Questionnaire survey of inhabitants (2008).
Figure 5
The complexity of the personal cross-border relationships
Hungarian sample
Slovak sample
Source : Questionnaire survey of inhabitants (2008).
20
Hardi, Tamás : Transborder Movements and Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 42. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 68.
According to our calculations, an average inhabitant in the south Slovak border
zone has contacts to at least 10 persons in Hungary, if s/he is not isolated. This is
true for the Hungarian side as well, but the average number of contacts in Slovakia
is only 6. The maximum values highlight the background of the significant differ-
ences between the average and the mean values. The questionnaire survey involved
persons who have a large number, maybe 200–300 contacts on the other side of the
border.
3.2 Basic features of the cross-border institutionalised (official or adminis-
trative) interactions
Only a small proportion of the inhabitants had contact to the official authorities of
the other country in the last five years (Table 1). In the Hungarian sample there
were only 27 such persons, somewhat more on the Slovak side, but their proportion
remained below 10% even in Slovakia. In addition, such relationships were occa-
sional; most respondents (83% and 93%, respectively) contacted some institutions a
few times, only. Continuous touch to the official organs is negligible: only 3-4% of
the inhabitants had daily or weekly contacts to the offices and authorities in this
period.
The organs most frequently mentioned by the Hungarian respondents were the
police, border guard, municipal governments and land registry offices. The list of
the Slovak respondents is more complex and mostly concerns labour and taxation
issues. The most frequently mentioned organs were the police, border guard and
some municipal government also in this case.
3.3 Possible explanations for the frequency of the cross-border relations
Summarising the most important features of the strong and weak interpersonal rela-
tions, and the contacts with the official organs it became clear that the interactions
from Slovakia to Hungary are much more intensive (due to the Hungarian ethnic
minority living in Slovakia) than the interactions from Hungary towards Slovakia.
The social interactions of this type of the people living in the eastern and west-
ern part of the border region have been built out on the other side of the border
with by and large the same probability. The settlement size is a not differentiating
factor either: the inhabitants of neither the rural areas nor the big cities have big-
ger or more complex relationship networks. The respective age groups of the
sample also feature relationships with the same frequency. Social activity and
family status do not seem to play a role in this respect, either.
21
Hardi, Tamás : Transborder Movements and Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 42. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 68.
There are two clear things, however. 1) On the Slovak side, as it had been ex-
pected, the ethnic belonging was the main determining factor differentiating the
contacts. 2) In both samples, significant differences could only be detected by the
level of school education and the closely related employment position.
On the Slovak side of the border region, 62% of the respondents with Hungarian
ethnicity had some cross-border relations. Among the population of Slovak ethnic-
ity the proportion of such inhabitants was just half of this (35%), which is a sur-
prisingly high proportion, considering the much lower rate in Hungary (Table 2).
Table 2
The differentiation of network properties according to the nationality
of the respondents – Slovakian side
Hungarian nationality
Slovak nationality
Do you have any contact on the other side of
62.3
34.5
the border (in Hungary?), %
How many persons do you keep in touch with?
25
14
(average)
How many relatives do you have? (average)
10
11
How many friends do you have? (average)
11
7
How many acquaintances do you have? (average)
20
8
With one kind of contact only, %
45.6
58.2
With two kinds of contacts, %
30.6
23.6
With three or more contacts of different types, %
23.8
18.2
Source: Questionnaire survey of inhabitants (2008).
It is also visible that the Hungarians have bigger and more complex relation-
ships than the Slovaks. The average number of family, friendly, acquaintanceship
and colleague relationships featured in the table demonstrates that the majority of
those with Hungarian nationality have the weaker forms of contacts (e.g. the have
twice as many acquaintances and have four more friends on the average).
In the relationships towards the other side of the border school education and
the partly connected higher status also play an important role. Even on the Hun-
garian side, the proportion of those with contacts on the other side is 10% higher
among those with higher education certificates. The responses received in Slova-
kia show a similar hierarchy: e.g. 65% of those who had finished university stud-
ies gave positive answers.
The number of contacts is also positively influenced by the higher social
status, but this is mostly true for the weaker ties and mainly on the Hungarian
side. In Slovakia this parameter did not show significant differences. In the com-
plexity of the relationships, however, on both sides it is the schooling and the
22
Hardi, Tamás : Transborder Movements and Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 42. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 68.
concomitant social milieu that dominate. Respondents with higher education de-
grees are the least frequently those who have single-component relationships, and
they are the ones who most frequently posses complex contacts of at least three
different types.
On both the Slovak and the Hungarian side the differentiating factor is the blue
collar or white collar job, besides which the higher qualification and position are not
so important. The mean value of the number of contacts on the Hungarian side well
demonstrates that those in leading positions and the self-employed have the more
extended networks of relationships. This correlation on the Slovak side is slightly
modified: probably because of the more active employment practice even the blue-
collar workers have a higher probability of contacts to the Hungarian side and a
larger number of ties as well.
3.4 Possible obstacles of the strong cross-border ties
In case of the family and friendly relations we asked about those external obstacles
which may make difficult, or set back keeping in touch with the people on the side
of the border. The list is not complete but it involves the most important elements,
among which the first ones are time, spatial distance and the impact of
infrastructure (Table 3).
Table 3
The obstacles of strong ties
Obstacles
Hungarian sample, %
Slovak sample, %
Shortage of time
38.1
45.6
Financial reasons
25.7
41.5
Illness
24.8
26.4
Lack of car
23.6
25.5
Big geographical distance
16.8
25.0
Bad public transport access
15.2
18.6
State border
8.8
2.1
Bad accessibility
7.2
6.7
Source: Questionnaire survey of inhabitants (2008).
