The Balance Between Economic Development and Environmental Planning in the Field of Tourism Development in the Rural Europe (E.D.E.N.)

WEST-HUNGARIAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE

CENTRE FOR REGIONAL STUDIES OF HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENTES

No. 126/B

Project leader: Dr. Irén Szörényiné Kukorelli

The balance between economic development and environmental planning in the field of tourism development in the rural Europe (E.D.E.N.)

SZIGETKÖZ (Hungary)

Diagnostic Study I.

Győr, 2001. Authors:

Tamás Hardi Dr. Irén Szörényiné Kukorelli Judit Tóthné Hermann CONTENTS

I. Regional Development and environmental protection in Hungary...... 1 1. Regional Development in Hungary...... 1 The evaluation of the Act on Regional Development ...... 2 National Regional Development Concept...... 3 Institutional system of regional development...... 4 Inter-municipal regional development association...... 10 2. The regulation of environmental protection in Hungary...... 15 3. The harmonisation of environmental protection with regional development and physical planning...... 19 Environmental protection tasks in regional development ...... 21 The role of environmental protection in physical planning...... 23 II. General features of the territories involved in planning in Gyõr-Moson-Sopron county. 25 1. Gyõr-Moson-Sopron county...... 25 Climate ...... 28 Demographic features...... 29 Economic features ...... 30 2. The Sokoróalja Development Association...... 33 Demographic circumstances...... 33 Number of population ...... 35 Economic activity...... 36 3. Settlements of the Fertõmente Regional Development Association ...... 39 Demography ...... 39 Number of population...... 41 Economic activity...... 42 4. The Szigetköz area ...... 45 Demography ...... 45 Economic activity...... 50 The supply of infrastructure in the settlements of the Szigetköz ...... 53 Land use in the Szigetköz...... 60 Analysis of the spatial connections of the Szigetköz and its region...... 65 5. Summary ...... 81 A SWOT analysis of the general socio-economic situation...... 83 A SWOT analysis of the infrastructure ...... 85 A SWOT analysis of the agricultural land use ...... 87

The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 1

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN HUNGARY

1. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN HUNGARY

The XXI./1996 Act on regional Development and Physical Planning (modified by the XCII/1999 Act) determines the institutional frameworks and the system of means of regional development. According to the Act the objectives of regional development are: (a) to assist the development of a market economy in every region of the country, to create the necessary conditions for sustainable development; to encourage innovation and to create a spatial structure corresponding to social, economic and environmental objectives; (b) to reduce significant differences – in terms of living conditions, economic, cultural and infrastructural conditions – between the capital and the rest of the country, towns and villages, as well as developed and underdeveloped regions and settlements, to prevent the formation of new crisis areas to ensure equal social opportunities; (c) to assist the harmonic development of the country's capital and settlement structure; (d) to sustain and strengthen the sense of identity at national and regional levels.

The tasks of regional development and physical planning are: (e) to encourage the initiatives of regional and local communities for regional development and physical planning, and to co-ordinate these initiatives with the national objectives; (f) to determine elaborate and implement development concepts, programmes and plans, which serve to maintain or improve the balance between society, economy , environment and nature; (g) to assist, through international co-operation, the adjustment to the regional policy of the European Union, to make use of mutual benefits of regional co-operation, and to assist the co-ordinated development of border regions (especially the disadvantageous border regions).

Basic terminology: In the Law: a) regional development: on national and regional level implies b) the monitoring and evaluation of social, economic and environmental processes at national and regional levels and determining the directions of necessary, planned interventions;

ab) the determination, co-ordination and implementation of comprehensive national and regional short, medium and long-term development objectives, concepts and measures, within the framework of development programmes, and their implementation in other sectoral decisions. a) physical planning: determines the order of land-use and rules of land utilisation in the individual region, as well as in the whole of the country, in particular: ba) the identification and evaluation of resources and the load and load-bearing capacity of the environment, and the production of forecasts; aa) the elaboration of proposals on the appropriate utilisation of regional resources; bc) the specification of the spatial , technical and physical systems of development concepts and programmes; bd) international co-operation and the co-ordination of physical planning in Europe and in border regions within the framework of agreements. As far as the four basic elements of regional development – regional policy, means, regulation and management – are concerned, regulation and management are hardly detectable in the act while the planning is overemphasised among the means. The act defines quite a number of terminology: such as regional development (incomplete), physical planning, physical plan, regional development policy (complementing regional development), region (planning, statistical and development region) regional development concept and programme and different region types, etc.

The evaluation of the Act on Regional Development The act enforces the "top–down" principle. The act often refers to the horizontal co-operation: regional development may become the main framework of the integration and harmonisation of sectoral intentions. The act devotes a separate chapter to physical planning and the regional information system. As a whole the spirit of the act is pointing ahead integrating the development and planning approach, thus it is unable to resolve the traditional segmentation of the institutional system and its informational relationships. The act resulted positive changes in the following fields: • it regulates the change of regional development model with the highest level legal regulation • it considers the modern EU principles • it institutionalised integration and co-operation between the branches and the tiers • it launched a process of decentralisation • it established a system of special institutions covering the entire country

• the institutional system – the relationship of the government, local-government, chambers, employers and employees, etc. – was based on the principle of partnership (amendment!!!) • it institutionalised in the regional tier the so called macro–regional tier. The thematic requirements of regional development concepts and programmes as well as the physical plans is regulated by the 18/1998 (VI.25) Decree of the Ministry of Regional Development and Environment Protection. The principles of regional development allocations and decentralisation as well as the conditions of eligible areas are regulated by a parliamentary decree.

National Regional Development Concept The parliament adapted the National Regional Development Concept in its 35/1998 Parliamentary Decree (which is a long term development strategy), defining the comprehensive targets of spatial policy (the highest development plan). In this document the principles of regional policy (subsidiarity, partnership, programming, concentration, additionality) are considered. Concentration definitely enjoys priority (the document provides for the delimitation of the different target regions) but the document lays emphasis on the principle of partnership as well. However the document seems to ignore the principles of programming (which is a series of planning activities and measures) and similarly the real system of additionality is not ot be detected in the concept, there is no explicit co-ordination of resources and targets. The National Development Concept could not yet enforce the principle of bottom-up, since at the time of its adaptation regional and county plans were not elaborated yet, which could have been integrated into the concept (however the legislator attempted some harmonisation with the county assemblies). The system of strategic objective and targets is well defined, the National Development Concept formulates two explicit overall aims (which are aimed at the equalisiation): a) on the whole of the country: • the establishment of cultural and financial welfare of the citizens and the nation, • promotion of the establishment of the social market economy, • improvement of permanent economic growth and competitiveness, provision of the conditions for sustainable progress, • promotion of the spatial spread of innovation, increase of fund–raising power of settlements, counties, regions and improvement of their ability to contribute to the developments,

• elaboration of due spatial structure for social, economic and environmental aims, promotion of the harmonic development of the spatial and settlement structure of the country; b) decrease of regional disparities between • regions, • counties, • the capital and the provinces, • cities and villages, • developed and underdeveloped regions and settlements, Eastern and Western-Hungary in the conditions of life, economy, education, culture, health care, social care and infrastructure; • and avoidance of the formation of new crisis areas, in order to provide equal social chances.

The concept appoints the beneficiary target regions by regions types: • socially – economically underdeveloped regions • regions of industrial restructuring • regions of rural development • regions afflicted with permanent and significant unemployment.

It defines for each region types the development aims and objectives and the most important sectoral priorities. Thus the concept does not care for the evaluation and give no instructions for the evaluation of the impacts and the consideration of feedback.

As its principles are concerned the concept follows the European practice, but we may not ignore that it requires a regular reconsideration. Several elements help the territorial actors in the preparation of their territorial strategies.

Institutional system of regional development The institutions of regional development are: • the Parliament • the government – the minister respectively • the National Development Council, • the Regional Development councils, • Territorial Development Councils • County Development Councils • Development Associations of Municipalities

• Local governments.

The Parliament: The parliament shall: (a) approve, in the form of a decree, the national development concept and determinate, as part of the concept, the principles, objectives and long-term priorities of regional policy, (b) request the Government to report on the implementation of the regional development policy, (c) determine the list of priority areas and approve the general rules concerning the institutional structure and the system of instruments of regional development, (d) approve physical plans covering the whole country and the regions of high priority and in the form of an Act determine the elements of plans that are binding for self- government, (e) determine the principles of regional development support and decentralisation, as well as the criteria for the classification of eligible regions, (f) at the time of the approval of the annual budget law, determine the funds that can be used for regional development and special financial incentives. (g) request the Government to give an annual report on the use of funds allocated for regional development. (h) request the Government to report on its activity in regional development and physical planning on international level and in the border regions.

The tasks of the government (a) The government shall prepare and submit to the Parliament: aa) the nation-wide regional development concept and principles, objectives and long-term priorities determining regional policy; ab) national physical plans and physical plans concerning areas of high priority, as well as their elements binding for self-governments ac) the principles of regional development support and decentralisation and the criteria for the classification of eligible regions; ad) in the annual budget law, that fund that can be used for regional development and special financial incentives; (a) co-ordinate the use of various state funds available for regional development and special financial incentives, (b) provide financial support for the implementation of regional development programmes determined by the national development concept; (c) in accordance with the provisions of this law, decide upon the decentralisation of funds serving the purposes of regional development;

(d) determine the rules of the use of incentives and funds available for regional development ; (e) may initiate the creation of Regional Development Councils, (f) approve regional development concepts and programmes concerning areas of high priority and regions – in accordance with the proposal of the National or Regional Development council; (g) foster the setting up of regional development associations of municipalities and encourage the elaboration of development programmes and the implementation of development projects through regional co–operation. (h) encourage and support cross-border co-operation between the Hungarian border regions and regions in neighbouring countries; (i) every two years report to the Parliament on the development of regional processes in the country and on the implementation of regional policy. (j) ensure the operation of the national information network, including the registration of regional plans. (k) form a preliminary opinion concerning county physical plans in order to ensure that national physical plans and county physical plans are co-ordinated. (l) determine, in the form of a decree, the scope of responsibility and competence of its members in relation to regional development and physical planning.

The National Council for Regional Development The National Council for Regional Development shall assist the government in carrying out its regional development and physical planning tasks, and make decisions in cases determined by this law. The council shall: a) participate in the formulation and implementation of the regional development policy through its competence to prepare decisions, make proposals form opinions and co-ordinate tasks. b) assist the co-ordination of development programmes at national and regional levels and of the central, sectoral and regional concepts. c) comment on the principles of supports for regional development and decentralisation and the eligibility criteria for regions eligible for support. d) make proposals to co-ordinate sectoral funds available for regional development. e) make proposals to allocate fund available for regional development and central budget allocations, f) monitor and evaluate the co-ordination between regional policy targets and the development objectives of the ministries concerned, bodies with national authority and regional development councils. g) comment on the sectoral development concepts having significant regional impact.

h) co-ordinate the implementation of the tasks set for local governments by the Parliament i) make proposals to the joint implementation of cross-country regional development tasks. j) participate in co-ordinating the planning of national and cross-border infrastructure (arrangement facilities , networks), as well as infrastructure of national importance.

The regional development council The regional development councils operating the planning–statistical regions set in the National Development Concept elaborate and approve the regional development concept of the region and carry out common development tasks. The regional development council co-operates with the regional development associations of municipalities, the county development councils, the territorial development councils, territorial authorities of the central government involved directly or indirectly in the development of the region and the regional branches of economic chambers. The regional development council shall: a) examine and evaluate the social and economic situation and potentials of the region provide the information used during the examinations, and the findings of these for the regional information system, b) elaborate and approve –in accordance with the National Development Concept – the long-term regional development concept of the region and the regional development programme of the region and the individual strategic and operative sub-programmes, c) carry out the regional co-ordination of economic development, co-ordinate the governmental and regional interests , ensure the co-ordination between regional actors within the region, d) prepare financial plans to support the implementation of development programmes, and make recommendations to the composition and distribution of regional, central and international resources and to the time schedule of their utilisation e) determine the implementation of programmes and associated sub- programmes contingent on funding, f) organise the implementation of programmes and participate in handling the financial and funding responsibilities (as defined in a separate legal regulation) of such programmes, g) keep records on the implementation of programmes and on the appropriation of funds and update records daily and report to the minister every year, h) provide for the efficient and proper use of funds and for the achievement of the programme's objectives.

i) it may enter into agreements with the ministries concerned with regards to funding of regional development programmes that deal with regional level development, sectoral development and help fulfil tasks. j) comment on the national, sectoral and regional development concepts, programmes and the physical plans that affect its area k) participate in the management of social and economic crisis in the region, l) it may raise funds to cover its operating expenses and the implementation of the development programmes; m) over and above the duties defined above the county development council shall carry out tasks that are delegated to its competency by law or other legal regulation.

Territorial development councils. County development councils and regional development councils may establish a territorial development council for the purpose of fulfilling certain development duties that reach beyond the borders of the county. With regard to the Lake Balaton Recreational Area, the Lake Balaton Development Council – the legal successor of the Lake Balaton Regional Development Council – shall draft the regional development strategy and programme, participate in the preparation of its physical plan and perform other joint development duties. The legal successor of the Regional Development Council of Budapest and its Agglomeration is the Central Hungarian Regional Development Council.

The county assembly The county assembly shall: a) prepare a development plan for the area or sub-regions of the county b) co-ordinate based on long term forecast , its compulsory tasks especially those related to education, culture, health-care social duties, the conservation of the built and natural environment tourism and public service so as to ensure conformity with the economic development and employment policy of the county, c) co-ordinate upon request of the municipalities of the county the development activities of the settlements. d) co-ordinate regional development activities upon request of municipalities within its territory consult with the local governments of towns with county rank and the municipalities concerned in order to harmonise physical plans to be implemented in and in the neighbourhood of towns. e) co-operate with the economic actors of the county. f) participate in the establishment of and operation of the regional information system in co-operation with the local branches of the Central Statistical Office and other regional organisations engaging in data collection and provide information for the preparation of regional plans.

g) upon the request of the municipalities assist the establishment of regional development associations of municipalities, h) ensure co-ordination between the physical plans of settlements and those of the county The general assembly of the county representatives shall: a) comment on the long-term regional development concept prior to the decision of the county development council and following the decision-making approve the development objectives concerning the local government. b) in accordance with the paragraph d) article 6 and with due consideration of the recommendations and opinions by the concerned local governments it shall approve the county physical plans c) comment on plans applying to the paragraph d) article 6.

The County Development Council The regional development tasks within the county shall be co-ordinated by the County Development council. The County Development Council shall co-operate with local municipalities and the regional branches of government agencies directly or indirectly concerned in development, as well as the relevant social and professional organisations and with the County Labour Council. The County Development Council shall co-ordinate the development intentions of the central governemt, local governments, regional development associations of municipalities and economic organisations within the county, including: a) examine and evaluate the social and economic situation and potentials of the county, provide the information used in the course of and the findings of the examination for the regional information system. b) elaborate and approve – in accordance with the National Development Concept (6§/a) – the long-term development concept of the county (hereafter referred to as the "county development concept"), the regional development programme of the county and the individual sub-programmes – in consideration of the county's development strategy and physical plan. c) elaborate financial plans to support the implementation of development programmes, d) conclude an agreement with the ministries concerned on the financing of county development programmes, e) participate – pursuant to other legal regulations – in the preparation of decisions on appropriation of subsidies for regional cohesion and allocated state funds as well as in the assessment of utilisation. f) comment on concepts and physical plans specified in the §6/a and §7/g that affect its territory of jurisdiction g) participate in the management of social and economic crisis in the county,

h) raising funds to finance its operation and the implementation of development programmes. The County Development Council shall decide upon the utilisation of funds allocated to its competence and the implementation of development projects through a tender system in a manner consistent with the county's development strategy and program.

