Territorios indígenas y ordenamiento ambiental

2.2.3.1. The Bihor-Hajdú-Bihar Euroregion

The Bihor-Hajdú-Bihar Euroregion was established at the end of 2002 upon the initiative of the Bihor County Council (Romania) and the Hajdú-Bihar Local Government (Hungary) (Sűli-Zakar I. 2003c). They seized the important role of cross-border cooperation in fields of common interest for European integration.

The Euroregion aims at stimulating new ways for cooperation between the communities in the two countries according to the following objectives: preserving and developing good neighbourhood relations; identifying potential fields of cross-border cooperation; organising and coordinating activities meant to promote cooperation in certain fields; implementing programmes in fields of mutual interest; promoting the collaboration of the Euroregion with other international organisations and supporting the members of the Euroregion in the process of European integration.

From the legal point of view of collaboration, the Euroregion is an open association for cross-border cooperation with no legal status.

The management of the Bihor – Hajdú-Bihar Euroregion ( Ilieş A. 2004): Co-presidents, Council of the Euroregion, Steering Board, Secretariats, Working Commissions. The Council is the main decision- maker of the Euroregion. (http://www.cjbihor.ro/index.php?act=euroregiune)

Tasks of the Euroregion Council:

1. discusses and approves the strategic priorities of the Euroregion for the following year;

3. Approves the budget of the Euroregion that is equally supported by the members, as well as the changes to the budget;

4. Approves the report on activities funded by the Euroregion; 5. Debates and approves the changes to the internal Regulations of the Euroregion;

6. Decides on admission new members or withdrawal of existing members;

7. Elects the Board members; 8. Approves the Board report;

9. Appoints the members of the Working Commissions; 9. Appoints the Secretariats;

The Council appoints a working commission in each Euroregion member state meant to act as a secretariat. The representatives of the secretariats can participate to the Council and Board meetings and are entitled to an opinion.

The duties of the secretariats are the following (http://www.cjbihor.ro/index.php?act=euroregiune):

1. preparing the meetings of the Council and Board, multiplying and distributing the documents;

2. Forwarding invitations, providing accommodation and the conditions appropriate for a successful meeting;

3. Draws up and submits the minutes of the Council and Board meetings to all members;

4. Archives the decisions of the Council and Board; 5. Provides assistance to working commissions;

6. The Romanian secretariat will make payments to the members of the Euroregion in Romania, while the Hungarian secretariat will make payments to the members of the Euroregion in Hungary using the expertise of the Budget and Monitoring Commission;

Constantin Vasile Ţoca

7. Draws up an annual report regarding the financial aspects of the Euroregion and other funds and submits it to the Budget and Monitoring Commissions and the Board before the latest annual meeting of the Council.

The Euroregion has three permanent commissions. Some of their activities include preparing and elaborating proposals in specific fields and providing the expertise in the field:

Commission for international cooperation: is in charge with the international cooperation of the Euroregion.

Budget and Monitoring Commission: analyses the use of funds for the activities of the Euroregion, as well as other funding.

Commission for Cooperation and Sustainable Development: pursues and tracks funding opportunities and other financial resources based on annual strategic priorities settled by the Council of the Euroregion; expresses opinions on individual projects and fund allowance forwarding them to the Board. Considering the structure of the Bihor – Hajdú-Bihar Euroregion, we will review some characteristics of the administrative units making up the Euroregion in the Bihor County and the Hajdú-Bihar County.

Table 10. From the point of view of communication between the two counties, we will mention the crossing points between them:

Pos Crossing point Traffic type Means of transport 1 Valea lui Mihai/Nyirabrany International Vehicle

2 Valea lui Mihai/Nyirabrany International Railway 3 Episcopia Bihor/Beretyoufalu International Railway

4 Borş/Artand International Vehicle

5 Salonta/Mehkerek International Vehicle 6 Salonta/Mehkerek International Railway

7 Oradea International Airport

8 Debrecen International Airport

Map 7 : Type of border crossing: Bihor and Hajdú Bihar County

Source: Table 10, p.48. Own elaboration

Map 8. Ethnics groups in Bihor-Hajdú Bihar Euroregions

Constantin Vasile Ţoca

2.2.3.2. Carpathian Euroregion

The Carpathian Euroregion was established on 14 February 1993 at the proposal of Hungary, two Polish voivodships and a Ukrainian oblast (Süli-Zakar I. 2006), during the meeting of foreign affairs ministers and representatives of local administrations from Poland, Ukraine and Hungary ( Ilieş A. 2004; Sűli-Zakar I. 2008).

Romania’s official participation to the Carpathian Euroregion structure through county councils took place on 29 April 1997. Slovakia joined it on 25 November 1999 (Ilieş A. 2004).

The Carpathian Euroregion’s main aims and tasks are defined in the basic documents (The Founder Agreement and the Joint Declaration) as follows ( Süli-Zakar I., 2003a):

a) To organize and coordinate those activities which promote economic, ecological, cultural, scientific and educational co- operation between the members.

b) To promote between the members of the association the elaboration of concrete plans regarding the matters of joint concernment

c) To promote and facilitate the relations between people, including relations between experts in various fields

d) To promote good neighbourly relations between the members e) To promote regional development

f) To determine the multilateral collaboration’s potential fields among the members

g) To connect and facilitate co-operation between the members and other international organizations, institutions and agencies