Among the inhabitants living on the Slovak side and having contacts in
Hungary we found a bigger proportion of those who met some difficulties. The
first in the order of the obstacles was the lack of time, which in the globalising
society of our times does not only affect the interpersonal interactions but also
23
Hardi, Tamás : Transborder Movements and Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 42. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 68.
several other aspects of our lives. The smallest problems were accessibility and
the role of the border, according to the respondents. It seems that the closer
communication and interaction of the inhabitants on the two sides of the border
have mostly been set back by unfavourable factors coming from their own lives,
in which the two dominant factors are the lack of free time and the disparities of
the financial means.
4 Social capital and its spatial aspects
At each strong and weak tie we asked about the spatial location of the contact
persons on the other side of the border. On the basis of this we can designate the
extent of the cross-border social capital and the concentration of the ties. Our
question concerned if there were dense points of ties and if so, which settlements
concentrated the contacts. We expected the appearance of the natural tendencies
coming from the demographic weight of the respective settlements, i.e. that in the
cities, due to their size, we would possibly find more relatives, friends,
acquaintances and colleagues.
In the case of strong ties, most respondents on the Slovak side have relatives or
friends in the capital city, which is followed by the big cities and the local centres
along the border. A similar logic can be seen at the weak ties, where the outstanding
position of the capital city can also be seen. The situation of Komárom is to be
selectively mentioned, as this city has the third highest number of mentions in all
four contact types, following Budapest and Gyır – despite its much smaller number
of population (Figure 6).
Of course the list is not suitable for making far-reaching analyses but it well
demonstrates the major junctions of integration mechanisms realised though
interpersonal ties in the border region.
4.1 Frequency and objective of border crossings
The frequency of travels also reveals the bigger activity of the Slovakian side. The
Slovakian respondents (who have already been to the other side of the border) travel
to Hungary much more frequently than the Hungarians to Slovakia (Table 4). The
proportion of daily commuters is also significant among the Slovakian respondents.
West of the Ipoly River it concerns over 3% of the respondents, evidently due to the
better employment possibilities in the first place.
24
Hardi, Tamás : Transborder Movements and Relations in the Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 42. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 68.
Figure 6
Destinations of the cross-border travels
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H j
Ha
H d
j
a j u
d s
jd
j u
d z
us
us o
z
sz b
o
z o
ob
o s
bo
bo z
s
os l
z
s o
zl
z o
l
Hajduszoboszl
Number of Answers
590
295
59
Ba
B l
aaa
l t
aa o
t n
o f
n u
f r
u e
r d
e
Source: Questionnaires (filled out in 2008).
Table 4
Breakdown of the travellers by the frequency of the border-crossings, in per cent
Country
Border section
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Few times
Every few
a year
years
Hungary
Western*
0.0
3.4
12.7
39.8
44.1
Eastern
0.9
4.3
11.2
39.7
44.0
Total
0.5
3.9
11.8
39.7
44.0
Slovakia
Western
3.1
8.4
19.5
48.8
20.2
Eastern
2.1
8.0
13.6
45.4
30.9
Total
2.7
8.2
17.4
47.6
24.0
All
Western
2.0
6.7
17.2
45.6
28.5
Eastern
1.4
5.9
12.2
42.1
38.5
Total
1.7
6.3
14.9
44.0
33.1
* Sections: west or east of the Ipoly River.
Source: Questionnaire survey of inhabitants (2008).
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Discussion Papers, No. 68.
The definition of the objective of the travels is not less important. Table 5
demonstrates the most frequently mentioned reasons for the travels in the
questionnaires. A relatively small proportion of the respondents mentioned work
and business affairs as the motivation of travel. However, if we consider that
these goals are strongly connected to the travels of daily or weekly frequency, we
can see that this objective is becoming more important among the motivations of
cross-border travels. The purchase of durable goods is more frequent at the
eastern section of the border, on both sides. It is most typical at this border section
that the nearest urban centre with a larger supply of durable goods can be found
on the other side of the border.
Table 5
Breakdown of cross-border travellers by purpose of the travel, in per cent
Border section
Western
Eastern
Total
Hungary
Slovakia
Hungary
Slovakia
Hungary
Slovakia
Employment
1.3
4.1
0.4
3.3
0.8
3.8
Business affairs
2.8
3.6
1.7
4.5
2.2
3.9
Purchase of durable
6.6
18.7
21.7
22.8
15.6
20.1
goods
Weekly or monthly
24.1
11.1
11.9
4.8
16.8
8.9
shopping
Leisure, holiday,
44.9
35.2
39.7
46.8
41.8
39.3
sightseeing
Cultural events
2.8
12.9
4.7
9.0
3.9
11.5
Visiting relatives
5.4
10.5
10.0
5.1
8.1
8.6
Other
12.0
3.9
10.0
3.6
10.8
3.8
*Sections: west or east of the Ipoly River.
Source: Questionnaire survey of inhabitants (2008).
4.2 Image of the other people, the inhabitants of the other country
In our research we looked at how people viewed the nation on the other side of the
border and what characteristics they attributed to the people living there.