Inter-municipal regional development association The Act No. XXI. says that the municipal governments, with the agreement of the body of representatives, are entitled to create regional development associations, which have independent legal entity, for the co-ordinated development of the settlements, the creation of joint regional development programmes and the creation of joint financial funds for the implementation of the developments. From the five possible intervention levels of regional development (national, regional, county, micro-regional and municipal), micro-regions are the second territorial level that has become an important element of the bottom-up building regional policy. The concept of micro-region has become a spatial category in the recent decade. It is now accepted and used by regional development. In this context it is a planning and development spatial unit where most of the economic, market and trade, infrastructural and supply, administrative and social connections and spatial processes connected to the satisfaction of the everyday needs of the countryside population takes place. The main tasks of the micro-region in relation to regional development are to express the common intentions connected to the locality, to the co-existing and co-operating municipalities, to have the necessary plans prepared, to harmonise and add to the resources, to implement developments, to help the development of the village–town relations and to ensure the development of the micro-region and the micro-regional identity. The almost one decade that has passed since the establishment of the micro-regions proves that this level has its place in the Hungarian regional development. This is a territorial level that was born without a Hungarian sample and experiences, and has survived despite the lack of resources. Its survival, operation and achieved status comes from its bottom-up building, its strength is in the will to do something of the local stakeholders. The Act No. XXI of 1996 features in its Chapter 3 the inter-municipal development associations among the “regional bodies responsible for regional development and spatial planning”, which is a legal organisational form of the formerly started micro-regional configurations legalised by the act on regional development. The act does not make the formation of these associations with legal entity obligatory, but the inter-municipal development associations are among the members of the county development councils, providing this way the representation of the municipalities. This is why we can say that the enactment of the act on regional development was a milestone for the micro-regional organisations. The act accelerated the integration of the municipalities into the regional

© MTA RKK NYUTI The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 11 development associations, in many cases inter-municipal associations compatible with the statistical micro-regions were created, especially in those counties which did not have micro- regional organisations formerly or even if they had, their operation was formal. Based on the latest information, presently there are 215 micro-regional development associations. The representation of the municipalities is the responsibility of the president of the micro- region (which is a territorial unit with an identical natural and economic environment, having almost the same problems as the municipalities), who takes part in the work of the county development council and is present at the decisionmaking. Thus the main motivation that increased the number of the municipal associations at a fast pace after 1996 was the representation in the county development councils. It is true, however, that most of the associations created for this purpose are only formally working. The motivation before the act was of different nature. The acquisition of the tender resources was the most important factor, the second factor being the common interest representation and voluntariness, which meant voluntary efforts and enthusiasm. It is true still these days that the municipalities establishing the municipal associations are more effective and better at lobbying through the collaboration and the joint interest representation. It is also an advantage that the associations, receiving financial support, are able to employ professional(s), experts, making this way the operation of the association effective and implementing their objectives. The Act No. XXI of 1996 mentions among the basic definitions micro-regions as territorial units to be designated by the totality of the functional relations existing among the municipalities. The National Regional Development Concept of Hungary defined micro- regions, statistical catchment areas, i. e. the official CSO (Central Statistical Office) micro- regions as the smallest units of regional development, the smallest territorial dimension. The territorial type defined in the concept means the micro-regional level, so both the act and the concept take the micro-regional level as a spatial category into consideration. There is a clear contradiction here, because regional development and its institutional system consistently use micro-regions as a spatial category, but do not mention the inter-municipal development associations as a possible institutionalised form of the micro-regions, neither its operational conditions and there is not a single word about the financing of this level. In the spring of 1999, three-quarters of the examined micro-regions had a development concept. A large number of development programmes had also been made, including 102 employment, 100 tourism, 85 economic, 81 environmental protection, 79 agricultural development and only 59 human resources development programmes. Many (39) employment programmes have become outdated since then, and the most successful programmes have been implemented in the field of tourism development, economic development and restructuring, agricultural and co-operative development and the different linear infrastructure developments.

During the four years, the methodology of the preparation of the micro-regional concepts has been synthesised, and this methodology was the basis of the elaboration of the regional development concept of the micro-regions in Győr-Moson-Sopron county. Although it is fashionable these days to talk about the development based on internal resources, the enumeration and activation of these resources, as I see, cannot be exclusive even in the micro-regions of Győr-Moson-Sopron county which is considered as developed by the Hungarian standards. The micro-regional developments require the integration of both endogenous and exogenous resources, which does not contradict the fact that during the creation of the micro-regional concept the most important aspect is the utilisation of the local endowments and the involvement of the local actors. During the operation of the micro-regional associations, their responsibilities extended, including the following: 1. preparation of joint regional development concept 2. joint economic development 3. joint management of the employment and social problems (labour organising management programme) 4. joint infrastructure developments 5. environment and nature protection 6. increasing the role of self-assistance 7. conservation of cultural and natural heritage 8. operation of information system 9. operation of monitoring system 10. provision of an adequate medium for the acquisition of the Hungarian and EU resources

Unfortunately those civil organisations have not been created yet which could involve the local society and the local economic organisations and could co-operate with them to add to the resources, including both human and economic resources, thus the increase of the role of self-assistance can only be the result of a long-term process. Similarly to the previous task, the conservation of the heritage is also connected to the strengthening of the civil organisations, which can be initiated by the conscious development of rural tourism.

Below we summarise a few Hungarian characteristics of the micro-regional organisations. 11. The harmony between the internal and external actors of regional development is not present yet. 12. The sub-objectives are not organised into a comprehensive strategy, there is no systematic thinking.

13. Sooner or later all collaborations try to establish their own professional networks and a background of employees doing the operational work. 14. In the rural areas there are few civil organisations which could be partners in the associations. 15. The designation of the micro-regions is also characteristic: the act on regional development restricted the representation of the micro-regional associations in the county development councils to the number of CSO micro-regions, which initiated special processes and problems, because the borders of the associations and the CSO micro-regions do not coincide. Because of this, several problems arise, one of them being that the access to the decentralised resources requires that they finance a programme in a selected region. The designation of these regions takes place in the frameworks of the National Regional Development Concept or another norm, giving the basis of the distribution among the counties, however, the associations are usually independent of this system. The main factor of the effective operation is the organisational framework, and its form institutionalised to some extent: an operating micro-regional office and the regional management employed in the office. Those inter-municipal associations that are able to employ their own staff or hire experts from external resources can differentiate their activity and the different applicable resources are more easily accessible for them.

The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 15

2. THE REGULATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN HUNGARY

Act No. LIII of 1995 on the general rules of the protection of the environment 83/1997 (26 September) Parliament Decree on the National Environmental Protection Programme The preparation and implementation of the National Environmental Protection Programme is commanded in Paragraph 40 of the Act No. LIII of 1995 on the general rules of the protection of the environment. The National Environmental Protection Programme is a six-year system of intervention plans, which must result in the solution of the present environmental problems, or the start of the solution and the prevention of the future problems. The Programme is based on the following basic pillars: a) the Modernisation Programme of the Government (1994), which says that one of the main tasks of the Programme is to harmonise economic development with the environmental considerations. Its is of vital importance that the further socio-economic development should not result in the deterioration of the state of the environment, and the change of the environmental conditions should not be an impermeable obstacle of the further development. In order to achieve this, the environmental aspects have to be integrated into economic policy and the different sectoral policies. b) The Short and Medium Term Action Plan (1991), National Environmental and Nature Policy Concept (1994). In addition to the above-mentioned, several sectoral programmes have been made recently or are under preparation for the special tasks of environmental protection and the different fields with environmental implications of other sectors: c) the document called “Tasks for the 21st Century (Agenda 21)” – Rio de Janeiro, 1992; the Fifth Environmental Action Programme of the EU, 1993; Central- and Eastern European Environmental Action Plan – Luzern, 1993 The documents listed above determine the environmental obligations coming from the accession to the integrational organisations of the developed countries, i. e. the OECD membership (Hungary joined this organisation in May 1996) and the harmonisation with the EU. d) Deriving from the special physical geographical endowments of Hungary, the obligations coming from the different international environmental protection agreements and programmes, and the agreements made with the individual countries, above all with the neighbour states, with environmental implications. These four pillars of the Programme are closely interrelated and the tasks defined by any of them have to be taken into consideration.

The structure of the Programme is as follows: 1. Introduction of the state of the environment

This chapter includes the introduction of the state of the different elements of the environment (air, surface and subsoil waters, soil), the built and the natural environment (the correlation between built environment and human health), nature (flora and fauna, landscape) and the independently treated factors (waste, noise and vibration, environmental safety). 2. Desired state of the environment – targeted conditions

Following the introduction of the problems, the statement of the general objectives means the main direction of the solution of the problems for the given field or sector. The more concrete objectives and the directions of actions define the numerical targeted conditions and identifiable tasks for the six-year period of the Programme. 3. Key areas of implementation

The harmonisation of environmental protection with the different levels of regional development, and the designation of the programmes and interventions concerning the selected sectors. This chapter introduces those concepts, plans and action programmes the implementation of which is a must in order to achieve the objectives of the Programme: energy sector; industry; agriculture; forestry and game management; transport; transportation; services; environmental protection (primarily environmental, national, monument protection and regional development). 4. Tools of the implementation of the Programme Having defined the basic principles, the basic issues of financing, the tasks of regional and technological development, the development of the information and institutional system and the importance of the social participation are discussed. During the satisfaction of the international obligations and the implementation of the connected tasks, a closer relation of these to the environmental problems of Hungary should be achieved. The integration of these two sides is an important efficiency requirement for Hungary. During the implementation of the National Environmental Protection Programme (NEPP), a special attention has to be paid to the programmes under implementation (Inter-sectoral Action Programme for Air Cleanliness; Programme aiming at the improvement of the water quality and ecological conditions of the Lake Balaton – Government Decree No. 1068/1996 (21 June) etc.) and to the plans, programme-directives and programmes made within and parallel to the NEPP, e. g. National Environmental Compensation Programme, Basic principles of the sewage collection and treatment programme of Hungary – Government Decree No. 2207/1996 (24 July); National Nature Protection Plan; National Environmental Health Action Plan; and the Government Decree No. 123/1997 (18 July) on the protection of water bases, potential water bases and the establishments of the drinking water supply. As a part of the National Environmental Protection Programme, a National Nature Protection Plan has to be made, commanded by the Paragraph 53 of the Act No. LIII of 1996 on the protection of nature.

The content requirements of the Plan are set by the Act. The basis for the definition of the tasks stated in the Plan is given by the Act, the National Nature Conservation Act and the National Biodiversity Conservation Strategy, also by the international agreements, strategies, declarations in effect and the directives of the professional programmes of global environmental and nature protectionist organisations (UNEP, IUCN etc.).

The main chapters of the Plan are as follows: 1. The state of the natural values and territories, threatening factors and processes

Analysis of the geological and physical geographical conditions (soil, geological and geomorphologic values, caves, wetlands, flora, grasslands, forests, fauna, landscapes), followed by the definition of the targeted conditions of nature protection and the tasks. 2. Medium and long term aspects of the creation and maintenance of the ecological (green) corridors and the ecological network, and the system of environmentally sensitive areas The objective of the establishment of ecological networks is the creation of the network of Environmentally Sensitive Areas and the conservation of biodiversity in the so-called other agricultural areas (outside the ecological network and the ESA, Environmentally Sensitive Areas). 3. Medium and long term aspects of the conservation of protected natural values and areas The process of the establishment of protection has to be accelerated, the long-term objective is that 11-12% of the territory of Hungary should be legally protected.

The National Ecological Network, buffer zones and reservations have to be established. 4. Nature protection education, dissemination of knowledge, PR

The education of nature protection should be started as early as in the kindergarten age, and it should be accessible in all forms of education to all age groups. The media have to take a more active role in the PR of nature protection and the introduction of the natural values of Hungary. 5. Environmental researches, measurement and observation systems (monitoring)

The definition of the objectives and main directions of environmental R & D, and the tasks in connection with the monitoring (e. g. in the framework of the National Biodiversity Monitoring Programme, monitoring activity has do be carried out in the Szigetköz and the Small Balaton region). 6. International obligations, objectives and tasks

Hungary is bound by several international nature protection agreements, declarations and programmes, also, the process of the European integration means several obligations for Hungary.

7. Chapter 7 and 8 list the legislation and other obligations deriving from the act on the protection of nature. 8. As the resource for the above tasks and obligations, the Environmental Protection Fund is specified, from which the magnitude of the sums for nature protection investments and other purposes has to be defined in per cent.

3. THE HARMONISATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION WITH REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PHYSICAL PLANNING

The importance of the new regional institutional system of regional development lies in the fact that it has specified the responsible “masters” of the territories, in the form of development councils and associations with mixed compositions. This allows environmental protection to be integrated into the complex development processes at all levels. This alleviates the problem solving, making it the interest of the stakeholders, well and clearly integrated into the economic and the social demands. Thus the professional tasks of environmental protection can be implemented by separating these tasks by the “levels” of implementation, as national, regional or municipal tasks. As regards regional development at national level, the highest level of the integration of environmental concepts is the National Regional Development Concept. In the Concept the environmental expectations, both as conditions and objectives of regional development, are featured in the practice. From the side of physical planning, the elements of the environmental regulation appear in the National Physical Plan. As regards environmental protection, the National Environmental and Nature Protection Concept defines national correlations. Environmental protection, regional development and physical planning are actually connected at this level with sectoral planning, so this is the level for the assertion of the interests of environmental protection and the integration of environmental aspects into sectoral plans. In the field of regional development, the regional level is the place for the integration of regional level environmental and nature protection elements (regional development concept), also, it is the level of converting them into strategic and operational programmes (regional development programme). Regional physical plans (regional structural plan and regional regulatory plan) are where the regional level environmental protection elements should be converted into physical planning and regulatory elements. As regards environmental protection, the regional level does not have a plan or document type defined in special legal documents. As regards regional development at county level, this level is where the integration of the concept elements of the environmental and nature protection principles, broken down from the regional level on the basis of the specific features of the counties, takes place (county development concept) and these are featured in the action programmes (county development programme). The physical plans at county level (structural plans and regulatory plans) are the level of the integration of county level environmental protection principles and objectives.

The county level environmental protection programme is basically of conceptional character, complemented with programme recommendations. The act on environmental protection requires the preparation of separate county programmes. At micro-regional level, the micro-regional development concepts and the different sectoral development programmes are the possible level of the integration of physical planning and regulatory elements. As regards environmental protection, this level does not have an equivalent, this is a transitory phase between the county and municipal levels. During physical planning, the integration of environmental protection into regional development at micro-regional level can be achieved by the harmonisation of the county and municipal level environmental programmes. At municipal level it is the municipal development concept and programme which are a platform for the integration of the municipal environmental programmes and the preparation of the operational interventions. As regards municipal physical planning, we can distinguish between municipal structural plans – the level of the integration of the environmental objectives and principles in the administrative area of the municipality, with a conceptual character – and local regulatory plans and the local building regulations – which are the conversions of the municipal level environmental objectives into planning and regulatory elements, with an obligatory character. At municipal level the legal background is provided by the act on the built environment1 and the national municipal planning and building requirements2. The preparation of the municipal environmental protection programme is commanded by the act on environmental protection3. In the planning practice, the regional development concepts contain an environmental protection chapter, also, in the analysis of the situation they examine the elements of the natural and built environment, but the environmental protection programmes are not parts of these concepts and not the detailed versions of the chapters on environmental protection, either. They are independent plans with strategic and operational tasks. At the same time, the regional development programme defines the authority of environmental protection, on the one hand by developments, and by the chapter on environmental protection, on the other. This latter can be modified during the revisions of the plans, but the basic development directions are less mobile and if the aspects of environmental protection are not built deep enough into the plan, the assertion of these is very difficult later.

1 Act No. LXXVIII of 1997 on the development and protection of the built environment 2 Government Decree No. 253/1997. (20 December) on the national municipal planning and building requirements 3 Act No. LIII of 1995 on the general rules of the protection of the environment

Environmental protection tasks in regional development The act on environmental protection4 handles the relation of regional development and environmental protection as a basic criterion, by setting as an objective the creation of the conditions of sustainable development. The act mentions the simultaneous management of the three pillars of regional development, the joint examination of the social, economic and environmental processes. Those tasks and priorities that have regional correlations – the majority of them do – have to be collected, specifying whether they are state or local tasks. On the basis of this differentiated development strategies can be defined for the specific issues. The general objectives of the National Environmental Protection Programme are such by nature that they are connected both as objectives and criteria to regional development.

State-managed regional development and environmental protection The state, depending on the tasks and its capacities, supports regional and municipal tasks, including environmental developments. The main form of support is the financing of comprehensive regional development programmes. a) The National Regional Development Concept contains these state tasks. Environmental protection asserts its interests by

providing adequate legal–regulatory conditions;

participating in the preparation and making of the decisions.

