Czech–Polish Cross-Border (Non) Cooperation in the Field of the Labor Market: Why Does It Seem to Be Un-De-Bordered?

Abstract

The Czech–Polish border is almost 800 kilometres long. Since 1991, 6 Euroregions and two European Groupings of Territorial Co-operation (EGTC) were created and have been conducting cross-border cooperation (CBC) along the entire length of the border. This was probably also the institutionalisation of cross-border co-operation, what has helped to reach and maintain a high level of mutual Czech–Polish relations. What can therefore be considered striking or surprising is a rather low level of cross-border labor mobility between the labor forces of both countries. Authors therefore attempted to identify projects and initiatives in the field of the cross-border labor market along the entire border. Research showed that the CBC stakeholders don’t prioritise co-operation in the field of the labor market, as they don’t see any real cross-border demand. There are some exceptions, driven mainly by the automotive and mining industries in Czechia attracting a Polish workforce. The main reason for the relatively low level of Czech–Polish cross-border co-operation in the field of the labor market is an absence of a major economic engine on either side of the border, rather than any kind of hostile or re-bordering sentiments in mutual relations between subjects from both countries.

Social Entrepreneurship as a Form of Cross-Border Cooperation: Complementarity in EU Border Regions

“…Although long-term bilateral cooperation between business partners strengthens cross-border relations, substantial impact of regional development needs further establishment of new partnerships and development of network opportunities [27]. Because of entrepreneurships' contribution to regional development, issues like mutual cooperation, building relations, and growth of labor productivity are important long-term aspects and entrepreneurship should be supported by local institutional organizations [14,28]. Given the context of cross-border cooperation, we argue that the contribution of social entrepreneurship comes from the capacity to build new economic and social cooperation with local communities, businesses, and/or organizations [46].…”

“…Compared to more central regions in EU Member States, different EU border regions face social and economic disadvantages and reduced investments that accelerate movements to more central regions in country states [1,11,12]. Additionally, EU border regions have to deal with geographic, historical, cultural, and language barriers, limiting their opportunities for cooperation with their neighboring counterparts [12][13][14]. Mutual feelings of distrust and animosity against neighboring countries still exist in several EU border regions [6,[15][16][17].…”

“…In the last decades, literature investigating EU cross-border cooperation had a mostly institutional focus and research on cross-border entrepreneurship (Jørgenson et al (2011) [22], Leick (2011) [23], and Smallbone and Welter (2012) [24] was clearly in the minority. More recently, however, we see a shift towards research conducted on different topics in the field of EU cross-border cooperation and entrepreneurial involvement (Böhm and Opiola (2019) [14], Chobal and Lalakulych (2019) [25], Jelinčić et al (2019) [26], Kurowska-Pysz (2016) [27], and Stverkova et al (2018) [28] These studies offer valuable insights in cross-border cooperation processes with a focus on specific geographic regions. However, none of these studies involves social entrepreneurship.…”

A határon átnyúló tanulmányi célú ingázás mint az intergenerációs társadalmi mobilitás eszköze

“…Noha több példa is akad a határ menti régiók közötti mobilitásra (Böhm, Opioła 2019;Decoville, Durand, Feltgen 2015;González-Gómez 2018;Gruber 2013), illetve néhány tanulmányban (Balogh 2014;Perchinig et al 2018) említés szintjén a diákok tanulási célú ingázása is megjelenik a lengyel-német, szlovák-osztrák, 3 valamint a Kelet-Közép-Európától távolabb eső amerikai-mexikói határtérségben, 4 ugyanakkor a tanulási célú migrációt főként a felsőfokú oktatásban résztvevők vonatkozásában vizsgálták, például Cserti Csapó és Forray (2011), Rédei (2014), Takács, Tátrai és Erőss (2013), illetve Váradi (2013) munkái.…”

Can Cross-Border Healthcare Be Sustainable? An Example from the Czech-Austrian Borderland

“…CPS address joint problems or development potentials of border regions in a clearly defined cross-border territory [4]". inauguration until the end of the current programming period 30 billion € have been allocated for this co-operation [28][29][30].…”