Hungarians have traditionally considered themselves as a friendly nation. This
characteristic is on the top of the list not only in the self-image of the Hungarians;
the neighbour nation, the Slovaks also think that the most characteristic feature of
the Hungarians is their hospitality, friendliness. This is true for both the Hungarians
living in Hungary and the Hungarian ethnic citizens in Slovakia. The average
values always reached, in connection with the Hungarians living in Hungary even
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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 42. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 68.
exceeded four (on a five-grade scale). Besides the above-mentioned two
characteristics, the Slovaks basically see the Hungarians as a happy, proud, clean,
creative, helpful, busy and educated nation (with average values at or over 3.8); this
image is by and large identical with the self-image of the Hungarians. Practically
these are the traits that the respondents of the survey found most typical for the
Hungarians living in Slovakia too, irrespective of the ethnicity of the respondents
(Hungarians in Hungary, Hungarians in Slovakia, or Slovaks), with one more
characteristic mentioned as typical of the Hungarians in Slovakia: they are faithful.
This characteristic definitely reflects the historical relations of these people to
Hungary and the judgement of this relationship.
The findings of the research reveal that the judgements of the Hungarians, both
of those living in Hungary and in Slovakia, are largely the same: there is a
harmony between self-evaluation and the image living in the nation on the other
side of the border. On the other hand, the self-image of the Slovaks and the image
of them in the Hungarians are completely different. The Slovaks consider
themselves as friendly, hospitable, peaceful, sympathetic, helpful, busy and happy
people, the mean value of these characteristics ranged from 3.83–3.98. A totally
different image of the Slovaks, the Slovak nation was revealed by the Hungarians
– both the Hungarians living in Hungary and in Slovakia. The most typical
characteristic associated with the Slovaks was pride. This was the only
characteristic whose mean value approached four (3.98 and 3.9, respectively). In
addition to proud, the Hungarians see Slovaks as self-confident and material, but
the mean value of these traits ranged from 3.5–3.6 on a scale up to five. It seems
that the evaluation of the Slovaks, the image made of them is strongly influenced
by the former stereotypes, the old attitudes (the relationship between the two
nations has never been really friendly), at least this is suggested by the significant
“gap” between the self-image of the Slovaks and the judgement by the Hungarians.
The research findings suggest anyway that there is a kind of restriction in the
case of the Hungarians living in Hungary not only in their self-evaluation but also
in the judgement of the people (Slovaks) and minority (Hungarians of Slovak
nationality), as there is not one reply where a value above four (on a five-grade
scale) was given to a question “How much is it typical ...”. The judgement of the
Hungarians living in Slovakia was anyway usually more positive, both in their self-
esteem and their evaluation by the Slovaks, or the Hungarians living in the mother
country.
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5 Economic relations
5.1 Business foundation in Slovakia
It is a general view that the different taxation systems in the two countries reinforce
the economic movements between the countries. The better economic environment
does not only mean the simpler and more comprehensible Slovakian taxation
system but also involves the simpler legal environment, the less difficult procedure
of the foundation of businesses and the lower administrative and additional costs
(e.g. attorneys’ fees). Entrepreneurs often use the opportunity of moving their
businesses from Hungary to Slovakia, in order to exploit the better conditions of
taxation. This means that the business remains to be a Hungarian enterprise but the
taxation is based on the Slovak system.
The opening towards Slovakia has another important objective: the expansion
of the market, as the penetration into and opening up of new markets offers higher
revenues for the growing businesses. In addition, expansion to the border region
actually means that the Hungarian firms get into a Hungarian environment, as the
proportion of inhabitants with Hungarian mother tongue or with Hungarian
language skills is high in the border region. Another very attractive factor is the
skilled, reliable and cheap Slovak labour force. In the 1990s Slovakia had an
unemployment rate of 20–25%, a significant part of the former unemployed are
now employed by Hungarian entrepreneurs, among other things. In the Bratislava
district and in West Slovakia several multinational corporations – e.g. large
automotive companies – appeared where the Hungarian companies wish to be
come suppliers of the suppliers. This significant junction of automotive industry
is a great motivation for the establishment of suppliers’ contacts, while the
opening of the border allows the Hungarian businesses to locate to Slovakia easily.
The economic opening to Slovakia also has a negative side, unfortunately. The
entrepreneurs have to be very thoughtful, as it may happen that the partners in
Hungary are not very keen on seeing a car with Slovak licence plate at a business
meeting. This makes the image of the respective entrepreneur totally different. It is
true, on the other hand that this negative discrimination may happen on the
Slovakian side of the border as well.
5.2 Business foundation in Hungary
The Slovak companies too try to expand their economic activities to Hungary. The
main reason for this effort is the demand for expanding the market, the acquisition
of new markets. Coming from the bigger size of the market, Hungary is a
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significant potential market for the goods, so the Slovak companies – if they have
products that are competitive on the Hungarian markets too – try to fill in the
market gaps. An example to be mentioned is the Slovak-owned businesses
operating in the Entrepreneurs’ House [Vállalkozók Háza] in Komárom in
Hungary, trying to serve the Hungarian market. Another motivation of the Slovak
businesses may be the bigger purchasing power of the Hungarian market; in
Hungary the prices are higher, e.g. higher profit can be realised. In the western area
of the Slovak--Hungarian border the market is easier to access than in the eastern
part of the countries, because in addition to Bratislava the Gyır–Esztergom region
too has a significant concentration of inhabitants, not to mention Budapest and its
agglomeration. From the other side of the border it is typically those with
Hungarian mother tongue who come to Hungary. As in the north-western part of
Hungary there is a growing shortage of skilled labour, the foreign businesses
located here (e.g. Nokia, Suzuki) attract masses of relatively weak Slovak labour
force. The role of labour recruitment agencies in this process in unquestionable. At
the same time, despite the large number of commuters across the border it is less
typical that masses of Slovakian businesses locate to Hungary, the main reason for
which is the much less business friendly environment in Hungary than in Slovakia.