In this place we do not only talk about government organs but also civil organisations which, as stated by the act on environmental protection, have a client status in this respect.

As regards sectoral developments with spatial effect, the environmental aspects and the objectives approved of in the medium-term programme are handled as development priorities in the work of the government. b) Non-state tasks, which, however, are compatible with the national interests on the whole, are supported by the state. The concrete objects of these supports, maybe the areas concerned are determined in the medium run by the National Regional Development Concept, also in the field of environmental protection.

The main form of support is the contribution to the implementation of complex regional development programmes, so the given environmental development has to fit into such a programme.

The amount of the actual support is defined by the act on the state budget. Programme financing means obligations for several years, which are determinants in the annual budgets, among other things this is why a stable medium-term priority system is needed.

4 Act No. XXI of 1996 on regional development and physical planning

At the priorities it is important that environmental protection should assert its objectives stated in its medium-term programme also in the system of sectoral supports.

In the National Regional Development Concept5 (NRDC), the connection of environmental protection and regional development appears in the following way:

“One of the most important tasks of regional development is the conservation and improvement of environmental conditions necessary for an adequate quality of life in those areas where human health in endangered; regional development must take place besides the protection of the natural systems and natural values and the conservation of the diversity of the biosphere; regional development plans must be implemented with a reasonable and harmonic use of the environment, with minimum deterioration of the environment. A condition for this is the assertion of the principle of sustainable development at the management of natural resources, and the long term maintenance of the necessary state of the environmental factors considered as vital elements (air, water and soil).”

The preparation and implementation of the National Environmental Protection Programme6 is commanded by Paragraph 40 of the Act No. LIII of 1995 on the general rules of the protection of the environment. The National Environmental Protection Programme is a six-year system of intervention plans which must result in the solution of the present environmental problems, or the start of the solution and the prevention of the future problems. In order to achieve the stated objectives, the Programme features those concepts, plans and action programmes whose implementation is necessary. Some of them already work, others only exist in draft versions. The Programme itself recommends such programmes and interventions.

Locally managed regional development and environmental protection c) The local organisations of regional development should act as “masters” of the territory. Environmental protection has a key role in this inasmuch as it can promote the increase of the value of the given region by the improvement of the value producing capacity. Thus the complex development programmes elaborated by the municipalities necessarily have to have environmental content, too. d) Multi-channel programme financing allows venture capital to appear in environmental protection investments, and foreign assistance can also be obtained for such programmes. e) In order for environmental protection to be integrated into the local developments, an economic–regulatory system is needed which makes this transparent and measurable. Such an element, above all, is local tax defined by the value of the territory. The transformation of the taxation system in this direction is thus inevitable for environmental protection.

5 Parliament Decision No. 35/1998 (20 March) on the National Regional Development Concept 6 Parliament Decision No. 83/1997 (26 September) on the National Environmental Protection Programme

© MTA RKK NYUTI The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 23 f) The local actors of development must have a clear picture of those resources from the state which are compatible with the medium-term priorities. g) The preparation of professional support materials is necessary, which draw attention to the desired objectives, their complex advantages, how environmental protection can be integrated into the other development objectives and how a programme containing among other things environmental protection can be elaborated in a systematic way.

The role of environmental protection in physical planning It is mostly different fields of action and strategic development purposes of nature and landscape protection, damage compensations and rehabilitations that belong here. These are tasks that have to be solved within the single physical planning procedure. The act on regional development and physical planning contains several other provisions in this issue; among other things the development of the content and methodological aspects of the municipal physical plans (including that the assessment of the burden-bearing capacity of the landscape and the environment, with adequate methods, has to be an obligatory element of these plans). The character and content of the relation to environmental protection is different in the case of physical and municipal planning. The physical plan is the spatial dimension of the development concept and the environmental programme, and also means the linking of the implementation of developments and environmental damage compensations, and value and resource protection measures to concrete territories. At the preparation of the physical plan, the possible counter-interests of development and protection might conflict, because the planned objectives are linked to concrete places. The physical plan has to create a balance between regional development and environmental protection. In addition to these, environmental protection is integrated as an organic part into the physical plans, in accordance with the regulation, by the elements of landscape planning, green surface planning and environmental protection sub-plans. This environmental content can be • the planning of land use; • the designation of environmental protection zones; • the designation of landscape rehabilitation zones; • the planning of green surface systems in the settlements. In the case of physical plans, the environmental plan is thus made not separately but simultaneously, there is an organic hierarchic relation between the working part with environmental content and the other technical parts of the plan. The physical and municipal plan is done with the consideration of all these elements.

regional development physical planning environmental protection national National Regional National Physical Plan (NPP) National Environmental Development Concept (NRDC) Protection Programme National Environmental Protection Plan regional regional development concepts regional physical plans regional development programmes county county development concepts county physical plans (spatial county environmental county development structural plans, regulatory protection programmes programmes plans) micro-regional micro-regional development micro-regional physical plans concepts (micro-regional structural plans, micro-regional regulatory plans) municipal municipal development municipal physical plans municipal environmental concepts (municipal structural plans, protection programme municipal development municipal regulatory plans, programmes local building regulations) municipal development plans Table 1: Territorial levels of connection Source: Correlation of the municipal environmental programmes, regional development concepts and physical plans. University of Sopron, Institute of Environmental Studies, 1999.

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE TERRITORIES INVOLVED IN PLANNING IN GYŐR-MOSON-SOPRON COUNTY

4. GYŐR-MOSON-SOPRON COUNTY

Győr-Moson-Sopron county is situated in the north-eastern part of Hungary, with a long border section to Austria (177 km) and Slovakia (78 km). It is a county of relatively small area (4 089 km2), which means a 13th position in the order of the 19 Hungarian counties. As regards the number of population, it has the sixth position in the order of the counties with its population of 424 507 people on 1 January 1999. The density of population (104 people per km2) is thus well above the rural average of Hungary (i.e. the national average calculated excluding Budapest), which is 89 people per km2. In other words, Győr-Moson-Sopron is a county with a relatively small area but high density of population.

Figure. 1. Győr-Moson-Sopron County in Hungary The county seat is Győr (with 127 119 inhabitants on 1 January 1999). Out of the 175 settlements of the county, seven haveSlovakia town status (in 2001), they are home to 55.2% of the S á to r a lja ú jh e ly Ukraine Z áhony inhabitants of the county, thus the proportion of the urbanK azincbarcika population za is lower than the T is Ózd national average, however, it is definitely higher that the average of the rural part of Hungary, 48° B alassag y arm at Salgótarján Miskolc y l o Nyíregyháza p Eger calculated without Budapest.M osonm agyaróvár I M átészalka Fertõ S opron Danube V ác G yöngyös E sztergom As the name Gimplies, yõr-M oson-Sop ron the Gyõ rpresent county consists of three historicalH ajdúböszörm counties: ény Győr, Moson and Austria C ounty Tatabánya Rába Budapest Debrecen Sopron counties. Following the peace talks after JászbWorld erén y War I, Moson and Sopron counties K õ szeg Püspökladány Pápa Erd Romania suffered a Szomgreat bathely territorial V árpalotaloss, as part of their territory was annexed to Austria, which now Cegléd Székesfehérvár Szolnok T ö r ö k s z e n tm ik ló s make the northern Ajkapart Veszprémof the province of Burgenland (also, a few settlements of the former Z

l a Balaton D unaújváros S ió Moson county belong to Slovakia now). TheKecskemét remains T of these counties, which were still in Zalaegerszeg is za B o g lá rle lle Békéscsaba Hungary, were integrated with Győr countyKiskunféylegháza (Győ r and Moson counties were united in 1938, S zentes Gyula Slovenia O rosháza then Győr, MosonN agykanizsa and Sopron counties in 1950). Szekszárd K iskunhalas Kaposvár D Makó ra Szeged v Baja The northern anda north-easternKomló border of the historical counties andMures the present united county is the46° river Danube. The fall ofPécs the Danube decreases on its arrival at the Carpathian Basin and

the riverCroatia breaks into several small branches.Serbia The dense fabric of the several 22°branches and the 18° surrounded islands has made the territory of the Szigetköz and the Csallóköz. South-north traffic was rather difficult because of this structure, thus Moson county was always situated on the southern (right) bank of the Danube, and Győr county had a very small territory on the northern bank of the river (from Győr downwards, the Danube is less of an impermeable obstacle).

Large region Meso-region Small region

Small Hungarian Plain Győr Basin Szigetköz Moson Plain

Fertő–Hanság Basin Rábaköz Győr–Tata Terrace Komárom–Esztergom Plain Igmánd-Kisbér Basin

Marcal Basin Transdanubian Mountain Pannonhalma Hill Ridge Range West-Hungarian Frontiers Lower Alps Kőszeg–Sopron Mountains Fertő-side Hill Ridge Sopron Basin

Table 2.: The geographical regions of the county The Small Hungarian Plain The most significant physical geographical large region of the county is the Small Hungarian Plain. This area is a big basin on a crystalline (Variscan) basis that sank in the secondary period (?). In its filling up, the Pannonian Sea of the tertiary period had a great role, because it deposited sediment with clay and marl. The still visible alluvial plain was later formed by the Danube in the first place, in the second place by the Rába and other smaller rivers coming from the Alps, with their alluvium of sand and gravel. The crystalline basement of the Small Hungarian Plain, now in the depths, was covered by alluvium several thousands of metres thick. It contains a number or precious natural resources (carbon-dioxide and thermal waters). The large region covers both banks of the Danube and is continued both in Austria and Slovakia. The filled plain character is an explanation for the definition of the meso-regions, the basis of which is the dense network of rivers. From the meso-regions of the Small Hungarian Plain, only small parts of the Komárom-Esztergom Plain and the Marcal Basin belong to Győr- Moson-Sopron county. The third meso-region, the Győr Basin covers most of the county. Its main characteristic is that the most important rivers of the region (and also of North-East

Hungary) meet here: these are the Rába, the Rábca, the Marcal, the Danube and the Moson- Danube, also, several smaller rivers.

Figure. 2.: The geographical regions of the county

The physical geographical micro-regions of the Győr Basin are the Szigetköz, the Moson

Plain, the Fertő–Hanság Basin and the Rábaköz. The Szigetköz is an island of 6-8 kilometres width, 52 kilometres length and an area of approximately 375 km2, with several branches of the Danube, flood plains and higher elevations. The waterworld formerly covered a significantly larger area, but the regulations of the rivers in the late 19th century designated a main branch in the jungle of the small river branches and made large areas suitable for agricultural activities. This was the work that has made the present landscape of the Szigetköz. In addition to fishing, the natural endowments favoured horticulture based on alluvial soils, also grazing, while the sediments carried afloat until here and deposited by the river Danube were good for gold extraction. The Moson Plain directly joins the Szigetköz on the right bank of the Moson Danube. Its main feature is that this is a perfect plain, levelled by the flooding rivers. The Fertő–Hanság Plain is a hardly separable continuation of the Győr Basin towards the west. Its basin is situated 3-4 metres lower than the neighbouring areas, this is how the marshy, wet area could be born. The formerly large marshlands have been reduced to a small area by now by the river regulations and drainages. The main sight of interest of this area is the Fertő Lake, which has a shallow water (1 – 1.5 metres) and has frequent ups and

© MTA RKK NYUTI 28 The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) downs in the water level. South of the former marshlands, between the Hanság and the Rába rivers are the higher elevations of the Tóköz and Rábaköz areas.

The Transdanubian Mountain Range A very small part of the Transdanubian Mountain Range, namely the Pannonhalma Hill Ridge, can be found in the territory of the county. It shows both structural and morphological differences compared to the mountain range. It consists of three ridges and two main valleys. It was born at the end of the Pannonian Era, by a fault. It is covered by the clay and sand sediment of the Pannonian Sea, on which loess was deposited on the eastern slopes. The three ridges are the Pannonhalma Ridge, the Ravazd–Csanak Ridge and the Sokoró. On its slopes a significant wine culture evolved as early as in the Middle Ages, the traditions of which are still alive.

The West-Hungarian Frontiers The most renowned part of this area is the territory of the Lower Alps, the Sopron Mountains, made of crystalline rocks. These mountains are considered as the ending of the Alps and of the Fertő-side Hill Ridge east of it, which latter is made of limestone. These two ridges embrace the Sopron Basin, in which the city of Sopron is situated.

Climate The climate of the area is mostly determined by the two great wind gates of the Carpathian Basin: the Dévény Gate in the north-west and the south-western (Mediterranean) gate. The prevailing winds are the north-western and the south-western ones. From climatic aspects, two large areas can be distinguished. The Small Hungarian Plain is characterised by averages typical of or close to the Carpathian Basin values. The annual mean temperature here is between 9 and 10 °C, the total number of sunny hours is between 1900 and 2000. In the climate of the western areas of the county, the effect of the nearby mountains (the Alps) is already palpable, as is that of the oceanic air masses arriving at the basin from the north-west. These effects together result in an annual mean temperature lower that the Hungarian average, around 8 to 9 °C, also, the number of sunny hours is lower than the average, due to the frequent overcast (in large parts of this area it is less than 1900 hours). Its is interesting, however, that as regards the number of sunny hours in January, this area is in the highest category, because the climate of the Carpathian Basin is determined by north-eastern streams of air at this time. In matters of precipitation, the south-western and western areas have the highest values in Hungary, around or above 900 millimetres per year. In the south-western part of Győr-Moson-Sopron county, the effect of the Mediterranean cyclones is slightly palpable, which cause a secondary maximum of precipitation (in September and October), in addition to a maximum at the beginning of the summer, which characterises the whole of the basin.

Demographic features Since the beginning of the 1980s, the population of Hungary has been decreasing due to the lower birth than death rates. As regards the counties during the last decade of the 20th century, all counties, with the exception of Pest and Fejér, have lower population than in 1990 and this decrease has exceeded 1%, except for Győr–Moson–Sopron and Szabolcs–Szatmár–Bereg counties. The relatively good situation in the above two counties can be explained with different processes. The birth rate in Szabolcs–Szatmár–Bereg county is higher than the national average, while in Győr–Moson–Sopron county the positive balance of migration compensates the low number of live birth. The preliminary cause of the natural decrease is the low level of willingness to give birth. The fertility index today (1999–2000) in Hungary hardly surpasses 1.5, which means an average of 1.5 children per woman (for the reproduction of the population this value should exceed two). As regards Győr–Moson–Sopron county, the indices in 1999 wee 8.7 births and 12.8 deaths per 1000 capita, which means a natural decrease, the rate of which is 4.1‰. This indicator is significantly worse than that at the beginning of the decade (1990: -0,7‰), yet a little bit better than the national average (-4,8‰), which is attributable to the age composition of the population, which is younger than the average, and the higher income conditions within the county. The birth rate in the county in 1990 was 11.9‰. By the year 2000 the decrease of the birth rates decelerated, which is partly due to the measures of the government and partly to the birth–wawes in the 1950s and 1970s, due to which the number of people born in certain years is significantly higher. Caused by the industrial development, the county has been a traditional destination of migration within the country. The difference of the inmigrants and outmigrants, i.e. the migration balance was traditionally positive in the 1990s. As regards the migration balance of the year 1999 (2.8‰) Győr–Moson–Sopron had the third place following Pest and Komárom– Esztergom counties. Several settlements of the latter belong to the agglomeration of Budapest, the capital city. (Further two counties of Hungary have a significant migration rate, higher than 1%.) The migration processes within the county point towards the process of agglomeration arising around larger cities (like Győr, Mosonmagyaróvár and Sopron). The phenomenon of sub-urbanisation is becoming more significant (especially in the case of Győr).

less than 14 years 15–64 years older than 65 years

Győr-Moson-Sopron county 16.5 69.3 14.2

National average 17.1 68.3 14.6

Average of the counties 17.8 68.114.2

Table 3.: The age composition of the population of Gyõr-Moson-Sopron county in 1999

Source: CSO (Central Statistical Office) The age structure of the county is also in accordance with the national trends. The proportion of the population over 60 is continuously growing, while that of those under 14, in compliance with the lower birth rates, is continuously decreasing. Nevertheless the age structure of the population is more advantageous than the national average. Preliminarily due to the migration processes, the proportion of both those under 14 and over 65 is lower than the national average; therefore the proportion of the population in the active age is higher. Therefore the rate of the dependent population is better than both the national (46.6) and the rural (i.e. Hungary without Budapest) average (46.9): 44.2 dependent per 100 people is the figure for Győr-Moson-Sopron county. At the same time, resulting from the low proportion of children, the ageing index (the proportion of those 14 and 60 years old) is favourable (86.2), higher than the national average (85.5) and significantly higher than the rural average (76.9).

