UDC 332.1:339.9
Kalat, Y. Y. (2015). Vplyv yevrorehional'noho spivrobitnytstva na rozvytok prykordonnykh rehioniv Ukrayiny [Impact of euroregional cooperation on the development of cross-border regions of Ukraine]. Rehional'na ekonomika - Regional Economy, 77(3). [in Ukrainian].
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Authors

Resume

While adopting efficient mechanisms for economic development, Ukraine participated in the creation of ten Euroregions. Currently, their activities over two decades bring no results that were observed in the EU. Therefore there is a need to search for new ways to enhance Euroregional cooperation and to efficiently use the cross-border opportunities in order to optimize the positive impact of Euroregional cooperation in the Ukrainian cross-border regions. The features of cross-border cooperation within the Euroregions of Ukraine using generalized approaches to the Euroregional cooperation analysis have been described in the article. The author has calculated the general integral index of socio-economic development of cross-border regions that are the part of Euroregions based on the methods for determining reference values, calculating standardized partial indices, and the average indices. It has also been suggested to combine these two approaches to assess the Euroregional cooperation development. The attention in the paper has been focused on the analysis of Euroregional cooperation in accordance with the criteria and indicators groups defined by the author. It has been determined that the development of Euroregional cooperation was sustained primarily due to: imperfect legal framework; structural disparities between the regions; inefficient mechanisms of interaction between central, regional, and local authorities; substantial differentiation of the regions in terms of economic development and society standard of living; underestimation of Euroregional cooperation as an important tool to enhance the development of the cross-border regions; low rate of cross-border infrastructure, etc. The problems of Euroregional cooperation development have been also revealed and immediate steps to enhance its impact on the cross-border regions of Ukraine have been suggested, namely: improvement of the legal framework; provision of operation of the Interdepartmental Commission for support of cross-border cooperation and Euroregions on permanent basis; involvement of the Euroregions associations’ representatives to the operation of Interdepartmental Commission for support of cross-border cooperation; drafting the development strategies for each Euroregion; reorganization of Euroregions using individual approach to every European region; creating a contract platform between the Euroregions on the border with the EU member countries and the Euroregions with the EU non-member countries. The author has remarked enhancement in the intensification of Euroregional cooperation in the next program period for 2014-2020 in view of progress in improving the legal framework for cross-border cooperation, in increase of the number of cross-border technical assistance programs intending to be participated by the Euroregions, signing new inter-regional cooperation and partnership agreements, etc.

Keywords:

cross-border cooperation, euroregional cooperation, border region, criteria for evaluating euroregional cooperation