It is only worth for a Slovak company locating to Hungary if they can become
suppliers to a multinational corporation operating in Hungary; however, a company
does not need to found a new business to expand its markets, as they can serve the
other side of the border from the existing locations too. Finally we have to remark
that the opening towards the Hungarian areas cannot only mean competitive
advantages in manufacturing but also in the field of receiving finances.
5.3 Investment propensity, economic movements
An ever increasing intensification of the economic movements can be seen – as we
have mentioned earlier –, nevertheless the number of investors on the other side of
the border is still low, there has not been and still there is no mass re-location. The
primitive accumulation of capital is a process just going on in the region, which
means that the businesses do not possess enough finances. The Slovak–Hungarian
capital is not competitive; there are no mass investments by this capital. However,
parallel to the strengthening of the small and medium-sized enterprises, there will
be more and more foreign direct investments. These days these movements are
rather one-way movements, to Slovakia – due to the favourable Slovak economic
environment. Presently there are almost thirty Slovakian companies engaged in
business foundation and car purchase for Hungarian citizens, typically close to the
border, from Bratislava right to Košice. They offer tailor-made solutions for all
requests, from business foundation to car rent; in fact, they even go into a price
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Discussion Papers, No. 68.
competition to win the Hungarian customers in some cases. This is a process
definitely concerning the border region, as the majority of the Hungarian companies
locating to Slovakia choose their locations in the stripe within 20 to 30 kilometres
from the state border.
The chambers of commerce have definitely good connections with several
institutions. The most important cooperating partners are the chambers of
commerce in Slovakia (e.g. in Bratislava or Nitra). These relations are very
versatile, ranging from the professional forums of general character through
targeted partner mediation of businesses to the implementation of joint projects.
In addition to the chamber of commerce of course they have other institutions and
organisations as partners, including business development foundations, vocational
training institutions, the Bratislava Office of the ITDH (Hungarian Investment and
Trade Development Agency), the Hungarian-Slovak Section of ITDH, or the
Hungarian Embassy of the Republic in Slovakia in Hungary.
5.4 Cross-border commuting and the local labour market
The phenomenon of cross-border commuting is interesting because in legal sense it
is an international migration, but mostly within local circumstances. This
phenomenon is different from the traditional employment “abroad”, as the
employees live their lives in the neighbour country and have their place of work in
the other state. This situation differentiates this circle of employees from other
foreign citizens, as their situation is special, raising a number of issues from the
organisation of daily traffic through the use of public services to taxation and the
conversion of the incomes. According to our survey, approximately 10% of the
inhabitants living in the Slovak border region have either worked already or is
presently working, maybe planning to work in the future in Hungary. If we also
take their families into consideration, cross-border employment involves a much
bigger part of the population.
We can see a phenomenon thus that is known within the space of a single
nation state; in this case, however, obeying the rules of the market and utilising the
possibilities given (permeability of the borders, institutional integration, better
access to the neighbouring border region in the broader sense of the word), some
local labour market districts have already penetrated into the neighbour state and are
shaping their relationships on the other side of the border too.
Since the turn of the millennium, one of the most dynamically developing
cross-border movements has been commuting to work. Mutual employment in the
neighbour state has traditionally existed in the region. Due to the axes of industrial
development and the lack of language and cultural barriers, mutual employment in
the neighbour country existed already in the socialist period, but it temporarily
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Discussion Papers, No. 68.
ceased to exist after the systemic change, because of the economic decline of those
years. After a few years of stagnation, since 1999 the number of employees
commuting from Slovakia to Hungary has been steadily growing. In the western
part of the border region unemployment rates are higher in Slovakia than in
Hungary, whereas in Hungary there are significant industrial centres in the vicinity
of the border that have already exhausted their local pool of labour force. Regular
commuting, on the other hand, is set back by the low number of bridges. Significant
indicators of the contacts of Mosonmagyaróvár, Gyır and Komárom were their
Danube bridges (and the same role is played by the reconstructed Mária Valéria
Bridge in Esztergom and its environment). Ferry as a means of transport is rather
uncertain, dependant to a large extent on weather conditions, and the barriers of
the seasons of the year. After 1999 the development of commuting was also
promoted by a framework agreement between the two countries, allowing a larger
number of employees to work in the other country (which was evidently Hungary in
the first place at that time). In fact, the frameworks were so generous in the years
preceding the EU accession that the barriers to the movement of labour practically
ceased to exist in these years. The May of 2004, the accession of Hungary and
Slovakia to the European Union, was not a shock to the labour market then. In 2005
the number of Slovak citizens employed in Hungary was approximately 30 000
already, and this number has remained largely the same since them, with some ups
and downs. Since the accession to the Union, Slovakia has undergone a very rapid
economic development. This fact also affects the labour market of Slovakia of
course. In the western part of the border region, the number of those travelling to
work to Hungary is decreasing and is probably going to stabilise at a natural level:
those will choose to work in Hungary for whom the nearby town or city in Hungary
is a spatial advantage. At the same time, a process of opposite direction has already
started. Hungarian labour force is attracted by Slovak employers to the other side. It
is especially the tackling of structural problems, i.e. the lack of experts that makes
Slovak businesses seek Hungarian skilled labour: from Komárom-Esztergom
county, for example, workers commute to Trnava, employed in the automotive
industry. A very recent phenomenon is that in the eastern part of the border region,
struck by significantly higher unemployment, Slovak entrepreneurs are now trying
to find labour force in Hungary. It is the demand for skilled labour again that plays
a dominant role, especially in the peripheral border areas from where the majority
of the skilled workers have already moved.
