University of Warsaw
International cooperation of local governments from south-eastern Poland with partners from Ukraine.
A research concept.
Paper peer-reviewed by Prof. Marek Lisiecki, PhD
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Summary
Cross-border cooperation involves the initiation and implementation of joint actions between neighbouring communities to improve the quality of life of local residents, to boost local and regional development and build good neighbourly relations be- tween the residents of border areas. Cross-border cooperation requires the involvement of local actors, with regional and local authorities playing a leading role. Polish-Ukrainian cross-border cooperation has been developing for 25 years, and the activities undertaken by local and regional authorities represent an interesting subject of research. The aim of this article is to present the concept of proposed research on the cooperation between the local government authorities from southern Poland with Ukrainian partners. As the context for the presented research concept, the article discusses the results of similar research on cooperation with partners from the Visegrad Group countries and a review of main strains of academic refl ection on Polish-Ukrainian cross-border cooperation by Polish and Ukrainian researchers.
Introduction
The early days of institutionalised international cooperation of local communities and local governments in Europe date back to the 1940s. In order to rebuild or develop co- operation between the inhabitants of diff erent parts of the divided continent after World War II, the urban partnership movement developed in Europe. The main purpose of the cooperation was to stimulate cultural, economic and informational exchange between the inhabitants of cities located in diff erent countries. In the subsequent decades, Euro- pean communities developed their international cooperation as well.
In 1980, the European Outline Convention on Cross-border Cooperation between Terri- torial Communities or Authorities was adopted. The signatory states of the Convention undertook to ‘facilitate and promote cross-border cooperation between communities and local authorities...’ and endeavour to sign agreements between these entities. The Convention defi nes cross-border cooperation as follows: ‘For the purpose of this Conven- tion, cross-border cooperation shall mean any concerted action designed to reinforce and foster neighbourly relations between territorial communities or authorities within the jurisdiction of two or more Contracting Parties and the conclusion of any agreement and arrangement necessary for this purpose. Cross-border cooperation shall take place in the framework of territorial communities’ or authorities’ powers as defi ned in domestic
law.’24 The Convention also includes the defi nition of ‘territorial communities and authori- ties’. It refers to ‘communities, authorities or bodies exercising local and regional functions and regarded as such under the domestic law of each State.’25
The experience of cross-border cooperation in Western Europe shows that it can be an ef- fective instrument to boost community development and improve the quality of life of local residents: ‘Cross-border cooperation... is aimed at achieving synergies and boosting effi ciencies by jointly achieving objectives that are of interest to the cooperating entities. In this case, the common goal is to overcome the problems faced by the border regions ….”26 Cross-border cooperation may help to raise the knowledge about the neighbours liv- ing across the nearest frontier, and to build friendly relationships between people from neighbouring communities. ‘Cross-border cooperation links structures, systems and are- as which are often very diff erent. Its main goal is to initiate and implement joint actions in the area of social policy, natural environment, infrastructure, culture, science and edu- cation, going beyond state borders.’27 Cross-border cooperation requires the involvement of local actors, with the regional and local authorities playing a leading role. At the same time, this kind of commitment may be an important and eff ective instrument of local governance. As Paweł Swianiewicz writes, ‘initiating and developing international rela- tions is increasingly becoming an important component of the effi cient management of local government units.’28
After 1989, Poland and Central Europe saw a rising political autonomy of local commu- nities. They became not only self-governing entities, but they can also enter into mutual relations, with within and across national borders. The Constitution of the Republic of Po- land provides that ‘A local government unit has the right to join international associations of local and regional communities and to cooperate with local and regional communities of other countries.’29
24 The European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation between Territorial Communities or Authorities, Article 1.
25 Ibidem, Article 2.
26 Ł. Konopielko, Środki europejskie jako narzędzie kształtowania zjawisk transgranicznych, [in:] Na pograniczach. Szanse i zagrożenia społeczne, (ed.) P. Frączek, J. Karolczuk, PWSZ im. Jana Grodka w Sanoku, Sanok 2015, p.130.
27 O.Tiszczenko, S.Trojan, Wpływ procesów demokratyzacji w państwach Europy Środkowo- Wschodniej na współpracę zagraniczną, [in:] Granice i pogranicza nowej UE. Z badań regionalnych, etnicznych i lokalnych, (ed.) M. Malikowski, D.Wojakowski, Zakład Wydawniczy Nomos, Kraków 2005, p. 102.
28 P. Swianiewicz, Kontakty międzynarodowe samorządów, „Samorząd Terytorialny” 2005, No. 10, p. 7.
29 Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997, Article 172.
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Cross-border cooperation in Central Europe arouses particular interest. This region of the continent has a common historical past, the experience of common nationality but also confl icts, often with dramatic twists. Some of this story falls on the communist period, and its consequences are still felt in an acute way in the economy and society by people from the former Eastern Bloc countries.
