Conclusions: The Borderlands After Schengen—Self-sufficient, Oscillatory and/or Transit Regions?

Abstract

The Central European borderlands have so far been an underdeveloped areas both nationally and cross-border/internationally within the integration processes taking place in Europe. At the same time, we consider the areas to be highly differentiated, both from the internal and external point of view. Cross-border cooperation, therefore, means that these areas (localities) have a chance to fully participate in the regional system not only within states, but also at higher Central European level. A prerequisite for this is knowledge of the border areas, at all levels of order (national, regional, and local). That is why this book was created, reflecting the latest development toward a fundamentally new situation, different from the beginning of the twenty-first century, when the editors published the monograph entitled Czech Borderlands – Space of Barrier or Mediation? Jeřábek (Certifikovaná metodika k usměrnění přeshraničního regionálního rozvoje. MINO, Ústí nad Labem, 2004). However, it turns out that the changes do not come as a jump, for example, by entering the Schengen area. Rather, it is a gradual linking of cross-border areas within Central Europe.