90-

80-84

70-74

60-64

50-54

40-44

30-34

20-24

10-14

-4

-25000 -20000 -15000 -10000 -5000 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000

Figure 3.: The age pyramid of Gyõr-Moson-Sopron in 1999 Source: CSO

Economic features Győr–Moson–Sopron county is considered as one of the most dynamically developing counties of Hungary. Subsequent to the systemic change, Győr–Moson–Sopron county, together with Pest and Fejér counties, was among the first ones to recover and show an economic growth. This economic recovery was mainly due to the county’s geographical position (the proximity of the western state border, advanced transport lines towards Budapest and Vienna) and to its industrial traditions and work culture, which made the county an important target of the foreign working capital. The industrial character is dominant within the county’s economy. In 1999, the county produces 5.1% of the total GDP of Hungary, which meant a third position in the order of the counties, following Pest and Fejér. As regards its contribution to the industrial production of Hungary, only Budapest (15.9%) and Fejér (15.1) are before Győr–Moson–Sopron (13%).

The breakdown of employees also reflects the industrial character of the county, since the rate of employees within the industrial sector is significantly higher than the average of the rural part of Hungary.

6% 8%

M ezõgazdaság 45% Ipar 50% Szolgáltatás 49% 42%

Figure 4.: Breakdown of the employees by main economic sectors in Gyõr-Moson-Sopron county and the rural Hungary in 1999 Source: CSO As regards its unemployment rate (4.6%), Győr–Moson–Sopron county took the second best place in the country following Budapest (3.3%) in 1999. The county could continuously maintain this second place during the past four years. Similar to the national trends, unemployment is decreasing in the county: back in the year 1996 it was as high as 6.7%. We involved three areas of Győr–Moson–Sopron county in our survey. These three areas are the Sokoróalja Development Association, the Fertőmente Development Association and the Szigetköz micro-region, respectively the so-called Association of the Szigetköz Municipalities within the territory of this micro-region. All three areas show a dominantly rural character, there is only one settlement with town status, Fertőd, in the territory of the Fertőmente Development Association, which was granted the town status in 1995. In addition, we involved the town of Győr in our investigation. It is not possible to omit Győr for the following reasons: a) Gyõr has had a strong agglomeration and gravity impact on the Szigetköz and Sokoróalja micro-regions; therefore the demographic and employment circumstances cannot be investigated and explained without the consideration of Gyõr. b) The neighbourhood of the town – which is fairly dynamic and large by Hungarian circumstances – provides (may provide) for a permanent and stable market for the tourism of the investigated territories. c) Thirdly, the industrial development of Gyõr affects first of all those settlements of the Szigetköz which enjoy a relatively good transport situation, since the trend of the previous years proves that more and more industrial companies seek to settle in these villages. The Szigetköz is the largest of the three investigated territories, as regards the number of the population (157 705 inhabitants in 1999), and the number of settlements is the highest here, too. The comparison of the changes in the number of population (Figure 6.) shows that two of

© MTA RKK NYUTI 32 The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) the investigated territories were able to increase their population (as opposed to the national trends) in the previous decade, while the third micro-region, Sokoróalja, which is the smallest, records a population decrease. The growth is preliminarily due to inmigration, in the case of Szigetköz, mostly to the agglomeration impact of Gyõr and secondarily of Mosonmagyaróvár. The city of Gyõr itself recorded a decrease of population in the past decade (1990: 129 598, 1995: 127 404, 1999: 127 119 inhabitants). A significant number of population moved and still moves to the settlements around the town, among others to the settlements of Szigetköz. The growth of population in Fertõmente is attributable to the similar trends of Sopron town and to the fact that quite a lot of people (many Austrians) wish to acquire property in this fairly pleasant holiday zone, with the goal to spend their pensioner years there. Both the territory of the Szigetköz and the Fertõmente are considered as destinations of migration rather than sending areas. In opposite to the above-said, the micro-region of Sokoróalja has a significantly worse situation. Sokoróalja has no good accessibility, like Szigetköz, and lacks the advantages of the nearby western border, like the other two investigated micro-regions. Finally, it is located rather far from Gyõr too, which means that the immigration intentions of the urban population do not concern this territory, on the other hand, Gyõr provides the larger proportion of the inhabitants with employment opportunities. Therefore the younger generations are motivated to settle either in Gyõr itself or in its agglomeration.

Figure 5.: Regions and settlements involved in the survey

Micro-region Area Population (km2) (people)

Sokoróalja 282.13 15677 Szigetköz 638.04 157705 Fertőmente 335.25 20128

Table 4.: The area and population of the surveyed micro-regions in 1999 Source: CSO

33000 31000 29000 27000 Sokoróalja 25000 Szigetköz 23000 Fertõm ente 21000 19000 17000 15000 1990 1995 1999

Figure 6.: Change in the number of population in the surveyed micro-regions from 1990 to 1999 Source: CSO.

5. THE SOKORÓALJA DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION

Demographic circumstances As we have seen in the general description, Sokoróalja is in the least advantageous situation from among the three investigated territories. The association has 12, mainly small municipalities. As regards their population, only Győrszemere and Tét stand out from the others. Tét is at the same time the central settlement of the territory, not only due to its size but also its supply services. Besides Győr, Tét also provides workplaces for the employees of these settlements, therefore the commuter traffic is directed not only towards Győr but Tét too. Based on this, the settlement of Tét has submitted several times the application for the town status but these were not successful.

As regards the demographic indicators, Sokoróalja is in the worst situation among the three investigated territories.

In the introduction we mentioned that the population of Sokoróalja has been decreasing over the last three decades. The table of the demographic data indicates that the population decrease is partly caused by the low rate of natural increase.

On the other hand, it is also attributable to the fact that even those settlements, which showed a natural increase in 1990, have turned into a natural decrease by now (similarly to the national trends). The settlements which at the beginning of the decade already had a decreasing rate, have only increased this decline since then, and therefore in connection with

© MTA RKK NYUTI 34 The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) this index today we can only talk about a natural decrease. The values of the migration balance indicate some improvement in the past decade. The inmigration has decreased and about half of the villages now have a migration surplus. This indicator worsened in only three settlements (Felpéc, Mórichida and Szerecseny), which are relatively far from Győr. The reason for out- or inmigration is not so much the distance from Győr – with the exception of Szerecseny –, much more the individual judgements of the villages by those moving into these settlements. The cumulated outmigration and inmigration data for the period 1995–1998 are shown by Figure 7 which indicates, besides the two indicated years, the permanent trends of the past period too.

The results of the investigation of the ageing indices show that the population is ageing in the majority of the settlements, and in more than half of all cases this rate is higher than the national average. Moreover, this tendency (comparing the values of 1990 and 1999) is much faster than the national average in many cases. Although the proportion of the 14 to 59-year- old population has been growing in the past decade in several settlements and therefore the supporter/dependent ratio improved, the rate of the population under 14 has been decreasing during the investigated period, which implies for the longer term the definite ageing of the population. The age structure of the population is improved by the inmigration, which usually concerns the younger generation, still it does not significantly modify the ageing trend due to the low willingness to give birth.

Table 5.: Main demographic data of the settlements of the Sokoróalja Regional Development Association in 1990 and 1999 Source: CSO.

Name of 0– 14 years 1 4–59 years 60 years or older Ageing index Natural increase Migration balance settlement Number of population

1 999 1 990 1 999 1 990 1 999 1 990 1 999 1 990 1 999 1 990 1 999 1 990 1 999

Inhabitant In % of the total population Per 1000 inhabitants Per 1000 inhabitants

Árpás 273 1 6.2 1 2.5 49.6 55.6 34.2 32.0 2 10.5 256.8 - 12.0 -7.3 -44.9 11 .0 Csikvánd 520 1 5.2 1 4.8 55.4 57.6 29.3 27.6 1 92.5 1 86.4 - 19.5 - 15.4 -7. 1 9.6 Felpéc 800 1 8.5 1 8.1 56.4 6 1.0 25. 1 20.9 1 36.1 11 5.5 -2.5 -7.5 -5. 1 -8.8 Gyarmat 1 368 1 6.6 1 4.9 58.9 59.7 24.5 25.5 1 47.9 1 71.4 - 1.5 -5. 1 - 17.6 1 6.1 Gyömöre 1 289 1 9.3 1 4.9 6 1.4 64.5 1 9.3 20.6 1 00.4 1 38.5 - 1.4 - 10.9 -24.2 -3.9 Gy őrszemere 2920 2 1.6 1 6.8 6 1.5 65.3 1 6.9 1 7.9 78.2 1 06.5 5.9 -3.4 1 .4 7.5 Kajárpéc 1 423 1 8.3 1 6.9 56.8 60.2 24.9 22.9 1 35.6 1 35.4 -6.3 - 10.5 -7.7 23.2 Mórichida 887 1 8.2 1 8.0 59. 1 60.7 22.8 2 1.3 1 25.3 11 8.0 -4.3 - 12.4 5.4 -5.6 Rábaszentmiklós 1 47 1 7.5 1 4.6 59.6 57.0 23.0 28.5 1 31.3 1 95.7 - 12.2 -20.4 -79.3 -27.2 Sokorópátka 1 062 1 5.6 1 3.7 59.3 62.0 25.0 24.3 1 60.0 1 77.9 - 11.1 -5.6 0.9 2.8 Szerecsen 939 1 6.3 1 4.9 59.7 58.2 24. 1 26.8 1 47.9 1 79.3 3.2 -9.6 - 12.9 -26.6 Tét 4049 1 9.9 1 5.8 58.6 63.2 2 1.6 2 1.0 1 08.6 1 32.7 -5.0 -2.5 -5.8 -0.7

National average 1 8.0 1 5.5 63.0 64.7 1 9.0 1 9.8 1 45.8 1 50.5 -4.8 -6.8 Countryside 1 8.6 1 6.1 63.2 64.7 1 8.2 1 9.2 1 45.8 1 50.5 -4.8 -6.8 average

Economic activity There are no precise data on the sectoral breakdown of the employees by settlements. Yet the data on the Tét–Pannonhalma micro–region, which includes the investigated settlements, may be competent. Based on these data we can state about the territory that the proportion of the employees within the agricultural and industrial sectors is higher, while in the service sector significantly lower than the national average (Table 6.).

Agriculture and forestry Industry and Services construction industry % Tét–Pannonhalma 25. 1 39.9 34.9 micro-region (Sokoróalja) Estimation for 1998 23.5 59.2 1 7.3 National average 7.4 47.3 45.3 (estimation for 1998) Table 6.: The breakdown of employees by main economic sectors in 1990 and 1999 Source: Own calculations on the basis of CSO and APEH SZTADI (?)

As these proportions indicate, Sokoróalja is a region with a definite agricultural character. We know the 1990 data of the breakdown by settlements, but the employment structure, especially in the settlements located in the neighbourhood of Győr (Sokorópátka and Győrszemere), has significantly changed, due to the economic transformation and the professional composition of the outmoving population. However, there were significant differences in the employment already in 1990. In the villages located near Győr (Sokorópátka and Győrszemere) and those easily accessible (Gyarmat, Szerecseny and Gyömöre) or in the centre of the region (Tét), the rate of agricultural employment was between 18 and 27%, which is rather low in the region. In opposite to this value, in the distant villages that have no railway or main road access (Mórichida, Kajárpéc etc.), the rate of agricultural employment remained fairly high, around 40–42%.

The inhabitants of the municipalities along the main road (Győrszemere, Tét and Gyarmat) and the settlements having a railroad access (Tét, Gyömöre, Szerecseny and Gyarmat) can easily find work in the large companies of Győr, due to the good bus and train connections. This also explains the fact that in these settlements currently we can witness the restructuring of employment to the benefit of the industrial sector. Furthermore, as we will see, the unemployment indicators of these settlements are much better than in the distant, less easily accessible settlements.

As regards the unemployment rates, we can report that unemployment is clearly growing proportionally to the growth of the distance from Győr. The unemployment rate in several

© MTA RKK NYUTI The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 37 settlements is significantly higher than the county average (4.6%), yet it exceeds the national average (7%) in one single settlement (Árpás – 7.9%) (Table 7.).

Settlement Unemployment Settlement Unemployment rate, in % rate, in % Árpás 7.9 Mórichida 3.9 Csikvánd 6.0 Rábaszentmiklós 4.4 Felpéc 4.0 Sokorópátka 2.7 Gyarmat 2.3 Szerecseny 5.8 Gyömöre 7.0 Tét 5. 1

Gy őrszemere 3.2 National average 7.0 Kajárpéc 7. 1 County average 4,6

Table 7.: unemployment rates in the settlements of the Sokoróalja Regional Development Association in 1999 Source: CSO.

Within the economy, tourism has a limited importance in this region at the moment. The region has anyway a low number of accommodations, only Gyarmat has a commercial accommodation with more than 8 beds. The tourist attraction of this hilly landscape could be based on the joint utilisation of several smaller factors, accompanied by an adequate offer of programmes. Preliminarily the Rába and Marcal rivers offer possibilities for the water tourism and angling, while in the micro-region of Sokorópátka the opportunities of the hilly landscape could be utilised by tourism (by the construction of tourist paths, lookout towers and bike roads etc.). The traditions deriving from the viticulture history of Sokoró and the folkloristic architectural monuments in the settlement could be utilised, too. The endowments of the landscape and history could be complemented with “rural” folklore programmes. This region could be a peaceful recreation hinterland for the city of Győr. In order to utilise the above- mentioned opportunities, one of the six priorities in the development concept of the Sokoróalja Development Association prepared in 1997 is the development of tourism. This concept declared among its priority programmes the intention of the region to prepare a complex tourism development concept, to organise professional training programmes and implement tourism product development in the field of water-, bicycle and rural tourism as well as to extend the offer of tourism programmes.

Summarising the endowments and possibilities of the region, we can say that the Sokoróalja is in a rather unfavourable situation by the standards of Győr-Moson-Sopron county, which can be seen both in the demographic and the employment conditions. Nevertheless, a few villages, which have good quality accessibility and thus more strongly gravitate to the economic centre, Győr, can boast with demographic and employment indices which are good even by a national or county comparison.

The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 39

6. SETTLEMENTS OF THE FERTŐMENTE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION

This area, similarly to the Szigetköz area, has a valuable natural environment and tourism- related potential of high importance. Its geographic location is favourable from the point of view of tourism, as it lies next to the Austrian border. The Fertő Lake and the marsh-land of the Hanság are special natural values. Most of the territory of this area is a national park, which extends over the Austrian border. The larger part of the peat marsh-land of the Hanság was drained in the last century and the 1950s. The rehabilitation of the area’s natural environment is now going on. Besides natural endowments, there is a spa near the territory (Balf), which also has a significant attraction. The pleasant environment, the curative possibilities, the proximity of the Austrian border and the agglomeration of Sopron jointly bring about that the population of the villages is increasing, many people move in, and even numerous Austrian citizens buy houses here as second homes or first homes for the older days. The centre of the region is Sopron, which is a town with county rank. Its subcentre is Fertőd. In and near the territory, there are numerous border crossing points out of which some are of a high importance (Sopron and Kópháza) while another (Fertőd) is of a regional importance. The border crossing point at Fertőrákos was opened for the reason of tourism.

Demography Out of the three regions examined we find the most extreme cases here in terms of demographic indices. As for natural increase we find outstandingly high negative value in the case of Nagylózs (66.1‰ in 1999). It is very deceiving that this settlement has a very high positive migration balance. This is why there is a home for the elderly in a village whose population is only 938 people. The high proportion of those moving in causes outstanding migration indices year by year. This considerably affects the age composition, the birth rate and the death rate of the village. Similarly, the rate of natural decrease of Ebergőc, Pinnye, Pereszteg, Fertőboz and Agyagosszergény considerably exceeds the national average. However, the natural increase in Röjtökmuzsaj (10‰) exceeds the national average, even the balance in Nagycenk and Harka is also positive.