Ukraine enjoys a special status among the countries of Central Europe as a country of ex- traordinary strategic importance, grappling the with the heritage resulting from being part of the Soviet Union for many years, and still outside the European Union. Relations with Ukraine are very important for Poland. The history of cross-border cooperation between the Polish authorities and their Ukrainian partners dates back to the early 1990s and ‘has developed with varying intensity and success, infl uenced by both political, administrative and fi nancial... as well as social factors...’30
The experience of Polish-Ukrainian cross-border cooperation over the last quarter of a cen- tury has led to questions about its forms, determinants and outcomes. Among the many topics covered under this umbrella, what seems to merit separate interest from researchers are the actions taken by local authorities of Polish regions and communities in the sphere of cross-border cooperation with Ukrainian partners: ‘...a special role should be played...
by regional and local institutions because they are the only ones that can properly as- sess the needs of areas which continue to be peripheral from the perspective of central government.’31
The aim of this article is to present the concept of research on cross-border cooperation between local authorities of Polish communities with Ukrainian partners. The discussion of this concept is preceded by a discussion of the existing research that inspired the pro- posed analysis.
30 J. Olchowski, Uwarunkowania współpracy transgranicznej polskich i ukraińskich samorządów i NGO’s, 2010, www.irbis-nbuv.gov.ua, (12.10.2017) p. 239.
31 Ł. Konopielko, Środki europejskie…, ibidem, p.130.
Cooperation of local governments from southern
Poland with Central European partners: Research fi ndings and methodological experience
The results of the research conducted under the project ‘Małopolska – A Gateway to Re- gional Cooperation in Central Europe. Building a knowledge base and promoting best practices in Central and Eastern European governments’ provided the inspiration for de- veloping this research concept regarding cooperation between local authorities of Polish communities and Ukrainian partners.32 The main objective of the research was to obtain in-depth knowledge on international cooperation conducted by Polish local govern- ment units with partners from Central European countries in 2004–2014. The analysis covered international relations of local government authorities of communicates located in south-eastern Poland (the study covered cities/towns, municipalities and poviats from the Małopolskie and Podkarpackie voivodships and parts of the Śląskie Voivodship) with entities from the Visegrad Group countries, i.e. the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, as well as Romania.
These countries were chosen not only because they are neighbours located in a common geographical space of Europe, but also because they have deep historical and cultur- al connections, shared communist past, the experience of transformation and a similar status in the EU. The period covered by the study started at Poland’s accession to the European Union.
The main research questions focused on the following issues:
• the number of Polish local government units cooperating with a foreign entity, i.e. a local government unit,
• the main determinants of the intensity of cooperation,
• the frequency of joint initiatives with regard to individual Visegrad countries,
• the areas where cooperation was undertaken and implemented,
• sources of fi nancing used for such cooperation.
The main step in the research procedure was to collect and analyse the existing data con- tained in publicly available information (desk research) in order to create a knowledge
32 Research in the framework of a project co-fi nanced by the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs of the Republic of Poland under the programme called ‘Support for the local governance dimension and civic dimension of Poland’s foreign policy 2016’.
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base covering all cases of international cooperation between local governments in the area concerned. As the second step, fi eld studies in territorial government units were conducted, especially in those actively engaged in international cooperation, in order to capture the determinants of such activity and to formulate good practices for interna- tional cooperation of local governments.
Desk research revealed 630 cases of real cooperation between municipalities and poviats of Małopolska, Podkarpacie and parts of Silesia with foreign partners. They took place in 261 territorial government units, which means that 36% of territorial government units did not show any cross-border cooperation in publicly available sources. Cooperation was most actively conducted by cities/towns (although with varying intensity), while ru- ral municipalities remained least active.
As regards the intensity of cooperation, 78 municipalities and 5 poviats carried out only one project in the period under review, whereas ten or more projects were carried out by nine cities/towns in the studied area. Slovakia was chosen by far most often as a partner (54.5% of cases of cooperation), followed by the Czech Republic (16.5%) and Hungary (almost 15%).
The largest number of cross-border initiatives undertaken by Polish local governments are related to culture. Almost 40% of all co-operation was within this sphere. Other areas of cooperation had similar degrees of popularity: education (79 cases, or 12.4%), infra- structure (11.6%), tourism (10.7%), sports (9.7%). Visibly fewer joint initiatives concerned environmental issues (2.4%), and the economy (12 cases, or 1.9%).
The largest number of infrastructural projects were implemented in cooperation with Slovak partners (79% of all activities in this sphere). 55% of all cultural projects were im- plemented by Polish and Slovak partners. Hungary came second in terms of cultural initi- atives (20% of all projects). Cultural cooperation with the Czech Republic was undertaken 31 times.
