TWINNING AND CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION IN THE HUNGARY-ROMANIA BORDER REGION
TWINNING AND CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION IN THE HUNGARY-ROMANIA BORDER REGION

Summary/Abstract: For a long time, the traditional method of cross-border cooperation was the establishment of twinning partnerships, which has a long history in Europe. The development of inter-municipal cooperation began after the First World War, but it gained serious momentum after World War II, in order to rebuild Europe and create a global order based on peaceful cooperation. The Romanian revolution in 1989 opened the border, twinning between Hungarian and Romanian municipalities has emerged: many Hungarian and Romanian municipalities set up cooperation, in the near border area, as well as in other parts of Transylvania. This was followed by the forming of euroregions and, recently, EGTCs. which is reflecting the diversity of this long border section. Although ethnic character has always been an important element of cooperation, the start of Interreg cross-border cooperation programmes oriented the local players towards thematic cooperation.The study aims to identify the territorial patterns of twin town cooperation along the Hungary-Romania border, point out the relationship between twin town cooperation and project-based cooperation: which twinning partnerships proved to be successful on project-level as well. For the analysis the twinning database of the National Association of Local Governments of Hungary was used, as well as the project-level database of the Interreg V-A Romania-Hungary 2014-2020 programme. The results underline the added value of an existing twinning in project-based cooperation, highlighting the role of major cities and their institutions, which are the key for sustainable cooperation in the border area.

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