The Bratislava area shows typical metropolitan sprawl, but with a cross-border character. According to recent censuses, the cross-border metropolitan catchment area of Bratislava has a total of more than 13,000 Slovak citizens (7,540 in Austria and 5,465 in Hungary), which is more than the total population of 6 districts within Bratislava, both individually and collectively. Since the vast majority of Slovaks who have moved across the border continue to work, study, use the services and actively contribute to the enrichment of the capital, their needs should be taken into account in the same way as those of the capital’s population. This is also confirmed by the fact that the Slovak residents call Rajka the sixth district of Bratislava, or Little Bratislava.
The spreading of the Slovak capital on the Austrian and Hungarian sides creates a number of concrete problems, especially for those who move out. In case of emergency, they cannot reach the Slovak ambulance service and, for the time being, ambulances cannot cross the border. They may have problems obtaining various permits, administrative procedures and lack of language skills. Social care for the elderly can be a barrier because of the territoriality of social contributions paid during years of work on the other side of the border, etc.
At the same time, relocation also has an impact on the region as a whole. Commuting generates heavy traffic, mainly by private transport, which makes access to the city centre difficult, and the development of environmentally friendly public transport services is essential, as is the development of cycle paths. New housing developments are dramatically reducing the proportion of green areas left undeveloped, degrading the quality of the environment, while the municipalities of small towns with a growing population face a major challenge in maintaining the quality of public services.
The complexity of the problems calls for coordinated cooperation between actors in the three countries, which have different administrative systems, and the development of a governance structure could be the solution. This structure could ensure coordinated planning and development.
There are no obstacles to the association of local authorities in either country, and cross-border cooperation is guaranteed by the transposition of the Council of Europe’s Charter of Local Self-Government, adopted in 1985, into Hungarian and Slovak law.
With the Austrian side, Bratislava has already managed to set up a governance structure, called BAUM (Bratislava územný manažment, Bratislava Umland Management), which started as an Interreg CBC project in 2011, but has gradually led to the development of a permanent management organisation with the help of two other projects. Currently, the institutionalisation of cooperation is underway, with the creation of Arbeitsgemeinschaft (working group). This will be led by a political steering committee, supported by a professional steering board and the existing two-person baum_cityregion office. An important element of the BAUM is the annual meeting of the mayors concerned.
A similar body has not yet been set up for the Hungarian catchment area.
The Bratislava Metropolitan Municipality is open to the creation of an organisation similar to BAUM. According to the Hungarian municipal leaders who participated in the reference group workshop, a coordinating body would also be needed.
In November 2024 the baum_cityregion office submitted a call for proposals to the ‘Resilient Borders’ call for proposals published by MOT and AEBR on behalf of DG REGIO, with the aim of establishing the Hungarian leg of the BAUM structure and identifying common cross-border development themes.
Several cross-border metropolitan areas have established forms of governance, e.g. Strasbourg, Basel, Copenhagen, Geneva, etc. In 2009-2010, the ESPON project METROBORDER – Cross-Border Metropolitan Regions looked at nine cross-border functional urban areas (including the Centrope region, including Bratislava, centred on Vienna) and made recommendations for strategic planning and governance solutions.
The aim is to create a permanent structure with the participation of Hungarian county and local governments, which can coordinate cooperation with the Slovak capital, and to integrate this structure into the Slovak-Austrian working community that is being formed, thus ensuring the integrated and harmonious development of the trilateral region and the removal of the many obstacles.
The project is financially supported by the European Union,
within the framework of the Interreg Hungary – Slovakia Programme.
For more information visit www.skhu.eu.
The project is financially supported by the European Union,
within the framework of the Interreg Hungary – Slovakia Programme.
For more information visit www.skhu.eu.