News
MOT intervention at the Oradea Process, on the Romanian-Hungarian border
July 2022
At the invitation of CESCI and Initiatives France Central and Eastern Europe, the MOT took part on 9 June of the Oradea Process, a series of meetings and seminars aimed at developing cross-border initiatives on the Romanian-Hungarian border.
The MOT presented the lessons learned from the conurbations on the French borders (Geneva, Basque Conurbation, Eurometropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai, etc.), and from a report on this subject commissioned by the CESCI in 2021. Furthermore, the process of decentralisation in France over the last 40 years is a central component for the inter-territorial and cross-border cooperation that these conurbations can undertake.
Putting these institutional changes into perspective with the ability to take into account functional territories at the borders is enlightening for this territory between Hungary and Romania, which is faced with both the exclusion of Romania from the Schengen area and the significant centralisation of planning decisions at national level.
In addition, other examples of functional integration of territories at the borders were presented, notably thanks to the action of the European INTERREG programmes. The Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Region presented the example of the Integrated Territorial Plans for the French-Italian border, and the Hungarian-Slovakian INTERREG programme detailed the functioning of the TAPEs (Territorial Action Plans for Employment), which are based on a similar model, with a division into living areas along the border.
Concluded by the presentation of two completed Hungarian-Romanian projects in the fields of transport and risk prevention, the Oradea Process will continue thereafter, and advocates a greater opening of borders in order to strengthen cross-border dynamics.