We only have estimations concerning the composition of the 30 thousand
employees. From regional aspects, approximately two-thirds of them are from the
border districts of West Slovakia, from the Dunajská Streda, Komarno, Nove
Zamky and Levice districts inhabited by mixed population, i.e. both Hungarians
and Slovaks. In December 2007 a total of 9,780 persons from these four districts
were employed directly by Hungarian firms – 2,220 employees from the Dunajská
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Streda, 6,000 from the Komarno, 1,200 from the Nove Zamky and 380 from the
Levice district (Source: Eures Danubius Conference, Dunajská Streda, 14 March
2008). The rest, i.e. approximately 10,000–10,200 persons found employment in
Hungary via Slovak labour recruitment agencies. As regards the similar breakdown
of the by and large 10 thousand labour force living in East and Central Slovakia,
we do not have exact figures, we only presume that mostly the same tendencies are
also valid in their case as in West Slovakia.
Our researches highlighted that the phenomenon of cross-border employment
in the region does not only depend the elements of economic boom. The
respondents thought it was important to have higher salaries in the neighbour
country, but the spatial proximity of the workplace was just as important. We can
say with certainty that the commuting employment in our region is not a
traditional international migration; it is based on the classic urban-rural relations.
Its intensity and volume are influenced by the wages available, but we also have
to see that the bulk of the commuters have more poorly paid jobs where the wage
differences will not change much across the two countries. The introduction of
Euro in Slovakia will evidently set back movements to some extent, but it will not
eliminate them. It is worth continuing the professional talks in this field and
promoting an even broader cooperation in the fields of vocational training and
retraining, strengthening thereby the cross-border labour districts.
5.5 Commuting with educational purposes
Cross-border commuting with educational purposes mostly concerns secondary
schools and higher education. One of the bases of commuting again is the use of
Hungarian language, but there are students commuting from Slovakia to Slovak
speaking institutions in Hungary too (offering accommodation and catering for
minorities). Students from Slovakia commute to Hungary, no process of opposite
direction can be seen, although the demand for it has already appeared. This
demand is based on the Hungarian speaking college in Komarno, there is an interest
in this institution by students living on the Hungarian side of the border region. Our
research findings reveal that both along the western and the eastern border section,
approximately half of the students of the institutions are Slovak citizens, as regards
the Hungarian settlements included in the survey it is only Balassagyarmat where in
each secondary education institution there are students from Slovakia (Figure 7).
Along the western border section there is only one institution where more than
20 Slovak citizens with Hungarian ethnicity study, whereas there are 3 in the
eastern part of the border region. Two of these can be found in Balassagyarmat, in
each school there are some 40 such students. In the institutions in question
approximately 360 students with Slovak citizenship but Hungarian ethnicity study,
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of whom 100 are in Balassagyarmat. The reason for this high number is seen by
the leaders of Balassagyarmat in the proximity of the border; however, there are
other settlements in the direct vicinity of the border but without such a high
number of students. Another possible reason is the supply of trainings in
Balassagyarmat.
Figure 7
Breakdown of the institutions of secondary education by the number of the
students with Slovak citizenship and Hungarian nationality, 2007/2008 – number
of institutions
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
No students
No students
Less than 5
5 to 10
10 to 20
More than 20
No
now and in
now, f ormerly
students
students
students
students
inf ormation
the past
there were
some
Western border region
Eastern border region
Note: In Gyır there are 26 institutions of secondary education altogether, of which 7 are institutions
with a larger number of students examined in the survey, according to the data of the local self-
governments. The remaining 19 institutions are not included in the statistics demonstrated in the
chart. These institutions are, in all probabilities, among the first three categories in the diagram,
as we were informed.
Source: By the author.
In the recent years several institutions experienced fluctuation in the number of
students, the reason for which was the accession to the EU in the opinion of
several school leaders. Where the number of students decreased, the school
leaders referred to the more rigorous regulations, as a consequence of which in
several cases tuition fee has to be paid. Despite the regulations, in the majority of
the institutions contacted no tuition fee has to be paid, or even if it is necessary,
the headmasters usually use the possibility of providing allowances. The practical
application of the legal regulation can be said to be flexible then, it is up to the
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Discussion Papers, No. 68.
leaders of the respective institutions if tuition fee is to be paid or not. It is not only
the issue of tuition fee, however, that depends on the individual institutions; the
admission procedure of the students also does. In some institutions the procedure
is similar to those valid for the Hungarian students, while there are schools where
students from Slovakia are admitted irrespective of the result of their admission
exams (or without such exams), supporting this way their studies in Hungary.
Among the settlements involved in the survey, Gyır even has an agreement
with a Slovakian municipality, Dunajská Streda on the education of students with
Slovak citizenship and Hungarian ethnicity in Gyır. The agreement has been signed
by all new mayors entering office by now, it is still in effect. According to the
agreement, if a student of Slovak citizenship wishes to study in Gyır, s/he has to
turn to the municipality of Dunajská Streda and s/he has to submit the official
registration form stamped there to the municipality of Gyır. The secondary schools
specified in the registration form will receive the registration sheets of the students
from the municipal government of Gyır. The admission procedure is the same as
that of the students with Hungarian citizenship, with the exception of the process
mentioned above.