In other fi elds, i.e. tourism and sports, covering respectively 10.7% and 9.7% of record- ed cases of cooperation, the dominance of partners from Slovakia is as strong as in the sphere of culture and infrastructure (approx. 60% of all activities).
The overwhelming majority of projects are fi nanced by the European Union (over 63%
of cases). INTERREG plays a special role among European programs, as it only co-fi nances
joint actions by Polish and Slovak local government units, as well as Polish and Czech partners. This programme has played a stimulating role in cross-border co-operation, providing cofi nancing for nearly 26% of all international activities undertaken by local governments in the studied area.
More than 30% of joint actions were paid for by local government units from their own resources. While Slovakia is the largest partner also in this group (over 43%), Hungary comes second with a strong position (35%).
The results of desk research were used as an input for conclusions concerning the condi- tions of foreign cooperation in the analysed local government units. The most important of these factors are the type of settlement and proximity of the border.
Worth noting is the relatively widespread and intensive international cooperation under- taken by local authorities of smaller urban centres. Almost all of them were engaged in cooperation with a foreign partner, undertaking their various organisational units, and often cooperating with non-governmental organisations. This seems to prove that the rich institutional infrastructure is conducive to international cooperation. In most cases, the coordinating functions in foreign co-operation were performed by local government offi ces (in more than 51% of cases), but the range of institutions involved in the cooper- ation was broad: from educational institutions (12% of all cases of co-operation), sports clubs, sports and leisure centres, cultural institutions, as well as associations and parishes.
This is especially evident in towns with the rights of poviats and in towns proper, which are more likely to have a network of specialised municipal organizational units.
Research has shown that there is a statistically signifi cant relationship (measured by the χ2 test) between the distance from the border and engagement in international coop- eration. If we divide all local government units into those adjacent to the border, the neighbouring units and other units, we will fi nd that adjacent and neighbouring units are more likely to engage in international cooperation (dependence at the level of χ2(1)=15.37;
p <0.001). (It is worth noting that ¾ of the 42 adjacent units and the 48 neighbouring units are rural communities, i.e. those representing a less active category in terms of for- eign cooperation, which seems to reinforce the argument that geographical proximity of the border is decisive for such cooperation.) The choice of partners for cooperation from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary shows that geographical distance plays an essential role. This is related to economic factors: in order to maintain contacts with
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foreign partners and to conduct joint activities, local government offi cials and other of- fi cials must meet face to face, which means that travel costs and the time offi cials can devote to such projects plays a signifi cant role.
As the second step of the research, devoted to the formulation of best practices in in- ternational cooperation, a case study analysis of communities and their local authorities was conducted. Cases were selected in view of their particularly high activity in this fi eld.
Researchers sought answers to questions about the sources of inspiration for projects conducted in cooperation with foreign partners, the actors initiating cooperation, the procedures for establishing and conducting joint actions, the individual and institution- al leaders of cooperation, the social outcomes of foreign cooperation, and ways of dis- seminating information about such cooperation. The results of this part of research serve as a point of departure for further qualitative research on foreign cooperation undertak- en by Polish local government units under new research projects.
While searching for data concerning international cooperation of Polish local govern- ments with Slovakia, Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary, data on their collabora- tion with Ukraine were also collected. However, since the research was focused on coop- eration with other countries, these data are certainly far from incomplete. We recorded 37 local government units in the Podkarpackie voivodship and 4 local government units in Małopolskie voivodship which cooperate with Ukraine under projects or city twinning.
The exact number of projects and cooperating entities is much higher yet this sphere re- quires more research focused specifi cally on cooperation with Ukraine. No Polish-Ukrain- ian cooperation was recorded in the analysed part of the Śląskie voivodship.
There is at least one case in each of the analysed areas. It is likely that the distribution of results in the fi elds of cooperation will look very much like in the case of coopera- tion with Slovakia, Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary, where cultural exchange will most likely prevail while economic cooperation will be marginal. Due to insuffi cient data, no conclusions can be formulated at this stage. The area of cooperation between Polish and Ukrainian local government units should be carefully studied in order to en- sure that the analysis of frequencies and eff ects of coexistence are statistically founded, i.e. they are not accidental. Cross-border projects that are not found within the research area should also be analysed in terms of sources of funding for cooperation.
The research fi ndings discussed above regarding the cooperation of local authorities in southern Poland with partners from the Visegrad Group and Romania as well as the methodological experience gained in the research process have inspired us to undertake an analysis in order to explore similar issues in relation to cooperation with Ukrainian partners.