If we examine migration balances it is conspicuous that most settlements have a positive migration balance. It is noticeable that in several villages in which the number of population decreased in 1990, the direction of migration has turned to the opposite and they have become a destination of those wishing to move in. The already mentioned home for the elderly affects the migration balance, but in terms of quantity it has a greater significance that this area was a restricted area before systemic change, because most villages were located in the border area and even the locals could only move with permission. The presence of the border had a restraining effect on many aspects of everyday life, so considerable amount of people moved away from border areas. The negative influence of the presence of the border turned more and

© MTA RKK NYUTI 40 The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) more positive during the 1980s and the 1990s, and this region became attractive both for Hungarians and foreigners.

Name of 0– 14 years 1 4–59 years 60 years or older Ageing index Natural increase Migration balance settlement Number of population 1 999 1 990 1 999 1 990 1 999 1 990 1 999 1 990 1 999 1 990 1 999 1 990 1 999 Inhabitants In % of the total population Per 1000 inhabitants Per 1000 inhabitants Agyagosszergény 907 1 5.3 1 4.3 57.2 57.8 27.5 27.8 1 79.6 1 94.7 1 .1 - 14.3 -9.8 26.5 Fert őboz 263 1 8.3 1 3.8 57.4 64.0 24.2 22.2 1 32.1 1 60.5 0.0 - 19.0 - 17.9 30.4 Fert őrákos 22 15 20.9 1 5.0 63.4 67.3 1 5.8 1 7.6 75.6 11 7.1 0.5 -5.0 1 6.1 -4.5 Harka 1 436 20.9 1 8.9 67.4 70.7 11 .8 1 0.4 56.4 55.0 1 .9 3.5 1 9.5 -0.7 Hidegség 304 1 3.8 1 3.7 55.3 59.5 30.9 26.8 225.0 1 95.2 -9.6 0.0 28.7 6.6 Nagycenk 1 787 1 7.3 1 5.0 62.7 65.5 20.0 1 9.4 11 5.6 1 29.4 - 1.8 2.8 0.0 9.0 Pereszteg 1 352 1 7.8 1 5.9 60.0 62.9 22.2 2 1.3 1 24.5 1 34.1 0.0 - 10.4 -2.3 1 5.5 Pinnye 348 1 2.3 1 5.6 59. 1 60.8 28.6 23.7 233.3 1 51.7 -5.8 - 11.5 -23.4 -5.7 Sarród 11 45 1 5.3 1 2.1 59.8 58.2 24.9 29.7 1 63.2 245.2 - 11.3 -8.7 2.4 1 4.8 Eberg őc 1 25 5.0 8.3 48. 1 46.5 46.9 45. 1 937.5 54 1.7 -46. 1 - 16.0 -52.6 8.0 Fert őhomok 486 1 5.0 1 4.6 60.2 64.4 24.8 2 1.0 1 65.2 1 43.8 -2. 1 -2. 1 1 2.8 6.2 Fert őszéplak 1 095 1 7.6 1 4.5 59.3 62.5 23. 1 23.0 1 31.1 1 58.9 -9.8 -0.9 - 19.5 -4.6 Hegyk ő 1 249 1 7.3 1 5.5 60.3 6 1.4 22.5 23. 1 1 30.1 1 49.0 0.0 -9.6 -0.8 -2.4 Kópháza 1 874 1 9.2 1 5.7 62.6 67.4 1 8.2 1 6.9 94.6 1 07.8 - 1.1 -3.2 3.9 2. 1 Nagylózs 938 11 .5 1 2.9 49.2 52.8 39.2 34.2 340.0 264.7 -90.2 -66. 1 78.4 48.0 Pet őháza 1 008 1 6.5 1 6.8 59.2 60.8 24.3 22.3 1 47.7 1 32.7 -5.6 -8.9 1 9.2 24.8 Röjtökmuzsaj 500 1 6.7 1 6.0 56.0 58.9 27.3 25. 1 1 63.2 1 56.3 -3.9 1 0.0 3.9 4.0 Fert őd 3096 1 8.7 1 7.0 60.9 65. 1 20.4 1 7.9 1 08.8 1 05.6 6.5 -2.9 1 5.6 8.4 National average 1 8.0 1 5.5 63.0 64.7 1 9.0 1 9.8 1 45.8 1 50.5 -4.8 -6.8 Countryside 1 8.6 1 6.1 63.2 64.7 1 8.2 1 9.2 1 45.8 1 50.5 -4.8 -6.8 average Table 8.: Main demographic data of the settlements of the Fertőmente Regional Development Association in 1990 and 1999 Source: CSO

Similarly to other demographic data we find significant disparities in ageing indices as well. We find the lowest rate here in the three regions examined (Harka 55) but the highest one as well (Ebergőc 541). It is to be stressed that the ageing index, unlike in the previously examined settlements, seems to be decreasing in nine villages along the Fertő lake over the past decade. This is primarily owing to the direction of the migration tendencies turning opposite. Examining the age composition of the population, we find villages which are very much ageing. We find only in Sarród out of all settlements examined that only one age group, the proportion of those 60 and above is increasing on the account of age groups 14-59, and 14 and below.

Demographical data consequently show a very differentiated region for which it is difficult to find general tendencies, as tendencies vary from village to village. It is expected that in ageing villages houses that become deserted or vacant will be bought by non-locals (Hungarians or foreigners), who will turn them into summer or dwelling houses.

Economic activity Borders opening with the systemic change had a positive influence on the economic restructuring of the whole region. Sopron and the surrounding area were comparatively closed areas which could be seen in the realisation of investments. Table 9 shows that industry that started to boom in the early 1990s considerably increased its share in employment. Though the proportion of those working in the service industry decreased in terms of total range of employment, we have to add that quality of services significantly increased, mostly in the field of shopping and service and therapeutic tourism as a reply to higher demand of the visiting Austrians. This phenomenon is still a basic pillar of the region’s economy.

Agriculture and forestry Industry and Services construction industry % Sopron micro-region, 1 2.2 39.0 48.8 1990 Estimation for 1998 9.4 55.3 35.3 Of which Sopron 3.6 55.8 40.6 (1998) Fert őd (1998) 1 0.9 7 1.1 1 7.9 National average 7.4 47.3 45.3 (estimation for 1998)

Table 9.: The breakdown of employees by main economic sectors in 1990 and 1998 Source: Own calculations on the basis of CSO and APEH SZTADI

Similarly to the previous data, we cannot find unemployment figures exceeding either the national (7%) or the county average (4.6%) (Table 10.).

The tourism attraction of the region is outstanding both for foreign (primarily Austrian) and for Hungarian tourists. Through the established border crossing points, the number of those coming to use services (medical services, hairdressers etc.) is very high. However, we ought not to forget about medicinal tourism (mostly at village Balf), which settlement is connected to Sopron from administrative point of view but falls outside the region in this respect. Mild tourism is also considerable mostly on the visitable areas of Fertő-Hanság National Park and on the bicycle track built around the Fertő Lake, but the number of those coming for vacation is also increasing. Tourism of this kind first appeared in the region only in the early 1990s, because formerly the lake and its shore between the two states were inaccessible for foreigners because of the strictly guarded borderland.

Name of settlement Unemployment Name of Unemployment rate settlement rate Agyagosszergény 3.9 Eberg őc 3.0 Fert őboz 2.3 Fert őhomok 0.9 Fert őrákos 1 .5 Fert őszéplak 4.0 Harka 1 .8 Hegyk ő 3.8 Hidegség 4.4 Kópháza 1 .4 Nagycenk 2.4 Nagylózs 0.6 Pereszteg 4.2 Pet őháza 2.8 Pinnye 1 .8 Röjtökmuzsaj 1 .7 Sarród 3.5 Fert őd 4.7

Table 10.: unemployment rates in the settlements of the Fertõmente Regional Development Association in 1999 Source: CSO.

From the point of view of the Hungarian cultural heritage, a palace in Nagycenk and another in Fertőd, the Railway Museum in Nagycenk, the stone mine in Fertőrákos are outstanding cultural values. Being historical monuments, they are attractive mainly for Hungarians, but associated with the downtown area of Sopron and the expansion of cultural offers it may produce international attraction as it has already been realised in the case of several programmes (e.g. Haydn memorial concerts in Fertőd). However, we have to bear in mind that the neighbouring Burgerland area, which offers similar possibilities (medicinal, cultural and cycling tourism), is a competitor. Currently the Hungarian area is a competitor to the Austrian side, because the price of services, such as accommodation, restaurant, concert tickets etc. is lower (it is common that skiers stay at Sopron and go skiing to Austria from there). After Hungary’s accession to the EU this relative advantage will more or less disappear, so the development of the current values is of an outmost importance (e.g. reconstruction the palace of Fertőd).

The accommodation capacity of the region is significant (Table 11.).

As a summary we can see that the region covered by the Fertőmente Regional Development Association, though it is not free of demographical conflicts, is a developing area in terms of socio-economic potential. Its development is due to its geographic location (borderland) and to its natural endowments. The recognition of landscape and tourism values in the development concept of the region made in 1997 got planners to include the development of eco-tourism and the preservation of landscapes as two of the five priorities.

Name of settlement Number of beds Name of Number of beds settlement Agyagosszergény 3,9 Fert őhomok 1 76 Fert őboz 4 Fert őszéplak 30 Fert őrákos 446 Hegyk ő 424 Harka 1 0 Kópháza 33 Nagycenk 90 Nagylózs 4 Pereszteg 1 8 Pet őháza 58 Sarród 3,5 Röjtökmuzsaj 1 0 Fert őd 4,7

Table 11.: Capacity of commercial accommodations and private accommodations in the in the settlements of the Fertõmente micro-region in 1999 Source: CSO.

7. THE SZIGETKÖZ AREA

In this work we primarily focus on the Szigetköz region as a geographical micro-region, and analyse mainly settlements located in between the Moson Danube and the Old Danube branches. We also examine some other settlements that are outside this island but are organically connected to it. In case of the Szigetköz area there are two gravity centres to which settlements are connected: Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár. The agglomerative effect of these two towns chains most settlements of the area to themselves, which can be noticed in the number of those moving out from the towns and the rising number of industrial workplaces in settlements close to Győr. Its territory is divided into three large parts: Upper Szigetköz (north-western part of the territory); Inner Szigetköz (middle part of the territory whose biggest settlement is Ásványráró); the third part is the Lower Szigetköz on the southern part of the territory, mainly including villages close to Győr, most of which can be regarded as the agglomeration of Győr.

Demography

Demographical indices of the area are fairly good in national comparison (Table 12). In several settlements the balance of births and deaths is positive, so in 1999 we could witness a natural increase (Dunasziget, Darnózseli, Kisbodak, Vámosszabadi and Győrladamér).

Figure. 7: Migration balances of settlements between 1995–1998.

Source: CSO.

The rate of Vámosszabadi, which settlement is considered as a suburban settlement of Győr, is exceptional (3.1‰), which is due to the high proportion of movings in (35.5‰ in 1999). This makes its age composition relatively young. In several settlements the rate of natural decrease is slowing down (e.g. Mecsér, Vének and Gönyű), while in the following four settlements can we notice figures worse than the national average (-6.8‰): Lipót, Dunaremente, Máriakálnok and Feketeerdő. All in all, we can state that birth rate, and consequently the rate of natural increase has improved in areas close to the two towns during the past decade, which is primarily owing to the change of the age composition of the relevant population. In terms of the age composition we can clearly see that ageing indices in these areas have been worsening (except for Kunsziget and Feketeerdő) during the past decade, but they are still better in general than those of Sokoróalja. In the case of the agglomerating settlements between the two cities we can see some improvement due to outmigration, but if the number of children per one family will not rise, ageing tendencies will prevail. This statement is supported by the fact that during the past ten years the proportion of the age group 14-59 has risen at the account of the age group 14 and below. Migration balances unambiguously are indicative of the agglomeration processes of suburban settlements. We have to point out the positive values of Hédervár, Vámosszabadi, Győrűjfalú, Vének, Nagybajcs and Győrladamér. In these settlements the positive migration balance is to be looked at as a tendency.

Name of Number of 0–14 years 14–59 years 60 years or older Ageing index Natural increase Migration balance settlement population 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 1990 1999 Inhabitant In % of the total population Per 1000 inhabitants Per 1000 inhabitants Dunakiliti 1733 20.6 17.9 61.9 64.9 17.5 20.6 85.1 95.6 2.4 0.0 -24.3 3.5 Feketeerdő 352 25.8 21.3 57.2 67.6 17.0 25.8 65.9 51.9 -11.9 -17.0 -14.9 17.0 Dunasziget 1461 19.6 15.7 59.8 65.3 20.6 19.6 105.2 120.4 -0.7 1.4 -8.8 0.0 Halászi 2931 21.2 18.8 61.8 65.2 17.0 21.2 80.3 85.2 2.5 -4.8 9.4 2.0 Máriakálnok 1415 16.6 17.5 67.8 65.1 15.6 16.6 94.3 99.2 -0.8 -14.8 -17.0 14.1 Kisbodak 389 15.0 15.3 60.4 60.5 24.6 15.0 163.8 158.6 -2.6 2.6 54.115.4 Püski 638 20.4 16.9 59.7 61.6 19.9 20.4 97.2 127.2 -1.5 -3.1 -3.0 -4.7 Dunaremete 244 17.0 16.0 57.9 60.3 25.117.0 147.6 147.4 -12.1 -8.2 12.116.4 Darnózseli 1578 18.2 16.2 64.8 67.2 16.9 18.2 92.9 101.9 4.4 3.2 -4.4 -3.2 Kimle 2808 21.7 17.1 64.6 68.8 13.7 21.7 63.3 83.0 2.9 1.1 -8.7 -1.8 Lipót 686 18.4 13.7 63.7 66.2 17.9 18.4 97.0 147.4 0.0 -8.7 6.0 5.8 Hédervár 1102 17.116.9 63.1 65.0 19.8 17.1 115.6 107.4 0.9 -5.4 12.119.1 Ásványráró 1946 18.2 14.2 61.7 65.0 20.118.2 110.1146.4 2.0 -5.7 8.0 1.0 Mecsér 602 14.3 11.7 57.1 62.9 28.6 14.3 200.0 216.7 -11.8 -5.0 -19.2 -3.3 Kunsziget 1180 17.2 17.4 62.7 62.8 20.2 17.2 117.6 113.7 -3.5 -6.8 13.3 2.5 Dunaszeg 1640 20.0 16.8 62.1 67.2 17.9 20.0 89.3 94.6 0.7 -6.7 8.0 6.1 Nagybajcs 870 16.2 16.0 61.1 60.3 22.7 16.2 139.7 148.2 -7.1 -5.7 18.9 19.5 Vámosszabadi 964 19.8 16.6 58.5 65.0 21.6 19.8 109.0 110.3 -3.5 3.1 12.7 32.2 Győrzámoly 1502 20.3 17.7 60.3 64.7 19.3 20.3 95.1 99.6 -5.0 -2.0 0.0 9.3 Győrújfalu 1037 18.5 14.8 61.9 65.0 19.6 18.5 106.0 136.5 0.0 -4.8 -8.7 29.9 Kisbajcs 709 23.2 18.9 64.8 68.4 12.0 23.2 51.6 67.4 7.4 0.0 11.8 -4.2 Vének 150 15.5 9.7 55.4 70.3 29.115.5 187.0 206.7 -21.4 -6.7 -64.3 26.7 Gönyű 2878 19.7 16.6 61.4 67.2 18.9 19.7 95.8 98.0 -7.5 -1.0 15.7 16.3 Győrladamér 1189 19.9 17.9 63.5 66.9 16.7 19.9 83.7 85.1 -1.0 1.7 19.2 19.3 Dunaszentpál 582 19.6 17.7 59.2 62.6 21.2 19.6 108.3 111.4 1.8 -5.2 11.0 -3.4 National average 18.0 15.5 63.0 64.7 19.0 19.8 145.8 150.5 -4.8 -6.8 Countryside 18.6 16.1 63.2 64.7 18.2 19.2 145.8 150.5 -4.8 -6.8

average Table 12.: Main demographic data of the settlements of the Szigetköz in 1990 and 1999.Source: CSO

50 The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.)

Economic activity We do not have exact employment data, we can approximate the present situation by demonstrating micro-regional data. The Szigetköz is divided into two statistical micro- regions: the Győr and the Mosonmagyaróvár micro-regions (Table 13). Agriculture and Industry and Services forestry construction industry % Győr micro-region 9 43.8 47.2 1990 Estimated figure for 3.5 61.6 34.9 1998 Mosonmagyaróvár 19.3 39.8 40.9 micro-region 1990 Estimated figure for 13.0 63.0 24.0 1998 National average 7.4 47.3 45.3 (estimated figure for 1998) Table 13: Breakdown of employees by main economic branches in 1990 and 1998 Source: Own calculations after CSO and APEH SZTADI

The data reveal that in both micro-regions involving the examined municipalities, a significant rearrangement took place in the previous decade. Agricultural employment had a serious fall, whereas industrial employment grew considerably by now, far above the national average. This change is mostly due to the activity of the industrial plants located in Győr and along the motorway running along the Szigetköz, between Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár. Such large employers also appeared in the Szigetköz settlements (e. g. Dunaszentpál), but the settlements making the core area of the Szigetköz usually remained free from large industrial plants, their population commutes to work to Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár. The decline of agricultural activity is mostly due to the closedown of the large agricultural holdings. Some of the Szigetköz settlements are in an exceptionally good position by Hungarian standards, as regards economic opportunities. The area does not abound in natural resources. In the field of agriculture, horticulture has favourable soil and the climatic conditions, and the natural environment provides a good basis for tourism. The real assets of the economy of the region are its geographical location and traditional work culture. The traffic junction character, existing for centuries, is getting stronger again these days with the liberalisation of the borders. Two busy road border crossing stations can be found in the territory of the Szigetköz or in its vicinity. The traditional market centre of the areas on the other side of the border is Győr, and the road to the market runs through the territory of the association.