The students can be divided into four basic categories as regards their purpose
to study in the Hungarian institutions. Some students would definitely like to have
higher education studies in Hungary, for which they feel it necessary to have final
exams in a Hungarian secondary school. There are two reasons for this: on the one
hand, they would like to study in Hungarian environment, on the other hand,
because of the differences between the Hungarian and the Slovakian school
leaving exams they think they have better chances with the Hungarian papers to
be admitted to a higher education institution. The majority of the students would
like to go on to a higher education institution in Budapest or Pécs. A small part of
the students would like to continue their studies in higher education outside
Hungary, but not necessarily in Slovakia; this is especially typical in the education
of arts. The talks with the leaders of the institutions revealed two further smaller
groups, of those who wish to do their secondary school studies for employment
considerations. Some of them would like to work in Hungary later, a smaller part
would like to find a job in Slovakia and come to the Hungarian side to study to have
a higher level of training.
The majority of the students come from the area close to the respective
settlements; it is less typical that students arrive from larger distances, mostly due
to the difficulties of travel.
It was raised as an important issue in several institutions that the Hungarian
students in Slovakia should be given the possibility to learn Slovak language, as
they need to know the official state language as well, especially if they wish to
return to Slovakia later to study or work. Among the contacted institutions, only a
few provided training in Slovak language, but in one grammar school of Gyır the
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Discussion Papers, No. 68.
final exams included the compulsory exams in Slovak language for the Hungarian
speaking students from Slovakia.
During the research we wanted to receive the opinions of the leaders of the
educational institutions on the fact that students with Slovak citizenship but
Hungarian ethnicity come to study to Hungary. The following opinions were
expressed:
− Their education should be supported primarily in those institutions that
provide trainings missing on the Slovak side, so many argued that the
specialised secondary schools should be supported in the first place, because
grammar school training was also available in Slovakia. If the students
come from Slovakia to Hungarian grammar schools, the demand in Slovakia
decreases, which may cause problems for the Hungarian schools in Slovakia
that are not in an easy situation anyway.
− One school leader emphasised that the movements with educational
purposes of the Hungarians living in Slovakia should be treated separately
from the education of students from other countries in Hungary, as they
have a special situation coming from their foreign citizenship but Hungarian
ethnicity. It should not even be an issue that the institution requires them to
pay tuition fee; to the opposite, the Hungarian state should support their
education.
− Almost all headmasters emphasised that very talented students come to
study in Hungary who are happy to take up extra tasks. There is usually no
problem with them; they successfully integrate into the school society.
− Many drew the attention to the necessity of a single and more unequivocal
regulation.
6 Conclusions
Regular cross-border movements only concern a relatively small share of the total
population of the border region. On the Hungarian side this is relevant for 1 to 2%
of the total population, whereas some 20 to 30% of the inhabitants on the Slovak
side are involved in such movements. The main driving forces of the movements
are economic growth, economic interests and the characteristics of the spatial
structure (revival of the centre and hinterland relations). The EU accession
promoted the increase of the intensity of the movements in all fields and directions.
The differences of the national systems (social security, training, taxation etc.)
promote the penetration of the shadow or black economy; also, they set back the
simplification of the affairs of everyday life. The official organs only acknowledge
Hungarian citizens or foreign citizens living in Hungary. They have difficulty in
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Discussion Papers, No. 68.
handling cases when somebody is a foreign citizen, living in another state (in the
proximity of the border) but working or wishing to use public services in Hungary.
It is necessary to work out cross-border urban area strategies built on the cities, with
feasible examples to be followed and also to carry out an in-depth survey of the
operational rules of the institutions in order to harmonise them with their Slovak
counterparts.
The accession of the two states to the European Union in 2004 and to the
Schengen Agreement later also contributed to the development of the everyday
relations, but the process have decades of history by now. The occasionally
“cool” relationship of the two states cannot be felt in the micro-level relations, in
the economically more advanced areas of the borders we can see the first steps of
the birth of single border regions. The private sector is ahead of the official
relations. A part of the inhabitants and the economic sector “use” the other side of
the border in their everyday lives. The separating role of the “mental border” is
less of a problem here than in some other European border areas. In the areas more
developed economically (especially in the western part, the areas along the axis of
the Danube River, belonging to the hinterland of three capital cities: Vienna,
Bratislava and Budapest) the joint development is very dynamic. The rapid
economic development of Slovakia has also given a great momentum to the
integration, and now areas at the same level of development are building a common
cross-border region and urban network. On the eastern part of the border this
dynamism is less palpable. This is an area where less developed regions meet each
other. Nevertheless the city of Košice and its environment is developing, and the
labour market of this region is now seeking skilled employees on the Hungarian
side of the border.
Of course there are still many obstacles to the complete integration. The
national systems (education, health care, public administration, bureaucracy etc.)
still have difficulties in handling the natural processes of cross-border areas.
Those who cross the borders are actually foreign citizens but still “local
inhabitants”. It is difficult to put them into the traditional categories of “domestic”
and “foreign” citizens, and the administrative problems coming from this may
cause difficulties e.g. in the joint and thus more rational use of health care
institutions. These problems often lead to harmful phenomena; some use the
existing differences for e.g. tax evasion purposes. Our experiences suggest that
these phenomena are important but their significance is relatively small compared
to those natural processes that bind the border regions and strengthen its
integration.
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Discussion Papers 2008. No. 68.
Transborder Movements and Relations in the
Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions
The Discussion Papers series of the Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences was launched in 1986 to publish summaries of research findings on
regional and urban development.
The series has 5 or 6 issues a year. It will be of interest to geographers, economists, so-
ciologists, experts of law and political sciences, historians and everybody else who is, in
one way or another, engaged in the research of spatial aspects of socio-economic develop-
ment and planning.
The series is published by the Centre for Regional Studies.
