<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes to social behaviours in Europe. One of its major consequences was the temporary closure of borders, which was introduced as a measure to prevent the uncontrolled pandemic spreading and involved internal Schengen borders. This has had a major impact in the way in which cross-border cooperation has been conducted in Europe, including the Czech-Polish borderland, as it dramatically restrained all flows across borders. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of the pandemic on five roles of cross-border cooperation: 1) as a multi-level governance form; 2) as a regional development tool; 3) as a para-diplomacy form; 4) as a post-conflict reconciliation tool; and 5) as Europe-building. We argue that the impacts of the pandemic complicated regional development and the Europe-building role of cross-border cooperation in the Czech-Polish borderland. The article envisages re-bordering processes also in the Czech-Polish borderland, but with important exceptions in the regions with a high level of cross-border integration, mainly in the Euroregion Těšínské Slezsko/Śląsk Cieszyński. The paper also calls for the elaboration of the guidelines for possible repeated (Schengen) border closures and proposes modifications of the INTERREG microprojects schemes, to keep them attractive also in times of expected cuts in public finances.</p>
</abstract>

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes to social behaviours in Europe. One of its major consequences was the temporary closure of borders, which was introduced as a measure to prevent the uncontrolled pandemic spreading and involved internal Schengen borders. This has had a major impact in the way in which cross-border cooperation has been conducted in Europe, including the Czech-Polish borderland, as it dramatically restrained all flows across borders. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of the pandemic on five roles of cross-border cooperation: 1) as a multi-level governance form; 2) as a regional development tool; 3) as a para-diplomacy form; 4) as a post-conflict reconciliation tool; and 5) as Europe-building. We argue that the impacts of the pandemic complicated regional development and the Europe-building role of cross-border cooperation in the Czech-Polish borderland. The article envisages re-bordering processes also in the Czech-Polish borderland, but with important exceptions in the regions with a high level of cross-border integration, mainly in the Euroregion Těšínské Slezsko/Śląsk Cieszyński. The paper also calls for the elaboration of the guidelines for possible repeated (Schengen) border closures and proposes modifications of the INTERREG microprojects schemes, to keep them attractive also in times of expected cuts in public finances.

The influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on Czech-Polish cross-border cooperation: From debordering to re-bordering?

Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Humanities and Education

Moravian Geographical Reports

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes to social behaviours in Europe. One of its major consequences was the temporary closure of borders, which was...

The influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on Czech-Polish cross-border cooperation: From debordering to re-bordering?

Published Online: Jul 15, 2021

Page range: 137 - 148

Received: Jul 10, 2020

Accepted: Jan 18, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgr-2021-0007

Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, re-bordering, cross-border cooperation and its roles, Czech-Polish border, Poland, Czech Republic

© 2021 Hynek Böhm, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on Czech-Polish cross-border cooperation: From debordering to re-bordering?

Published Online: Jul 15, 2021

Page range: 137 - 148

Received: Jul 10, 2020

Accepted: Jan 18, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgr-2021-0007

KeywordsCOVID-19 pandemic, re-bordering, cross-border cooperation and its roles, Czech-Polish border, Poland, Czech Republic

© 2021 Hynek Böhm, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, re-bordering, cross-border cooperation and its roles, Czech-Polish border, Poland, Czech Republic