The economic possibilities are also marked by the low unemployment rates, well below the national average (7%), and with one exception also below the Győr-Moson-Sopron county average (4.6%) as well (Table 14).

Name of settlement Unemployment rate Name of settlement Unemployment rate Dunakiliti 2.7 Mecsér 4.8 Feketeerdő 0.8 Kunsziget 2.4 Dunasziget 4.2 Dunaszeg 2.3 Halászi 1.7 Nagybajcs 3.4 Máriakálnok 3.2 Vámosszabadi 1.6 Kisbodak 1.7 Győrzámoly 3.6 Püski 3.1 Győrújfalu 4.3 Dunaremete 3.5 Kisbajcs 3.6 Darnózseli 2.1 Vének 3.7 Kimle 3.4 Gönyű 2.9 Lipót 3.7 Győrladamér 4.0 Hédervár 4.4 Dunaszentpál 3.8 Ásványráró 2.5

Table 14:Unemplyoment data in the settlements of the Szigetköz in 1999 Source: CSO 1999 The endowments of the region offer attractions mainly for the different types of mild tourism: water, cycling, equestrian and angling tourism, also nature watch. These are typically exclusive forms of tourism, requiring thus specific marketing, accommodation, transport and experts. Also important for the area is the significant volume of bypassing tourism, mostly due to the guests from Slovakia arriving at Hungary at the Vámosszabadi border crossing station. This latter type of tourism can no longer be called simply “shopping tourism”, because the motivations of those arriving now are much more differentiated: cultural, bath etc. tourism. Presently this mass of tourists usually only pass through the surveyed region. The economy of the villages is not seriously influenced by tourism yet, because tourism tax cannot be found among the tax revenues of the municipalities. The natural attractions are fundamental assets of the area. These include the natural waters, rivers (Danube and Moson Danube) and the artificial mine pit lakes. The rivers are international, while the mine pit lakes are regional attractions. From the natural rivers, the Moson Danube is more suitable for water sports, as it is not too fast and there is no ship traffic on it. As regards natural environment, the Szigetköz Landscape Protection Area can be considered as the primary attraction. Because of the debates over the river barrage system of the recent years, the Szigetköz in the public thinking is now a degraded natural environment, which makes tourism marketing activity very important, with a joint effort of the involved municipalities and the nature protection organisations. It is not decided yet whether the

Landscape Protection Area will become a natural park or not. The award of this title requires a completely different touristic approach, whose endowments and initials are present in the region. The protected areas are an attraction for certain segments of tourism. The other natural attractions of the region include the potential thermal water wells in Kunsziget and Lipót and also in Abda and Győr, just outside the region. The villages of the region do not have any built attractions (monuments, museums etc.) which are so important in themselves that they could be national attractions. The large number of small local attractions, however, collected in a package, supported by an adequate marketing work and connected to other branches of tourism (cycling or equestrian tourism), can become important factors. The expansion of these attractions is of course possible.

Name of Number of beds in settlement boarding tourist camping holiday youth hotels private Total houses houses sites homes accomm. accomm. Dunakiliti 66 50 24 140 Győrújfalu 0 Dunaszeg 22 22 Nagybajcs 0 Győrladamér 19 19 Győrzámoly 38 38 Kisbodak 0 Püski 0 Darnózseli 7 7 Máriakálnok 12 12 Kimle 0 Dunaremete 15 15 Lipót 20 150 46 216 Ásványráró 6 20 32 58 Hédervár 47 3 50 Mecsér 38 38 Dunaszentpál 10 10 Kunsziget 25 25 Vének 40 40 Kisbajcs 0 Vámosszabadi 0 Dunasziget 6 102945 Feketeerdő 0

Halászi 51 51

Total 89 72 220 10 40 47 308 786

Table 15.: The capacity of commercial and private accommodations in the Szigetköz in 1999 Source: CSO Among the cultural attractions there are different events, which now only mean local attraction, but with a good marketing and a relatively small investment they can be converted into regional or national attractions (e. g. fish soup making competition). Tourism can be potentially promoted by the bicycle road in the Szigetköz, built between Győr and Hédervár, crossing Győrújfalu, Győrzámoly, Győrladamér, Dunaszeg and Dunaszentpál in the territory of the association. We have to take into consideration, however, that cycling is not only possible on the bicycle road but also on the smaller roads with less intensive traffic among the small villages. The roads accessible to cyclists towards Vámosszabadi (border crossing station), Kisbajcs, Nagybajcs and Vének are shown in road signs. These roads are integrated into the network of the bicycle roads towards Vienna along the Danube. The capacity of commercial accommodations in the region is limited; its structure is well suited to the demand, but the number of beds is low. The expected boom of tourism will result in the expansion of the capacity of accommodations, as well (Table 15).

The supply of infrastructure in the settlements of the Szigetköz The characteristics of social infrastructure in the settlements of the Szigetköz Under the heading ‘social infrastructure’ we mean basic institutions serving the public, i. e. • health care establishments • schools • educational and cultural establishments.

Health care The health care supply of the villages is acceptable. Not each village has a general practitioner; one GP is responsible for several villages. The two relatively nearby large towns (Mosonmagyaróvár and Győr) provide hospitals and special treatments. Out of the twenty-four villages, thirteen have a GP, who serve the rest of the villages, too. Only one settlement, Dunaszeg is home to a paediatrician. There are dental surgeries in seven, chemist’ shops in four villages.

Schools and education With the exception of four villages, each settlement has a kindergarten, although in eight villages the number of places is not enough, as the number of enrolled children is much higher. Nineteen villages have primary school, but in four of them only pupils of the first four classes are taught. It has to be added that the primary school of Kimle village allows its pupils

© MTA RKK NYUTI 54 The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) to learn an ethnic minority language (German). The institutional network of public education is made by the village libraries and educational centres. The municipality of each Szigetköz village runs a library and with the exception of six villages, there are educational centres in each settlement.

Traffic

The most important feature of the traffic network of the broader area is the proximity of one of Hungary’s most important and also most modern traffic corridors, which links Budapest to Vienna and was continuously developed during the 20th century (Figure 8). The traffic network of the Szigetköz is mostly based on the road network, because the villages do not have railway. The edge of the territory is crossed by the trunk railway No. 1, linking Budapest to Vienna, also, it crosses the two centres of the examined area, Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár. Among the examined villages, Kimle and Kunsziget can feel the advantages of this, but the access to the railway is difficult for the other villages. The most characteristic feature of the road traffic is the fact that three roads run parallel from north-west to south-east through the region: the M1 (Budapest – Vienna motorway), trunk road No. 10 that formerly served the traffic between the two capital cities, and the third one is the so-called “Szigetköz road”, running parallel to the former two, linking the villages of our examination. This latter road, due to the former two, has only limited transit traffic, it is mostly used by the villages. The utilisation of the rivers (Danube and Moson Danube) is insignificant. River navigation does not touch the villages of the area, and the thick layer of sediments in the riverbed made the Moson Danube unsuitable for navigation as early as in the beginning of the 20th century. It is

Figure 8: The traffic situation of the Szigetköz Source: Author’s own map

Water supply system and canalisation In the villages in the territory of the Szigetköz the problems in connection with the drinking water supply and canalisation are the same as in the other parts of the Hungary, i. e. the volume of canalisation does not follow the extent of the establishment of drinking water supply. As it is well known, the consumption of water is significantly higher in the homes supplied with tapwater than in homes without it, and if the construction of tapwater supply system is not followed by up-to-date and in capacity adequate sewage collection and treatment (i. e. the “utility gap” opens), the quantity of sewage getting back to nature grows in proportion to the establishment of the drinking water supply system.

Name of settlement Number of Of which supplied with homes tapwater canalisation number % number % Ásványráró 738 763 103.4 661 89.6 Darnózseli 531 550 103.6 391 73.6 Dunakiliti 613 570 93.0 152 24.8 Dunaremete 94 111 118.1 66 70.2 Dunaszeg 542 512 94.5 321 59.2 Dunaszentpál 206 210 101.9 101 49.0 Dunasziget 550 905 164.5 281 51.1 Feketeerdő126 140 111.1 22 17.5 Győrladamér 381 382 100.3 269 70.6 Győrújfalu 361 367 101.7 219 60.7 Győrzámoly 488 489 100.2 291 59.6 Halászi 938 911 97.1 370 39.4 Hédervár 403 387 96.0 290 72.0 Kimle 910 934 102.6 612 67.3 Kisbajcs 227 222 97.8 165 72.7 Kisbodak 139 155 111.5 97 69.8 Kunsziget 397 389 98.0 233 58.7 Lipót 226 249 110.2 259 114.6 Máriakálnok 440 489 111.1 367 83.4 Mecsér 268 273 101.9 101 37.7 Nagybajcs 343 330 96.2 217 63.3 Püski 238 224 94.1173 72.7 Vámosszabadi 333 366 109.9 283 85.0 Vének 74 114 154.1 37 50.0 Average (Szigetköz) 105.0 62.5

National average 91.4 49.1 Rural average 89.6 38.4

Table 16: Proportion of households with tapwater and canalisation in 2000 Source: CSO.

In the Szigetköz villages almost 100% of the homes are equipped with tapwater now, although in some settlements there are homes without tapwater, in other villages there are more tapwater connections than the number of flats. As opposed to this, the proportion of canalised flats is only 62.5% on the average, so 37.5% of the homes do not have both tapwater and canalisation. This ratio is still much better than the national average (49.1%), and in the case of both indices the Szigetköz significantly exceeds the rural average (Table 16). The utility gap is characterised by similar proportions, if we compare the quantity of tapwater used by the population to the volume of sewage collected from the private homes. In the territory of the Szigetköz, the volume of tapwater supplied to the households is 907 200 m3, whereas the quantity of sewage drained by the public canals is 569 500 m3 (62.8%). There are considerable differences among the settlements, however. In some areas the level of canalisation is well above the national average: in the territory of the agglomeration or Győr (Vámosszabadi, Kisbajcs, Nagybajcs, Győrladamér) and in the central part of the Szigetköz (Ásványráró, Darnózseli, Hédervár, Lipót, Püski), whereas the proportion of canalised households is below the national average in the north-western villages (Feketeerdő, Dunakiliti, Halászi). As a matter of fact, there is no technical explanation for the territorial difference. The whole territory of the Szigetköz is canalised, the trunk network is built out, the capacity of the sewage treatment plants in three villages and the two towns is under-utilised (Figure 9). The problem comes from the fact that some households are not connected to the established canal network, the families prefer the traditional cesspools, simply because of the lower expenses. The villages were given a considerable state and county support for the building out of the canal system, but the costs of the connection of the households to the system should be paid by the families, some of whom cannot pay this amount, others are afraid of the higher canal use fees. There is an indirect legal tool for obliging the families to use the existing canals, but this obligation is the responsibility of the local notary, not of the water management authority, and the notaries of the small villages try to avoid the conflict with the inhabitants. Canalisation in these small settlements almost exclusively serves the collection of the sewage of households, there are no large-scale producers of sewage any longer, there is only one canning factory in Dunakiliti that uses a significant amount of industrial water and produces sewage in the area of the Bezeny treatment plant. The total amount of the sewage collected by the public canals is treated, in fact, by biological treatment. In the area of our survey, two sewage treatment plants can be found, one in Hédervár (with a capacity of 1 600 m3/day) and one in Kunsziget (2 500 m3/day), but the sewage produced in the area is also treated by the Bezeny treatment plant (1 000 m3/day), also, some villages are connected to the sewage

© MTA RKK NYUTI The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 57 treatment plants of the nearby towns (Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár). The capacity of the treatment plants is not fully utilised yet, in fact, they could serve all households of the Szigetköz villages, if all of them were connected to the canal system.

Figure 9: The proportion of households connected to the canal system in the territory of the Szigetköz in 2000 Source: CSO

Gas supply system and electricity The electricity network is built out in the Szigetköz. In 1999 there were 11 004 consumers of power, i. e. all the households and different other units. The establishment of the gas supply system took place in the 1990s. Today each settlement has a gas pipe. It is the consumption of the households that prevails again, from the 2 385 consumers of gas 2 257 are households. In 1999, 26.6% of the homes were heated with gas from the network. This low proportion is explained by the fact that in Hungary the government gave a considerable support for the establishment of gas supply systems, and using this, in the major part of Hungary the trunk network was established, but the connection of the households to the system proved to be too expensive, and so a significant part of the population could not use this possibility.

Homes

In 1999 there were 9 566 flats in the Szigetköz villages. The age composition of the flats is relatively young, because such a devastating flood struck this area in 1954 that most of the flats had to be re-built. The number of flats of course grew in the 1990s, although the pace of growth slowed down after the beginning of the decade (Figure 10). The slowing down of the growth is not the consequence of demolitions, because most flats are young and not more than one home or two are demolished in the settlements annually. The construction of new homes quickly dropped in the beginning of the 1990s and there were periodical ups and downs in the second half of the decade, too (Figure 11), in 1995–1997 there was some growth, but the decrease prevailed until the end of the decade. 9800,0

Figure 10: The development9600,0 of the number of flats in the settlements of the Szigetköz in 1990–1999

9400,0 Source: CSO.

9200,0 160,0 160,0 Figure 11: The number9000, of0 newly built homes in the settlements of the Szigetköz in 1990–1999, and its 140,0 change compared to 1990 (1990=100%) 140,0 8800,0 120,0 Source: CSO 120,0 8600,0 100,0 100,0 8400,0 80,0 80,0 8200,0 60,0 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 199860, 19990 40,0 40,0 New hom es 20,0 20,0 1990=100% 0,0 0,0 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Years

Looking at the territorial distribution of the newly built flats we can see that besides a general tendency of decrease a shift occurred in the spatial arrangement of the new home buildings during this decade: the construction of new homes was concentrated in the eastern part of the area, in the agglomeration of Győr (Vámosszabadi, Győrzámoly, Győrladamér, Dunaszeg), while it was practically stopped in five villages (Dunaremete, Kisbajcs, Máriakálnok, Mecsér, Püski) (Figure 12).

Figure 12: The number of newly built flats per 1 000 inhabitants in the Szigetköz villages Source: CSO

In the villages of the Szigetköz, the average number of inhabitants per home is 2.9, slightly over the national average (2.5 persons per flat). The highest figure (3.2) can be seen in Máriakálnok (Figure 13). The relatively high number of persons per one flat might also indicate that in these villages the average number of people in the families is higher, there are more children, the age composition is younger, whereas in those villages where two people live in one home on the average, probably ageing is typical.

