Conurbations
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Conurbations |
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The
Centrope
Region
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 Vienna, Austria |
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Conurbations and communities covered - Number of inhabitants: |
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- Austria: Vienna
conurbation Vienna
conurbation plus
surrounding/neighbouring Austrian provinces of Lower Austria and
Burgenland
(total : 3.4 million inhabitants)
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Historical and geographical context |
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Starting on the path of cross-border cooperation |
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An organisation starting out, supported by an association |
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Starting
on the path of
cross-border cooperation: Starting on the path of
cross-border
cooperation: ‘Centrope’ was initiated by the three
Austrian
provinces of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland that also provided
financial resources in the first stage of cooperation. All the involved
cities and regions signed a letter of intent in 2003 which launched a
common strategy for the future (‘Vision Centrope
2015’),
and agreed in 2006 to jointly finance and implement all further steps
of cooperation. Yet, there are still many obstacles in place. It is too
early to talk of advanced formalisation of
‘Centrope’ which
still relies on Interreg projects. Administrative and political
instability in the new European Union member states also slows down
cooperation. The internal running of the administrative structure: The structuring process of the ‘Centrope’ organisation has so far been assured by Europaforum, a private non-profit association that acted as coordinating body during the previous Centrope projects. |
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Symbolic projects |
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Central
European Regional
Network for Education Transfer (CERNET): A project
developing
the transfer of competencies in the education sector between the cities
in Centrope. Twin
Cities
Vienna-Bratislava: Opening in 2006 of the high-speed
catamaran
Twin-City Liner linking the centres of Vienna and Bratislava; the
principle of this economic cooperation is to create an integrated urban
region taking advantage of the economic complementarity between Vienna
and Bratislava. Automotive Cluster CENTROPE: launching cooperation activities between the powerful automotive industries in the region (e.g. by a joint automotive MBA). Route
CENTROPE:
Thematic routes through Centrope highlighting specific aspects of
touristic interest (prototype on theme “wine and
architecture”, web-platform). |
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The characteristics of the region |
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This
territory, whose main
characteristic is that is has been reshaped (border lines) several
times during the last century, includes four countries and two national
capitals (Vienna and
Bratislava). Since 1989 a constant increase has been seen in
cross-border flows, particularly along the Vienna-Bratislava and
Vienna-Budapest axes. The
flows are primarily from Hungary and Slovakia to Austria and from
Slovakia to Hungary (around 500,000 Hungarians still live in Slovakia).
In the past 1 or 2 years ever more Slovaks have been moving to Hungary
where the cost of property is lower. Many Hungarian companies have
moved to Slovakia because it is easier to set up a business there, the
tax system is favourable and salaries are lower than in Hungary.
Until 1989
Austria was surrounded by the iron curtain which isolated it
from its new partners to the north, south and east. The various moves
towards cooperation initially faltered in the defining of a cohesive
area. Having drawn up (between 2000 and 2005) an initial regional
development plan for the
Vienna-Bratislava-Györ region, the
‘Centrope’ project
was launched in 2003 with the aim of creating a Euroregion over the 4
countries. It initially concentrated on the lack of communication and
the initiation of reinforced cooperation in the fields of transport
infrastructure and planning, economy and labour market, culture and
tourism within the area. Today the use of the Danube for passenger
transport (Twin-City Liner) and railways for freight services are new
means of connecting the two cities of Vienna and Bratislava. 