Individual copies are available on request at the Centre.
Postal address
Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
P.O. Box 199, 7601 PÉCS, HUNGARY
Phone: (36–72) 523 800
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www.rkk.hu
http://www.dti.rkk.hu/kiadv/discussion.html
Director general
Gyula HORVÁTH
Editor
Zoltán GÁL
galz@rkk.hu
43
Discussion Papers 2008. No. 68.
Transborder Movements and Relations in the
Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions
Papers published in the Discussion Papers series
Discussion Papers / Specials
BENKİNÉ LODNER, Dorottya (ed.) (1988): Environmental Control and Policy: Proceedings of
the Hungarian–Polish Seminar in the Theoretical Problems of Environmental Control
and Policy
OROSZ, Éva (ed.) (1988): Spatial Organisation and Regional Development Papers of the 6th Polish–
Hungarian geographical Seminar
DURÓ, Annamária (ed.) (1993): Spatial Research and the Social–Political Changes: Papers of the
7th Polish–Hungarian Seminar
DURÓ, Annamária (ed.) (1999): Spatial Research in Support of the European Integration.
Proceedings of the 11th Polish–Hungarian Geographical Seminar (Mátraháza, Hungary
17–22 September, 1998)
GÁL, Zoltán (ed.) (2001): Role of the Regions in the Enlarging European Union
HORVÁTH, Gyula (ed.) (2002): Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary
KOVÁCS, András Donát (ed.) (2004): New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-
Rural Relationship
BARANYI, Béla (ed.) (2005): Hungarian–Romanian and Hungarian–Ukrainian border regions as
areas of co-operation along the external borders of Europe
ENYEDI, György – KOVÁCS, Zoltán (eds.) (2006): Social Changes and Social Sustainability in
Historical Urban Centres. The Case of Central Europe
KOVÁCS, András Donát (ed.) (2007): Regionality and/or locality
SZIRMAI, Viktória (ed.) (2007): Social Inequalities in Urban Areas and Globalization. The Case of
Central Europe
ILLÉS, Iván (2008): Visions and Strategies in the Carpathian Area (VASICA)
Discussion Papers
No. 1
OROSZ, Éva (1986): Critical Issues in the Development of Hungarian Public Health with
Special Regard to Spatial Differences
No. 2
ENYEDI, György – ZENTAI, Viola (1986): Environmental Policy in Hungary
No. 3
HAJDÚ, Zoltán (1987): Administrative Division and Administrative Geography in
Hungary
No. 4
SIKOS T., Tamás (1987): Investigations of Social Infrastructure in Rural Settlements of
Borsod County
No. 5
HORVÁTH, Gyula (1987): Development of the Regional Management of the Economy in
East-Central Europe
No. 6
PÁLNÉ KOVÁCS, Ilona (1988): Chance of Local Independence in Hungary
No. 7
FARAGÓ, László – HRUBI, László (1988): Development Possibilities of Backward
Areas in Hungary
No. 8
SZÖRÉNYINÉ KUKORELLI, Irén (1990): Role of the Accessibility in Development and
Functioning of Settlements
No. 9
ENYEDI, György (1990): New Basis for Regional and Urban Policies in East-Central
Europe
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Discussion Papers 2008. No. 68.
Transborder Movements and Relations in the
Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions
No. 10
RECHNITZER, János (1990): Regional Spread of Computer Technology in Hungary
No. 11
SIKOS T., Tamás (1992): Types of Social Infrastructure in Hungary (to be not published)
No. 12
HORVÁTH, Gyula – HRUBI, László (1992): Restructuring and Regional Policy in
Hungary
No. 13
ERDİSI, Ferenc (1992): Transportation Effects on Spatial Structure of Hungary
No. 14
PÁLNÉ KOVÁCS, Ilona (1992): The Basic Political and Structural Problems in the
Workings of Local Governments in Hungary
No. 15
PFEIL, Edit (1992): Local Governments and System Change. The Case of a Regional
Centre
No. 16
HORVÁTH, Gyula (1992): Culture and Urban Development (The Case of Pécs)
No. 17
HAJDÚ, Zoltán (1993): Settlement Network Development Policy in Hungary in the
Period of State Socialism (1949–1985)
No. 18
KOVÁCS, Teréz (1993): Borderland Situation as It Is Seen by a Sociologist
No. 19
HRUBI, L. – KRAFTNÉ SOMOGYI, Gabriella (eds.) (1994): Small and medium-sized
firms and the role of private industry in Hungary
No. 20
BENKİNÉ Lodner, Dorottya (1995): The Legal-Administrative Questions of
Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary
No. 21 ENYEDI, György (1998): Transformation in Central European Postsocialist Cities
No. 22 HAJDÚ, Zoltán (1998): Changes in the Politico-Geographical Position of Hungary in the
20th Century
No. 23
HORVÁTH, Gyula (1998): Regional and Cohesion Policy in Hungary
No. 24
BUDAY-SÁNTHA, Attila (1998): Sustainable Agricultural Development in the Region
of the Lake Balaton
No. 25
LADOS, Mihály (1998): Future Perspective for Local Government Finance in Hungary
No. 26
NAGY, Erika (1999): Fall and Revival of City Centre Retailing: Planning an Urban
Function in Leicester, Britain
No. 27
BELUSZKY, Pál (1999): The Hungarian Urban Network at the End of the Second
Millennium
No. 28
RÁCZ, Lajos (1999): Climate History of Hungary Since the 16th Century: Past, Present
and Future
No. 29
RAVE, Simone (1999): Regional Development in Hungary and Its Preparation for the
Structural Funds
No. 30
BARTA, Györgyi (1999): Industrial Restructuring in the Budapest Agglomeration
No. 31
BARANYI, Béla–BALCSÓK, István–DANCS, László–MEZİ, Barna (1999):
Borderland Situation and Peripherality in the North-Eastern Part of the Great Hungarian
Plain
No. 32
RECHNITZER, János (2000): The Features of the Transition of Hungary’s Regional
System
No. 33
MURÁNYI, István–PÉTER, Judit–SZARVÁK, Tibor–SZOBOSZLAI, Zsolt (2000):
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
No. 34
KOVÁCS, Teréz (2001): Rural Development in Hungary
No. 35
PÁLNÉ, Kovács Ilona (2001): Regional Development and Governance in Hungary
No. 36
NAGY, Imre (2001): Cross-Border Co-operation in the Border Region of the Southern
Great Plain of Hungary
45
Discussion Papers 2008. No. 68.