Cross-border cooperation of Polish local governments with Ukrainian partners in the light of research
The possibilities of cross-border cooperation between local authorities of Polish commu- nities with Ukrainian partners opened up in the early 1990s. The manifestations of such cooperation, its directions and conditions became the subject of research and refl ection for researchers from Poland and Ukraine. This refl ection seems to have two main themes.
The fi rst involves an analysis of the Euroregions and the joint initiatives undertaken there.
This strain of research clearly highlights the evaluation of the outcomes of projects com- pleted on the basis of EU funding. The second theme includes refl ections on the back- ground and barriers for cross-border cooperation.
A Euroregion is an institutionalised form of cross-border cooperation between territorial communities and local authorities in border regions of neighbouring countries. It aims to coordinate activities aimed at solving common problems and to support the interests of the local residents.33 Representatives of Poland and Ukraine have participated in Eu- roregions since the early 1990s. Cross-border cooperation is one of the main objectives of two Euroregions along the border of Poland and Ukraine: the Bug Euroregion and the Carpathian Euroregion.
The Carpathian Euroregion was established in 1993 upon an agreement between the lo- cal authorities of the regions of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Ukraine. This was the fi rst Euroregion in Europe with no EU member. As a result of the reform of this Euroregion, the Association for the Carpathian Euroregion ‘Euro-Carpathians’ was established in 2000.34
33 O.Tiszczenko, S.Trojan, Wpływ procesów demokratyzacji…, ibidem, p. 99.
34 M. Malikowski., K. Malicki, H. Kotarski, Euroregion Karpacki a akcesja Polski do UE, [w:] Granice i pogranicza nowej UE. Z badań regionalnych, etnicznych i lokalnych, (red.) M. Malikowski, D.Wojakowski, Zakład Wydaw- niczy Nomos, Kraków 2005, pp. 78–79, 83.
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The Bug Euroregion was established in 1995 on the initiative of the local authorities and covered the Volyn district and, on the Polish side, the following voivodships under the previous administrative subdivision: Chełmskie, Tarnobrzeskie, Lubelskie and Zamojskie.
Following the administrative reform of Poland, the Polish side is represented by Lubelskie and Podlaskie voivodships in this Europegion. In 1998, the Brest district (Belarus) was incorporated into the association.35
Authors of academic papers on the two Euroregions concerned focus on analysing the legal and political background of these associations, the characteristics of their forms and modes of operation, the outcomes of their initiatives and the problems that arise in the course of their activities.36
O. Tiszczenko and S. Trojan point out the specifi c features of the Euroregions involving Ukrainian partners: ‘The diff erent conditions prevailing in this area mean that there is a serious diff erence between the objectives and tasks pursued by the Western Euro- pean Euroregions and the objectives of the associations involving the border regions of Ukraine.’37
Literature on the subject off ers characteristics and evaluations of the outcomes achieved by Euroregions, based on an analysis of specifi c projects and investments, as well as re- fl ections highlighting the actual and potential benefi ts of the very existence of these as- sociations. For example, Tiszczenko and Trojan point to the particularly important role of Euroregions for Ukraine: ‘The idea to have a single centre dealing with methodological and practical problems in the development of cross-border cooperation is supported by the fact that the local authorities and the local administration in Ukraine are still lack- ing experience in bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the fi eld of projects, lobbying in the relevant EU structures and other international fi nancial institutions.’38 There schol- ars also acknowledge the importance of mutual contacts between offi cials on both sides
35 O.Tiszczenko, S.Trojan, Wpływ procesów demokratyzacji…, ibidem, p. 103.
36 O.Tiszczenko, S.Trojan, Wpływ procesów demokratyzacji w państwach Europy Środkowo- Wschodniej na współpracę zagraniczną, [in:] Granice i pogranicza nowej UE. Z badań regionalnych, etnicznych i lokalnych, (ed.) M. Malikowski, D.Wojakowski, Zakład Wydawniczy Nomos, Kraków 2005, pp. 98–117, M. Malikowski., K. Malicki, H. Kotarski, Euroregion Karpacki a akcesja Polski do UE, [in:] Granice i pogranicza nowej UE. Z badań regionalnych, etnicznych i lokalnych, (ed.) M. Malikowski, D.Wojakowski, Zakład Wydawniczy Nomos, Kra- ków 2005, pp.77–97, J. Olchowski, Uwarunkowania współpracy transgranicznej polskich i ukraińskich samo- rządów i NGO’s, 2010, pp.239–251, www.irbis-nbuv.gov.ua, (12.10.2017), O. Charucka, Współpraca między- regionalna i transgraniczna Polski z Ukrainą, ZNUV 2016, No. 47(2), pp. 34–59, cejsh.icm.edu.pl, (10.10.2017).
37 O.Tiszczenko, S.Trojan, Wpływ procesów demokratyzacji…, ibidem, p. 111.
38 Ibidem, p.111.