Vs ‘Barrier Effect’

The Cross Border Cooperation in Europe dates back 60 years and is one of the most important initiatives of the European Commission. The first attempts to regulate transboundary cooperation in Europe were undertaken yet in 1950 between adjacent regions of the Netherlands and Germany and also Germany and France to overcome the ‘Barrier Effect”, a result of objective historical processes on the continent.

In the 90s, memorable for the creation of the Common Market of the European Communities and political changes in the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe, the cross border cooperation was improved and developed. Back then the European Commission elaborated special financial instruments to stimulate the development of transboundary cooperation within the EU and with its external borders.

From 1990 the Initiative INTERREG is being implemented for the EU Member States. From 1994 the PHARE CBC (Cross Border Cooperation) was introduced for the Candidate Member States and from 1996 the future neighbours of the EU started receiving financial support within programmes TACIS CBC, CARDS and MEDA. The budget of the INTERREG for 2000-2006 comprised 4,875 EUR.

The Aim is Mutual Understanding

The Cross Border Cooperation means planning, elaborating and implementing joint projects between the state institutions, administrations, civil and private organisaitons of the adjacent regions of the neighbouring states. Areas for cooperation may be numerous: setting up the border itself, development of the border infrastructure, ecology, environmental protection, tourism development, combating organized crime, culture, economic development, etc.

The implementation of the Cross Border Cooperation Projects between the EU and the countries of Eastern Europe started in 1996. Its primary goal was to strengthen the Eastern borders and to develop infrastructure of the adjacent regions of the countries – candidates for the EU accession as well as development of regional partnership between the latter and Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

The European Commission identified several primary targets for Cross Border Cooperation. Namely, to diminish the influence of the state border as a dividing line in order to attain the area for cooperation between the neighbours; to overcome common stereotypes; to promote democracy and improve effectiveness of the regional and local bodies of administration; to overcome peripheral status and isolation of adjacent regions; to improve economic development and the level of well-being of people; and, finally, to speed up the process of accession of adjacent regions into the European integration processes.

Priority No 1 to diminish influence of borders

One of the priorities of the Cross Border Cooperation is development of border infrastructure: building and improving border crossing points, roads and communications.

Belarus is bordering three EU Member States, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, and also Russia and Ukraine. Adjacent regions in Belarus are Grodno and Brest Oblasts, 7 Western Regions of Minsk Oblast (Miadelsky, Vileysky, Molodechno, Volozhinsky, Stolbtsovsky, Nesvizhsky and Kletski).

The first and very successful project, initiated in 1996, was a Project on the demarcation of the border between Belarus and Lithuania. Within the Project the reconstruction of border crossing points Kamenny Log – Medininkai – Kuznitsa – Bruzgi, Brest – Terespol was finished and new cargo terminals Kozlovichi – Kukuryki were build. The new crossing points Tokary – Vysokoye, Yaluuka – Ryboly, Uladava – Tamashovka, Rudauka – Liasnaya (Augostovsky Channel) are still being built. All this allows for more convenient and easier crossing of the border.

Another very important priority of Cross Border Cooperation concerns ecological and environmental protection issues, the reason being for that is the transnational character of the majority of the environmental problems (there are environmental projects being implemented concerning basins of the Rivers Zapadnaya Dvina, Zapadny Bug and Neman).

Development of tourism is another priority. A lot of adjacent regions are located in the periphery, where the level of business activity is insignificant. One of the ways of resurrection of economies of such regions is to develop tourism therefore the EU Commission is prepared to provide financial assistance for activities in this sphere (joint Belarusian and Polish Projects on Belavezhskaya Pushcha, construction of Avgustovsky Channel).

Also the Cross Border Cooperation projects are implemented in the area of education (summer schools, language courses, exchange of experience), business contacts improvement (business-forums, seminars, exhibitions), and in the cultural area.

Topical today

At the moment Belarus is involved in three programmes: Lithuania – Latvia – Belarus (budget for Russia and Belarus is 7.5 mln EUR); Poland – Ukraine – Belarus (budget for Ukraine and Belarus is 8 mln EUR) and “Baltic Sea Region 2007-2013” Programme, including Cross Border Cooperation with partners from Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Norway, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (budget for Russia and Belarus is 20 mln EUR).

By Liudmila Korsak
[email protected]