Figure 13: Number of inhabitants per flat Source: CSO. We examined the proportion of large flats, i. e. the ones with four or more rooms, in the villages. For the whole of the Szigetköz, this figure exceeds both the national average and the rural average identical with that (0.16%), in this area this figure is 0.2%. The highest figure can be seen in the agglomerating Vámosszabadi, where, due to the new constructions, this proportion reaches 1.2%. Dunaszentpál features a similarly high value, 1.0%, whereas in 14 of the 24 settlements in question the statistics do not register a single flat of this size.

Land use in the Szigetköz The examined area is an environmentally sensitive area, on the one hand, because of the surface waters (Danube and its branches) and the habitats connected to them (gallery forests, wetlands) and because of the subsoil drinking water reserves that are considerable by

European standards, on the other. The use of agricultural land and the development of the ownership forms can have a significant influence on these sensitive segments of our environment. Of all the lands (27 524.5 hectares) agriculture uses 19 431.7 hectares, 70.6% of the total, which is more or less the same as the national average (68.4). The detailed breakdown of land use can be seen in Figure 14. N on-cultivated Figure 14: Detailed breakdown of land use in the Szigetköz Fish-pond area Reed 0% Source: CSO. 4% 0% The proportions are close to the national average, except for the vineyards, orchards and pastures, whose proportionsF orest remain below the national average, whereas the proportion of plough-lands is in excess26% of that. In certain areas of the Szigetköz, along the rivers, the proportion of forests is high, but they disappear as we go farther from the banks, so the proportion of forested areas does not exceed the national average. Even within this relatively small area, significant differences can be seen in land use, especially in the proportion of G rassland forests and plough-lands (Figure 14). In the flood plains of the rivers there are considerable 4% areas temporarily covered with water, and there are extended reeds too, although their share G reenhouse decreased after the river regulations. The proportion of fish-ponds is relativelyPlough-land low, however, 0% our experience is that because of the high level of the subsoil waters, several65% small angling Vineyard lakes were born0% hereO or rchard were left behind after the closedown of gravel extraction. Most of these, however, are not 0%consideredGarden as agricultural areas, because they are in the inner territory of the villages, often in large private1% sites. Thus the real characteristics of the region can be found in those segments which disappear at the examination of the aggregate averages. In 2000, 3 998 of the 4 033 farms were private holdings. Besides the private holdings, several agricultural companies working as Ltd-s or commandite partnerships can be found in this area. The large holdings are the co-operatives (Table 17). After the systemic change, at the transformation of the forms of ownership, Hungarian agricultural policy seriously restricted the possibilities of the former agricultural co-operatives and mostly preferred private farms. The former large holdings working in the area were transformed into smaller companies usually covering the territory of one village or two. In Hungary, no arable land can be owned by co-operatives since 1994, the lands are almost exclusively rented from their members or other private persons, local governments or the state. The dispreference of the co-operatives resulted in the fact that several of them transformed into joint stock companies or ceased to exist, but there are examples for integrator-type co-operatives, as well. In the production of the co-operatives, the production of crops uses the biggest part of the lands (60 to 80%), where usually cereals are grown (wheat, barley, rye), but the production of fodder might be even more important, as the majority of the large holdings keep milk-cows, so the fodder produced in the lands is consumed by their own animals. The co-operatives of the Szigetköz acquired property in the dairy company of Mosonmagyaróvár in 1996, now this unit is the joint property of the co-operatives. Its processing capacity is approximately 100 000 – 120 000

© MTA RKK NYUTI 62 The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) litres of milk per day, the main product is cheese, partly from the milk produced by the owner co-operatives and partly from the products of other farms in the Szigetköz. They carried out significant investments last year, by which they try to reach a quality level up to the EU norms. It is expected then that the future of the milk producing farms is certain and in a considerable part of the territories the production of fodders remains the most important product. In addition to the above-listed co-operatives, there is one in Kisbajcs (commercial fishing), Ásványráró, Kunsziget, Mecsér and Püski. The leaders of the co-operatives during the interviews made with them did not see that major potential conflicts would arise if the landscape protection area is awarded the national park status, because a relatively small part of their territories (a few hectares) can be found in the area in question. They would happily co-operate in the protection, but they expect the nature protection institutes to act as partners and not as an authority.

Total of land Of which (in hectares) Animal husbandry Other used, in hectares Cereal Other Fodder Meadows and pastures Szigetköz Agricultural 650 300 100 maize 250 industrial plants no no Co-operative, Dunaszeg Dunakiliti Agricultural 1 100 300 wheat 40 sugar-beet fodder maize 220; 60 milk-cows, pigs forest, trade, purchasing from Co. rye 30 50 vegetables lucerne 100 primary producers, gasoline distribution Dunaszentpál 630 winter wheat, soy, rape, cabbage fodder maize, oat, 400 cattle Agricultural Co-operative 30% belongs barley lucerne to members Győrladamér Agricultural Co-operative, under liquidation Kossuth Agricultural Co- 2 300 cereal sugar-beet oil plants 500 milk-cows operative, Bács, Kisbajcs, Nagybajcs, Vámosszabadi, Győrújfalu Rákóczi Agricultural Co- 1 400 360 wheat 160 sugar-beet, lucerne 460 milk-cows Mechanised earthworks, letting operative, Kimle 20 barley 134 rape, of buildings, gallery forests 450 maize 80 mustard, 10 chicory, 60 beer barley Danubian Agricultural 1 290 100 barley, 570 100 lucerne, milk-cows forest Co-operative, 23 is co-op. wheat 550 maize Máriakálnok prop., 30 is of the members Béke Agricultural Co- 1 500, of 500-600 cereal potato 200, sugar- 500 fodder maize, 400 milk-cows + calves registered integrator (potato operative, Darnózseli which: 200 beet 200 other fodder collection, storage, processing), rented + co-op. + reeds and forest prop., rest is of the members

Table 17: Characteristics of the agricultural co-operatives in the Szigetköz. Source: interviews

The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 65

Analysis of the spatial connections of the Szigetköz and its region For the socio-economic analysis of a region it is necessary to explore the connections within the region and the ones from the region outwards. This is an especially exciting task now when, after the systemic change, not only the society and economy are reshaping but also their spatial projection: the system of socio-economic and human relations. During the analysis of the spatial relations we try to find out where the dense points of the settlement network are, which are the main functions of the individual villages, and which are the villages that do not participate in the spatial organisation, because of the lack of functions or their geographical locations. Of course, not one settlement can have the total range of consumption and services, so it is natural that the inhabitants use the missing services, opportunities elsewhere. The moves of the inhabitants in order to have access to different goods and services are called spatial tracks in this essay. The method of the examination was the use of settlement questionnaires; the database is their content and the soft data from the deep interviews made with the mayors. The analysis of the total system of connections affecting the spatial structure is impossible, so we only analyse the spatial tracks of the functions and relations strongly influencing the spatial structure. With the analysis of the trading and service spatial tracks of the region we can follow the informal moves of the inhabitants, obtaining an insight into the location of the trading and service centres preferred by the population or to the typical shopping directions. The school relations were regulated until 1990, and even after the elimination of the system of official school districts the directions of these spatial tracks have not changed significantly. The spatial connections of the secondary schools naturally cover larger areas, thus a greater role of centres, towns is expected here. We deal separately with leisure time relations, one side of which is the direction of the visits to different events, which shows the functions of the smaller centres, while the other side demonstrates the catchment areas of the holiday villages of the area and the relations to their environment. In this case the relations have an opposite direction, showing from the towns to certain villages of the region. The spatial tracks of commuting show the daily relations between the commuting centres and the villages of the area. Probably these show the tightest interdependence, but unfortunately these relations are the most vulnerable and uncertain just nowadays. The network of spatial tracks depicting the centre–periphery relations can be seen as a kind of summary. These references well demonstrate the relation of the towns and the region, putting in a hierarchic order the towns serving as centres and the most frequently visited settlements.

Administrative, official spatial tracks In 1990, with the enactment of the Act on Local Governments, the former system of public administration lost its power, simultaneously, the former system of administrative spatial tracks disintegrated. The system of villages with common councils ceased to exist, replaced by joint notary offices serving several villages, several of which has not stood the test of time and disintegrated or is in the phase of disintegration. Today there are only four joint notary offices in the examined area, in Püski, Kisbajcs, Abda and Dunakiliti. The centres with notary offices are also the centres of building associations in each case, in addition, Hédervár has such a function. On the basis of the united administrative connections, Kisbajcs, Halászi, Hédervár and Dunakiliti are administrative centres, in addition to Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár, whose dominant rule is indisputable, since they are the only settlements with police headquarters and courts. The distribution of the administrative spatial tracks is shown in Table 18. The low number of spatial tracks reflects the independence of a municipality, i. e. there are more and more activities that are managed within the settlement.

Table 18. Administrative spatial tracks (in per cent) Gyõr M.óvár Halászi Hédervár Kisbajcs Other Total settlement Joint notary 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 33.33 66.67 100.00 office Tax 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 33.33 66.67 100.00 Court 39.39 60.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 Construction 0.00 8.33 8.33 33.33 8.33 41.67 100.00 affairs Environmental 50.00 22.22 0.00 5.56 0.00 22.22 100.00 authority Job centre 44.44 55.56 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 Police 39.39 57.58 3.03 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 headquarters Police office 0.00 0.00 29.4111.76 17.65 41.18 100.00 Water 80.00 3.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 16.67 100.00 management Total 39.66 33.52 3.91 3.91 3.91 15.08 100.00

Source: Questionnaires filled out in the settlements

Spatial connections of trade For the analysis of the commercial spatial tracks we examined the spatial tracks leading to different specialised shops. The overwhelming majority, approximately 85%, is connected to Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár. The direction of the shopping habits is a good index for the

© MTA RKK NYUTI The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 67 designation of the catchment areas of the two cities, as the distribution of the spatial tracks clearly indicate the borders of the trading catchment areas, which are almost identical with the designations made with other factors. The villages of Szigetköz and its environment only have the remaining 12%, so we can say that apart from the two towns there is not one village that has considerable trading functions and could be called a trading centre of the area. The inhabitants of the 34 villages satisfy 2.5% of their shopping needs in Austria, coming from the geographical location of the area. Many people still choose Austria as the place to buy cars, electrical and industrial articles. The primary spatial tracks of trade lead to Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár, as it can be expected. The dispersion of the secondary spatial tracks of trade is wider. The citizens of many small villages travel to the shopping units of their micro-centres, which evaluated the role of Halászi, Hédervár and Rajka. The relations of tertiary spatial tracks go even farther, because the inhabitants of this region are happy to travel to Austria, especially for the purchase of durables, and the attraction of Budapest is also palpable, although it is weaker. Both are due to the good accessibility, the openness of the region and the mobility of the population. The spatial tracks showing to Slovakia for trading purposes are rather few and occasional. Only the border crossing (Rajka) and the neighbouring settlements mentioned Slovakia as a possible destination of shopping. In their shopping habits the local population decreased to the minimum the trading relations that were so lively during the former decades, probably because of the change in the value and price ratio. The shopping habits also include here the spatial tracks of selling goods in the marketplace. In this sense there is nothing new that we can say, because there is no expressed market centre in the region. For the producers of the region, the primary market centre is Győr. The distribution of the trading and market spatial tracks is shown in Table 19.

Table 19. Spatial connections of trade (in per cent) Gyõr M.óvár Austria Halászi Rajka Budapest Other Total settlement primary 59.30 34.01 0.58 1.45 0.58 0.00 4.07 100.00 secondary 41.12 36.45 5.61 2.80 4.67 0.00 9.35 100.00 tertiary 23.81 4.76 23.81 9.52 0.00 19.05 19.05 100.00 marketplace 47.76 28.36 0.00 1.49 0.00 1.49 20.90 100.00 Total 52.88 32.65 2.41 2.04 1.30 0.93 7.79 100.00

Source: Questionnaires filled out in the settlements

Spatial connections of other services

While we surveyed the tracks of retail trade habits based on the use of the specialised shops, at the examination of the spatial tracks of services we only looked at some special service functions. Although services contain different small-scale industrial activities, e. g. dry cleaning and the repair network of household devices as organised in the previous decades, we excluded them from our survey, for the following reasons: most of the different small-scale industrial activities are present in the villages again, the commission of craftsmen within the villages does not mean a spatial connection among the villages, so we were not looking for services in the traditional sense (which were called small-scale industrial activities formerly), but we analysed the financial services and the directions of spatial tracks connected to car use. The major part (81%) of the locally not available financial services is provided in the two towns, which means that the savings banks or their offices in the villages cannot or must not offer certain financial services. Also, there are services that the inhabitants are reluctant to use in their own settlement, especially in small village, such as applying for credit. The management of such, not locally used activities – e. g. applying for business or construction credit, keeping of foreign currency account – is done almost exclusively by the different finance institutions, banks in the two towns of the region. This means that among the settlements of the region there is no village with selected financial functions, the centres of the different savings banks are entitled to do the same activities as their offices which can be found in 80% of the villages. The directions of the spatial tracks of the use of car repair workshops and petrol filling stations are much more disperse. Although the two towns still play a dominant role, their weight is significantly smaller, approximately 60% of the spatial tracks run towards them. The role of Győr in this respect is stronger. At the same time, there are several stations and car repair workshops in the area. The majority of the latter operate as small businesses. Within the circle of the examined settlements, the centres of such services are Abda, Hédervár and Dunakiliti, their shares from all the spatial tracks are 10%, 9% and 5%, respectively. The directions of the spatial tracks of service use are demonstrated by Table 20.

Table 20. The spatial tracks of service use (in per cent of the total) M.óvár Győr Abda Hédervár Dunakiliti Halászi Ásványráró Other Total settl. Finances 50.00 30.77 1.92 0.00 1.92 1.92 5.77 7.69 100.0 Car repair 25.00 36.84 10.53 9.21 5.26 2.63 0.00 10.53 100.0 Total 35.16 34.38 7.03 5.47 3.91 2.34 2.34 9.38 100.0

Source: Questionnaires filled out in the settlements

The division of the spatial tracks of school education One of the most intensive relations is the use of spatial tracks of school education, because in each settlement there are secondary school students who are the builders and carriers of these relations. Although going to school only concerns a certain age group, the use of schools and

© MTA RKK NYUTI The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 69 the catchment areas of schools reflecting this affect the system of connections of a region, also, the whole of the general system of connections affects the directions of the spatial connections of school education. Already in the case of the spatial connections of kindergarten and primary school use, the two towns of the region play a significant role. Győr has 22% of the spatial tracks of kindergarten use, while Mosonmagyaróvár’s share is 11%. The same figures concerning the use of primary schools in these towns are even higher, which clearly shows the existence of the agglomeration zone around the two towns, the starting suburbanisation processes. Besides them, Püski, Dunakiliti and Kisbajcs collect spatial tracks of kindergarten and primary school use, i. e. those villages where there are well-equipped schools serving their areas. The other connections of kindergarten and primary school use are negligible, because of the elimination of the system of school districts, and the restoration and re-starting of schools. The spatial connections of secondary school use are more significant than in the case of primary education. In the field of secondary education, we examined thoroughly the spatial connections of grammar schools, specialised secondary schools and vocational schools. The examinations revealed that Győr, with the widest range of supply, is the most preferred secondary school centre for the area, followed by Mosonmagyaróvár, also, as destinations of the spatial tracks, Sopron and Csorna appear from the other towns of Győr-Moson-Sopron county. The villages of the area prefer the secondary grammar schools of Győr in the first place, the town collects 48% of such spatial tracks. Based on its location in the region, Mosonmagyaróvár is the second grammar school centre for the area, with a 36% share. Among the villages of the axis area, the spatial tracks of Börcs, Mosonszentmiklós, Lébény, Kunsziget and Öttevény are divided between Csorna and Győr. The catchment area of the church-run grammar school in Pannonhalma reaches the region, too, with a share of approximately 6%. The spatial tracks to the specialised secondary schools are more varied, apart from the dominant role of Győr; the shares of Mosonmagyaróvár, Csorna and Sopron are almost identical, 17%, 19% and 11%, respectively.

