In the Czech Republic, cross-border cooperation projects have been launched with all of the country's neighbours: Poland, Austria, Slovakia and the German regions of Bavaria and Saxony.
Prague and the central Bohemia district are the only Czech regions not to be involved in cross-border cooperation.
With Austria, the main focus areas in the 2007-2013 period are socio-economic development, tourism and knowledge transfer. EurActiv.cz asked Czech coordinators of the cross-border projects to sum up their experiences and lessons learned.
"At present, there are more and more small-sized infrastructure projects in areas like environment, tourism, cycling and tourist routes or flood management," said Vladimír Gašpar, director of the local regional development agency. More than three million euros is earmarked for small projects in South Moravia for the 2007-2013 period, he added.
One of these is the 'Health' project, aimed at improving access to medical help and emergency services. Another example Gašpar gave is the Euregio programme city.net, aimed at intensifying economic, social and cultural relations between cities in South Moravia and the region of Weinviertel in Lower Austria.
Cooperation in South Bohemia has also been a success, he said. "The impact of the cooperation is visible and it leads to better coexistence of the regions," said Olivier Baudelet of the European Commission, commenting on cooperation between Bavaria, Austria and the Czech Republic.
According to Baudelet, these border regions have proved capable of handling EU funding in a sustainable and efficient manner. For the period 2007-2013, almost 161 million euros have been earmarked for the Czech-Bavarian Interreg programme and a Czech-Austrian cross-border programme.
Road network improvement
"The most visible improvements are in the field of traffic accessibility for the border regions. There are new connections with cycling routes in Bavaria and Austria," says Barbora Jakšová, responsible for European affairs in the South Bohemia region.
One of the most important factors is creating livelier contacts among people, she adds. Eliminating prejudices and negative stereotypes is one of the primary goals of the cooperation, despite being a long-term objective, she told EurActiv.
"In the case of cooperation with Austria, the biggest amount of money has so far been invested in tourism, culture and leisure activities. As regards Czech-Bavarian cooperation, most has been invested into economic development, human resources and network-building," Jakšová explained.
"A number of new tourist border crossings and access paths have been set up, the cross-border road connection has been improved, and last but not least, cultural cooperation has been deepened and awareness of common history and traditions is stronger," said Martin Návara, who works in the European integration section at the South Bohemia regional authority.
Návara listed some of the projects that are now running within the operational programme: the establishment of the new Danube-Moldava European region based on trilateral cooperation between South Bohemia, Bavaria and Austria, strengthened cooperation between the Johannes Kepler University in Linz and the University of South Bohemia, the development of the Seidel photo studio in the Czech town of Český Krumlov, and many others.
In the case of the Vysočina region, a significant project featuring joint historical Czech-Austrian exhibitions in the towns of Raabs, Hor and Telč was launched in April. The exhibition maps the common history and past divisions of the region. Experts from both countries compiled the exhibits, many of which come from private collections and are being displayed for the first time.
Language, budget gaps
The major problem with Czech cross-border cooperation, except with neighbouring Slovakia, is the language barrier, together with sometimes huge development gaps between the two sides involved.
"Obstacles can sometimes emerge when regions have different visions of the cooperation," South Bohemia's Jakšová admitted. According to her, Austrian participants tend to propose large and expensive joint projects, which often her country's participants cannot afford.
She explained that Czech participants often do not have enough money in their budgets to pre-finance large projects. In Jakšová's view, there is a "conflict between visions and capabilities".
