On 5 March 2025, the first workshop of the project targeting the cross-border integration of the Functional Metropolitan Area of Bratislava took place in the former archbishop’s palace in Bratislava. The pilot action supported by the European Commission through the Resilient Borders call aims to improve the management conditions for the Hungarian suburban area of the Slovak capital.

The participants of the workshops were greeted by Mr Jakub Mrva, Deputy Mayor of the City of Bratislava, Mr Csaba Balogh, Ambassador of Hungary to Bratislava, Mr Ján Mazúr, Chief Strategist of the City of Bratislava and Mr Ferenc Ivanics, Vice Chair of the Győr-Moson-Sopron County Council, the partner organisation of the project.

After the introduction of the mayors representing six Hungarian municipalities, Ms Pavla Štefkovičová, coordinator of the baum_cityregion office managing cross-border cooperation between Bratislava and its Austrian vicinities presented the history, the way of operation, the structure and the results of the BAUM (Bratislava and Surroundings Spatial Management) initiative which started in 2011 as a stand-alone project but today is established as a Working Community baum_cityregion. The new organisation involving the City of Bratislava and two Austrian provinces (i.e. Burgenland and Lower Austria) can be a good model when designing the governance solution targeting the Hungarian suburbs of Bratislava where nearly 6000 Slovak citizens have been settled during the last 15 years (they already outnumber 7500 in Austria). 

The project aims to deliver an action plan including two chapters: one on the governance solution for managing the cross-border functional area of Bratislava (including its Austrian and Hungarian partner municipalities); and another identifying the most important topics of cooperation. The mayors of the Hungarian municipalities (Mr Vince Kiss from Rajka, Mrs András Tamásné Kovács from Dunakiliti, Ms Erika Márkus from Bezenye, Mr Krisztián Mogyorósi from Feketeerdő, Mr Béla Husvéth from Dunasziget, and Mr László Szőke from Hegyeshalom) mentioned several challenges and problems they face due to the phenomenon of cross-border residential mobility. As they underlined, these problems cannot be tackled at the local or regional level as they require the involvement of the national authorities. At the same time, without a permanent platform of exchanges, the management of the cross-border agglomerating zone is unfeasible. During a lively debate, the Hungarian delegation had the opportunity to get a detailed overview of the Slovak-Austrian cooperation model which can be adapted to the Slovak-Hungarian context.

The Resilient Borders pilot action targeting the cross-border functional area of Bratislava continued with the meeting of the Austrian and Hungarian mayors on the 2nd workshop, which was held on 25 March 2025 in Rajka, Hungary.

Today, more than 13,000 Slovak citizens live in the Austrian and Hungarian vicinities of Bratislava, mostly in 25 municipalities. The suburbanisation process generates phenomena and challenges similar to those within a country, but the situation is further complicated by the state borders and the different administrative and political systems of the three countries.

To identify the common challenges and potential solutions, the partners of the pilot action convened the Austrian and Hungarian mayors of the municipalities hosting Slovak residents to exchange experiences and good practices. The participants were greeted by Mr Vince Kiss, Mayor of Rajka and Mr Ferenc Ivanics, Vice Chair of the Győr-Moson-Sopron County Council. 

The discussion moderated by Christian Berger, representative of the Slovak-Austrian baum_cityregion office and Gyula Ocskay, Secretary General of CESCI revolved around the major challenges the Austrian and Hungarian municipalities face, namely housing, transport, education, language barriers, and daily administration of the Slovak citizens. During the lively debate, Austrian mayors could share good practices with their Hungarian counterparts, even if the legislative environment differs. The participants concluded that cultural differences influence the frequency and the way of management of the challenges. At the same time, these differences are not insurmountable.

The workshop feeds into the compilation of the action plan and will facilitate the identification of the joint development fields for the cross-border functional area. The biggest result is that the discussion will continue as Mr Johannes Hornek, the Mayor of Kittsee invited the participants to the next meeting. There are still many topics to be discussed.

The Resilient Borders pilot action’s next workshop was held in Bratislava on 11 April where spatial and regional planners from the three countries shared their experiences and views regarding the most important interventions fields within the cross-border metropolitan area.