Transborder Movements and Relations in the
Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions
No. 37
BELUSZKY, Pál (2002): The Spatial Differences of Modernisation in Hungary at the
Beginning of the 20th Century
No. 38
BARANYI, Béla (2002): Before Schengen – Ready for Schengen. Euroregional
Organisations and New Interregional Formations at the Eastern Borders of Hungary
No. 39
KERESZTÉLY, Krisztina (2002): The Role of the State in the Urban Development of
Budapest
No. 40
HORVÁTH, Gyula (2002): Report on the Research Results of the Centre for Regional
Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
No. 41
SZIRMAI, Viktoria – A. GERGELY, András – BARÁTH, Gabriella–MOLNÁR, Balázs
– SZÉPVÖLGYI, Ákos (2003): The City and its Environment: Competition and/or Co-
operation? (A Hungarian Case Study)
No. 42
CSATÁRI, Bálint–KANALAS, Imre–NAGY, Gábor –SZARVÁK, Tibor (2004): Regions
in Information Society – a Hungarian Case-Study
No. 43
FARAGÓ, László (2004): The General Theory of Public (Spatial) Planning (The Social
Technique for Creating the Future)
No. 44
HAJDÚ, Zoltán (2004): Carpathian Basin and the Development of the Hungarian
Landscape Theory Until 1948
No. 45
GÁL, Zoltán (2004): Spatial Development and the Expanding European Integration of the
Hungarian Banking System
No. 46
BELUSZKY, Pál – GYİRI, Róbert (2005): The Hungarian Urban Network in the
Beginning of the 20th Century
No. 47
G. FEKETE, Éva (2005): Long-term Unemployment and Its Alleviation in Rural Areas
No. 48
SOMLYÓDYNÉ PFEIL, Edit (2006): Changes in The Organisational Framework of
Cooperation Within Urban Areas in Hungary
No. 49
MEZEI, István (2006): Chances of Hungarian–Slovak Cross-Border Relations
No. 50
RECHNITZER, János – SMAHÓ, Melinda (2006): Regional Characteristics of Human
Resources in Hungary During the Transition
No. 51
BARTA, Györgyi – BELUSZKY, Pál – CZIRFUSZ, Márton – GYİRI, Róbert –
KUKELY, György (2006): Rehabilitating the Brownfield Zones of Budapest
No. 52
GROSZ, András (2006): Clusterisation Processes in the Hungarian Automotive Industry
No. 53
FEKETE, G. Éva – HARGITAI, Judit – JÁSZ, Krisztina – SZARVÁK, Tibor –
SZOBOSZLAI, Zsolt (2006): Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long learning among
Romany ethnic groups
No. 54
BARTA, Györgyi (ed.) (2006): Hungary – the New Border of the European Union
No. 55
GÁL, Zoltán (2006): Banking Functions of the Hungarian Urban Network in the Early
20th Century.
No. 56
SZÖRÉNYINÉ, Kukorelli Irén (2006): Relation Analysis in Rural Space – A Research
Method for Exploring the Spatial Structure in Hungary
No. 57
MAUREL, Marie-Claude – PÓLA, Péter (2007): Local System and Spatial Change – The
Case of Bóly in South Transdanubia
No. 58
SZIRMAI, Viktória (2007): The Social Characteristics of Hungarian Historic City Centres
No. 59
ERDİSI, Ferenc – GÁL, Zoltán – GIPP, Christoph – VARJÚ, Viktor (2007): Path
Dependency or Route Flexibility in Demand Responsive Transport? The Case Study of
TWIST project
No. 60
PÓLA, Péter (2007): The Economic Chambers and the Enforcement of Local Economic
Interests
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Discussion Papers 2008. No. 68.
Transborder Movements and Relations in the
Slovakian–Hungarian Border Regions
No. 61
BUDAY-SÁNTHA, Attila (2007): Development Issues of the Balaton Region
No. 62
LUX, Gábor (2008): Industrial Development, Public Policy and Spatial Differentiation in
Central Europe: Continuities and Change
No. 63
MEZEI, Cecília (2008): The Role of Hungarian Local Governments in Local Economic
Development
No. 64
NAGY, Gábor (2008): The State of the Info-communication Markets in Dél-Alföld
Region – Hungary
No. 65
HORVÁTH, Gyula (2008): Regional Transformation in Russia
No. 66
BELUSZKY, Pál – SIKOS T., Tamás (2008): Changing Village-Typology of Rural
Settlements in Hungary at the Beginning of the Third Millennium
No. 67
CSIZMADIA, Zoltán – GROSZ, András (2008): Regional Innovation System in West
Transdanubia
47