A level playing field for cooperation

CENTROPE Capacity: A level playing field for cooperation

The launch of the EU project CENTROPE Capacity entails a new quality of cooperation in the “Central European Region”: for the first time, all partner cities and regions of CENTROPE are equally involved in the creation of efficient structures and hence generate joint capacities for the future development of the region.

“The Central European Region is today known as a model region where European integration at the interface between ‘old’ and ‘new’ EU Member States has been achieved quickly and smoothly.” This phrase is not (yet) a status-quo description. Rather, it is quoted from “Vision CENTROPE 2015“, which was formulated in 2005/2006. In this “Vision”, the partner cities and regions of the four-country border region between Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary set themselves a common goal during the initial phase of their cooperation. In keeping with the motto “We grow together – together we grow”, they outlined the vision of an integrated region that manages, within just a few years, to overcome barriers long considered insurmountable and to break down the often-cited “borders in people’s minds”.

It would be presumptuous to assume that this vision should already have become reality. And yet: five years after the formulation of the “Vision”, not only half of the self-imposed project period has elapsed – we have also arrived at a milestone towards the attainment of the ambitious goals set: with the beginning of 2010, the project CENTROPE Capacity entered its operative phase.

Capacities for cooperation

CENTROPE Capacity stands for the joint conviction of the CENTROPE partner cities and regions that the dynamic development of this transnational region can only be advanced if efficient structures are created in all four partner countries – regional CENTROPE offices that, catalyst-style, continuously generate impulses for intensified cooperation, develop concepts and promote the idea behind CENTROPE in the partner regions. At the same time, the four regional CENTROPE offices, supported by a central coordination office, are to cooperate closely in the years ahead.

With CENTROPE Capacity, which is financed through the Structural Funds programme CENTRAL EUROPE, the CENTROPE initiative continues to be based on a project supported with EU funds. However, the quality of cooperation will differ substantially from previous CENTROPE projects of the 2003-2007 period: for the first time, all partners take an equal share in project financing, thus creating a level playing field in the formal sense as well. This shared responsibility finds another expression in the fact that, starting in 2011, each of the four partner countries – reflecting the regulations for the EU Council Presidency – will assume political leadership of CENTROPE for six months, thereby serving as the “face” of the common region for this period. This procedure will be initiated by Hungary, which will also host the EU Council Presidency in the first six months of 2011.

From made-up acronym to established brand

The fact that CENTROPE today – seven years after the first political policy formation – is much more than just an acronym made up to designate a project is evidenced by a look at the Internet, regional media or university publications. “CENTROPE” has become a fixed concept frequently referenced by politicians, economists, planners or researchers. Now this concept is to be evolved into a successful brand increasingly identified with concrete qualities. For this purpose, a comprehensive process will be initiated to first of all define the messages and images that are to be associated with CENTROPE and then “translate” these into brand communication, so that CENTROPE will increasingly be perceived on an international scale as a location with concrete assets and a good place for investment.

To render CENTROPE more tangible, the main focus of CENTROPE Capacity will be on the introduction of practice-oriented cooperation activities, which may be cooperative business ventures, joint programmes of universities and research institutions, the development of common tourism products or cross-border agreements on spatial and traffic planning. The circle of stakeholders taking initiatives in or on behalf of CENTROPE is to be gradually widened.

What is the position of CENTROPE in the competition between regions?

CENTROPE is a relatively “young” European region when compared with transnational partnerships between “old” EU Member States like Germany, France, Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands. By 2012, the exchange of experience with these well-established partnerships or with the Öresund Region between Malmö and Copenhagen – a celebrated success story that goes back almost a decade – is to yield a twofold outcome: an assessment of the standing of CENTROPE on an international scale and, above all, a wealth of useful input to overcome the last remaining borders.