Socio-geographical transition in the rural areas of the Carpathian Euroregion |
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Authors: | István Süli-Zakar |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Social Geography & Regional Development Planning, Lajos Kossuth University of Debrecen, H-40010 Debrecen, Egyetem ter 1, Hungary |
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Abstract: | Cross-border cooperation is starting to overcome the isolation of frontier regions where interaction under the socialist system
was minimal. Change has been particularly apparent in areas where trans-frontier organisations on the ‘Euroregion’ model have
emerged. The Carpathian Euroregion is the first exclusively East European example of this approach and it has already made
a positive impact in overcoming backwardness in an area where four East European countries were in contact with the Former
Soviet Union. The paper outlines the challenge facing the Euroregion – and the national and local governments in the five
countries concerned – in providing non-agricultural employment for a large rural population augmented by return-migration
from the towns since 1989. Many small farming businesses have been started as a survival strategy but they cannot be economically
viable in a market situation. Although most people are satisified with their rural lifestyle, the inevitability of radical
consolidation in a future EU context could be politically destabilising if more jobs are not generated in manufacturing and
in an expanding tertiary sector.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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Keywords: | Carpathians employment euroregion farming frontiers market economy rural transition |
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