Author(s):
1. Sabau Cosmin,

Abstract:
In the current context of the harmonization of European territorial development, regional policy allocates an increasingly important role to cross-border cooperation, establishing its objective, for the current period of financial programming ending in 2013, to stimulate this kind of cooperation. The European countries have understood that one method to reduce the imbalances (gaps) between regions’ development is to run a large number of cross-border projects. This way, border territories between states will develop well-balanced. All these elements led to euroregions as forms of cross-border cooperation, with the actors implied from both private and public sectors. Also, the cooperation links are established between local, regional and national organisms. This collaboration between areas located on both sides of borders enables the border areas to develop in a more intense rhythm. Moreover, it will assist the territorial cohesion, an important support for achieving this desideratum coming from the EU and the Council of Europe. This paper aims to highlight the effects of cross-border cooperation - a form of regional cooperation - on the countries involved. To this purpose, the paper covers the following specific objectives: the conceptual approach of cross-border cooperation, a brief review of cross-border cooperation worldwide and in Europe, the socio-economic analysis of 2 Euroregions: the Bihor-Hajdu Bihar Euroregion and the Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino Eurorregion. To better highlight the results of cross-border cooperation on European countries, a few economic and social aspects of the two regions were extensively studied: Tyrol-Trentino (located on the border between Italy and Austria) and Bihor-HajduBihar (located on the border between Romania and Hungary). The results showed that the areas were able to develop and the future perspectives are favorable provided the amplification of cooperation between the entities involved. The investigation methodology used combined analysis and synthesis, the regulatory approach and the explorative one, the quantitative analysis with qualitative evaluations. As a result of the performed research it was noticed that the socio-economic level of the two Euro-regions is totally different. The Italian-Austrian Euro-region is much better positioned in terms of some macroeconomic indicators in comparison with the Romanian-Hungarian Euro-region. This is also due to the fact that Italy and Austria have a higher level of development than Romania and Hungary, and as for their history, the Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino Euro-region has a superior experience in comparison to Bihor-Hajdu Bihar Euroregion.

Key words:
cross-border cooperation, euroregion, economic analysis, economic structure

Thematic field:
Cross-border cooperation

Date of abstract submission:
30.05.2012.

Number of visits:
500

Conference:
REDETE 2012