Győr M.óvár Sopron Csorna Kisbajcs Püski Other Total settl. Kindergarten 22.22 11.11 0.00 0.00 11.11 22.22 33.33 100.00 School 33.33 29.63 0.00 0.00 11.11 7.4118.52 100.00 lower classes 0.00 40.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 100.00 higher 23.08 15.38 0.00 0.00 15.38 7.69 38.46 100.00 classes Grammar 48.08 36.54 1.92 5.77 0.00 0.00 7.69 100.00 school Specialised 47.17 16.98 18.87 11.32 0.00 0.00 5.66 100.00 sec. school Skilled 58.14 34.88 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.98 100.00 worker tr.

Total 44.06 27.72 5.45 4.46 3.47 2.97 11.88 100.00

Table 21. Spatial tracks of school education (in per cent) Source: Questionnaires filled out in the settlements

The spatial tracks of skilled worker training are linked to the region, as 93% of the spatial tracks run towards Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár. This figure also reveals the wide range of skilled worker training facilities in the two towns. The two focal points of the aggregate spatial tracks of school education are the two towns in the area (Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár, with 44% and 27%, respectively). In addition to them, three towns in the county, i. e. Sopron, Csorna and Pannonhalma, while within the region the villages of Kisbajcs, Püski and Dunakiliti have a central role in school education, collecting a significant number of spatial tracks. Table 21 shows the aggregate spatial tracks of school education.

Characteristics of the spatial tracks of leisure time activities The spatial tracks of leisure time activities are closely related to those of the school use, because within the leisure time facilities, cultural and sports events are mostly visited by the younger generation, including the secondary school students. The spatial connections of leisure time are two-sided. From one side, we examine the directions of those spatial tracks that run towards the locations of different cultural and sports events from the villages of the region. These spatial tracks usually run from the villages to the towns. The other side of the leisure time activities is the relations showing from the towns to the villages: the spatial tracks of the owners of holiday homes, holiday sites and hobby gardens. Among the spatial tracks of leisure time activities, we examined and assessed the spatial tracks of going to theatre, cinema and other cultural events including literature, knowledge dissemination, musical and other fun facilities. The favourite leisure time activity of the youth, disco, is also listed here. In addition to the significant county level sports events, we also explored the locations and spatial connections of those smaller-scale sports events which were organised in the area, or concerned the area and were attractive for the local population. The results clearly show the cultural dominance of Győr. The spatial tracks of theatre visits clearly run to Győr, all 34 settlements stated that this town is the primary destination of going to theatre. The theatre performances of Mosonmagyaróvár are only regarded as spatial connections of secondary order. The spatial tracks of the visits from the examined villages to cinema and other cultural events are divided in a two-thirds and one-third proportion between Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár. However, the spatial tracks within the region, among the villages, are practically absent, which reveal the lack of the organising capacity of the local societies, the cultural passivity of the rural areas. The only events of classical music in the area are the occasionally organised organ concerts in the monument church of Lébény, but

© MTA RKK NYUTI The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 71 only a very small part of the audience is made by the population of the area and the village, thus it is not a regional attraction, at least not yet. The visit to the discos, which are not really cultural leisure time activities, means a dispersion of the spatial tracks. The disco of Kimle has a catchment area of significant size in the Upper Szigetköz, however, the peaceful local people are not too happy about it, because at the time of the disco loud and deviant groups appear in the village, and they way they have fun is nothing but civilised. Apart from Kimle that collects 22% of the spatial tracks of this kind of leisure time activity, Lipót has a considerable concentration of spatial tracks (11%), followed by Kunsziget and Dunaszeg (7% each). The geographical distribution of the villages offering this kind of fun reflects the inner periphery, outside the direct catchment area of Győr, so they are inner leisure time centres in a sense. The spatial tracks of the sports events also run towards the two towns, with Győr having a two-thirds share. The connections of small sports societies, associations (which are present in the villages) have not been established yet, i. e. the sports events in the area cannot activate the local population, the possibilities of awaking a healthy sports competition among the settlements is not utilised yet for the motivation of the local inhabitants. The other side of the leisure time relations is the survey of the spatial tracks of the holiday homes, weekend sites, i. e. the recreational zone. The direction of these spatial tracks break the former hegemony of the two towns, their distribution is much more disperse, in the region it is mainly Budapest and the Austrian settlements that are important from this point, in addition to the rest of Győr-Moson-Sopron county. Although the examinations show that the area cannot be called a popular tourism destination yet and not the recreational zone of the two towns in the region, either, the signs of both phenomena are visible in the directions of development. In 15 of the examined villages there is not one holiday home or weekend site. Where there are, in 19 of the 34 settlements, their number is extremely varied, as there are villages where only one such building or site is mentioned (Nagybajcs and Kunsziget), and there is one village with 300 holiday sites (Dunasziget). The circle of the owners is very disperse, apart from the two towns, spatial tracks lead here from all parts of Hungary (e. g. Szeged), however, the Budapest and Austrian connections are the most typical (Table 22).

Table 22. Connections of the spatial tracks of leisure time activities (in per cent of the total) Gyõr M.óvár Kimle Budapest Austria Lipót Dunaszeg Other Total settl. Theatre 73.91 23.91 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.17 100.0 Cinema 56.76 32.43 5.41 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.41 100.0 Leisure 60.00 34.29 0.00 2.86 0.00 0.00 2.86 0.00 100.0 Sport 67.65 26.47 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.94 2.94 100.0 Music 13.33 8.89 22.22 0.00 0.00 11.11 6.67 37.78 100.0 Other 69.23 23.08 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 7.69 100.0

cultural Site 29.27 21.95 0.00 14.63 14.63 0.00 0.00 19.51 100.0 Total 50.20 23.90 4.78 2.79 2.39 1.99 1.99 11.95 100.0

Source: Questionnaires filled out in the settlements

Spatial tracks of commuting The examination of the spatial tracks of commuting is rather difficult, as it is the possibly the most volatile relation, changing from day to day, and we cannot draw conclusions from the tendencies of the previous decades. Of all the data of the census of 1990, the ones concerning commuting might be the most uncertain and least valid by now. In the analysis of the spatial tracks of commuting we relied on the data provided by the municipal governments, which might not be exact but they show the tendencies and directions. According to these municipal data, from 25 villages of the area run spatial tracks to Győr, which means the jobs of almost five thousand people (4 933). The other centre of commuting is Mosonmagyaróvár, with spatial tracks from 25 settlements and concerning 2 600 persons. Only five villages mentioned Austria as a destination of commuting, however, this is the third most important connection by number (142 people). In addition to the above-said, the other spatial tracks run towards the settlements in the area, with Rajka, Hegyeshalom, Halászi and Hédervár having considerable job creating functions. The major part of those commuting to work into the region from outside come from Győr (60%), with spatial tracks towards 17 villages. The number of those who commute from Mosonmagyaróvár to the villages of the area is significantly lower, although the number of villages concerned is only slightly less (14) than in the case of Győr. Apart from the two towns and the employment in Austria, the commuting relations within the area are closed, i. e. the spatial tracks of those commuting in and out remain within the area (Table 23 and 24).

Table 23. The spatial tracks of commuting (in per cent) Gyõr M.óvár Hédervár Darnózseli Halászi Rajka Other Total settlement Commuting out 31.25 26.25 2.50 1.25 3.75 3.75 31.25 100.00 Commuting in 18.89 15.56 6.67 6.67 4.44 3.33 44.44 100.00

Source: CSO

Table 24 The breakdown of commuters (in per cent of the total) Gyõr M.óvár Austria Rajka Hegyeshalom Other Total settlements Commuting out 59.51 31.39 1.711.09 1.28 5.02 8 289 people Commuting in 60.29 14.51 0.00 2.85 0.12 22.22 1 647 people

Source: CSO

Interregional relations in the area The importance of the survey of the interregional relations is emphasised by the geographical location of the region, as one of the basic pillars of the activation of the area can be the international relations established with the neighbouring countries. The findings of the survey reveal that the interregional relations are rather occasional, we can hardly talk about real co-operation; that might occur in the economic sector, only. It is true that most of the relations show towards the settlements of the Csallóköz in Slovakia and the Austrian Burgenland, but the contacted villages within the two regions are occasional, the destinations of the spatial tracks are scattered, so none of the settlements can be considered as a junction of the connections. Three is no contact between the population of the two countries, the citizens of a Szigetköz village most of the time do not even know which Austrian settlement their guests come from. The main motivation of the population to travel abroad is still shopping, although now it is only true for the Austrian settlement, most of the times. The relations to Slovakia are weak, the primary objective being to keep in touch with the relatives. For the strengthening of the relations, more ferry connections across the Danube would be necessary (Table 25 and 26).

Table 25. Breakdown of interregional relations I. (Spatial tracks to Austria, in per cent) Vienna Nickelsdorf Zurndorf Burgenland Bruck Parndorf Other Total settlement Visit 20.83 12.50 8.33 20.83 0.00 4.17 33.33 100.00 Relation 14.29 20.00 11.43 2.86 11.43 5.71 34.29 100.00 Co-operation 0.00 0.00 25.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 75.00 100.00 Total 15.87 15.87 11.11 9.52 6.35 4.76 36.51 100.00

Source: Questionnaires filled out in the settlements

Table 26. Breakdown of interregional relations II. (in per cent) Duna- Bõs Medve Pozsony Somorja Dunacsúny Other Total szerdahely settlement Visit 8.11 10.81 8.11 5.41 5.41 5.41 56.76 100.00 Relation 11.11 8.33 8.33 11.11 11.11 5.56 44.44 100.00 Co-operation 8.70 4.35 4.35 0.00 0.00 4.35 78.26 100.00 Total 9.38 8.33 7.29 6.25 6.25 5.21 57.29 100.00

Source: Questionnaires filled out in the settlements

A summary of the spatial connections Finally all the references made in the questionnaires were summarised, giving a kind of briefing of the system of spatial connections. The summary of the spatial relations on the above pages does not show any surprising result. Győr has the most spatial relations (38%), followed in the second place by Mosonmagyaróvár

(26%). These two figures reflect that in the examined region the influence of the two large towns is dominant. Only a few per cents of the spatial tracks run to other settlements in the area, outlining the micro-centre character of certain villages, although the share of these micro-centres from the spatial tracks is negligible compared to the two towns: 1 to 2%. Rajka, Hédervár, Halászi and Hegyeshalom collect a considerable number of connections. Rajka and Hegyeshalom owe their outstanding positions to their border crossing stations, in addition to their micro-centre role. The favourable situation of Hédervár within the spatial structure is due to the fact that the village has more functions than its environment and thus has a sort of internal centre role in the Inner Szigetköz. All four villages are situated in the northern part of the area, because the spatial tracks in the southern part of the region show to Győr in almost all respects. This well demonstrates the hegemony of Győr in the southern part of the area, probably this hegemony is the reason why no micro-centre with regional organising power could emerge in the Lower Szigetköz. The connections are rather few and occasional among the settlements on the two banks of the Moson Danube, i. e. among the villages of the Szigetköz in the geographical sense and the villages of the so-called axis area. The total of the spatial connections are shown in Table 27.

Table 27. The total of the spatial connections in the Szigetköz (in per cent) Gyõr M.óvár Rajka Hédervár Halászi Hegyes- Austria Dunakiliti Püski Abda Kimle Kisbajcs Lébény Ásvány- Other Total halom ráró settleme nt public 39.44 33.33 1.11 3.89 3.89 0.00 0.00 2.78 1.67 1.67 0.00 4.44 2.22 1.67 3.89 100.00 administratio n trade 53.60 33.26 1.48 1.06 2.12 0.00 2.75 0.00 0.21 0.21 0.00 0.00 0.42 0.21 4.66 100.00 market 47.76 28.36 0.00 0.00 1.49 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.49 1.49 1.49 0.00 1.49 1.49 14.93 100.00 services 34.38 35.16 0.78 5.47 2.34 0.00 0.00 3.911.56 7.03 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.34 7.03 100.00 education 44.06 27.72 0.00 0.99 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.98 2.97 0.99 0.00 3.47 0.00 0.00 17.82 100.00 culture 54.29 24.29 0.95 0.48 0.00 0.48 0.00 0.95 0.48 0.00 5.71 0.00 0.95 0.48 10.95 100.00 sites 29.27 21.95 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.44 14.63 0.00 0.00 2.44 0.00 0.00 2.44 0.00 26.83 100.00 church 20.83 41.67 4.17 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.174.17 0.00 0.00 0.00 8.33 0.00 16.67 100.00 waste dump 43.33 56.67 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 commuting 24.71 20.59 3.53 4.71 4.12 1.182.94 1.76 2.94 0.59 2.35 1.182.352.9424.12 100.00 centre- 24.17 20.00 7.92 1.25 1.25 10.00 0.42 1.25 0.83 0.83 1.25 0.42 0.42 1.25 28.75 100.00 periphery relation Total 38.12 26.37 1.98 1.72 1.611.46 1.30 1.20 1.14 1.04 1.04 0.94 0.88 0.88 20.33 100.00

Source: Questionnaires filled out in the settlements

The designation of the catchment area and the index of closedness The analysis of the spatial connections allows such questions to be answered as closedness within the region and dependence on other regions and centres. On the basis of the directions and volume of the spatial tracks within the area, we defined the extent of centralisation and cohesion for the area and its elements, the settlements. We can also define the breakdown of the outward relations, which offers an exact method for the designation of the catchment areas of the centres. The breakdown of the outward connections (Table 28) shows that the area is in a strong position of dependence, the value of the closedness of the area is 30%, which means that approximately two-thirds of all the examined relations show outwards, indicating the external dependence of the area. It is natural that the two towns have the greatest influence on the area in question, their central roles are indisputable. The value of the closedness of the area calculated together with the two towns in 86%. Taking away from the value of external dependence separately the spatial connections to Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár, the settlements in the catchment areas of the each town can be designated. The “Győr attraction” value shows how many per cent of the outward relations from a given settlement is oriented towards Győr, and the content of the “Mosonmagyaróvár attraction” value is the same. Where the value of “Győr attraction” is greater than that of the “Mosonmagyaróvár attraction”, the settlements belong to the catchment area of Győr, where it is less, to the catchment area of Mosonmagyaróvár. Out of 34 settlements, 30 can be categorised clearly to the catchment area of either town: the number of villages in the Győr catchment area is 16, in the case of Mosonmagyaróvár 14. Four villages, however, are in the “buffer zone”, namely Lipót, Ásványráró, Hédervár and Lébény. Their characteristic is that they have the same amount of connection to Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár. The value of “closedness of the village”, measured in each individual village, shows which are those village that are able to fulfil some central roles, their figure of closedness within the area is high, e. g. the values of Hegyeshalom, Dunaszeg, Hédervár and Püski. At the same time, those settlements that are closely linked to some nearby centre feature low values of closedness, such as Győrújfalu and Gönyű. The closedness of the villages in themselves is the quotient of the inward connections and the connections coming out from the settlement – this value is high in those villages where most of the municipal functions can be satisfied, e. g. in Dunaszeg and Hegyeshalom. Outstandingly low figures can be seen at villages that have hardly any function, such as Feketeerdő, Vének, Máriakálnok and Kisbodak.

Table 28 Breakdown of the outward connections of the settlements in the Szigetköz and its region Outward connections Qualification Name of own micro- Gyõr M.óvár other total mu mic Gy M. ext settlement settleme region nici ro- õr óvá ern nt pal regi attr r al clo ona acti attr attr sed l on acti acti nes clo on on s sed nes s number of connections % Abda 11 729 0 1562 17.74 29.03 46.77 0.00 24.19 Ásványráró 12 162727 9 91 13.19 30.77 29.67 29.67 9.89 Bezenye 9 14 632 1980 11.25 28.75 7.50 40.00 23.75 Börcs 5 1735 0 461 8.20 36.07 57.38 0.00 6.56 Darnózseli 9 17 1522 1073 12.33 35.62 20.55 30.14 13.70 Dunakiliti 7 13 11 30 13 74 9.46 27.03 14.86 40.54 17.57 Dunaremete 4 20 13 23 8 68 5.88 35.29 19.12 33.82 11.76 Dunaszeg 13 7 32 0 2 54 24.07 37.04 59.26 0.00 3.70 Dunaszentpál 5 1333 3 5598.47 30.51 55.93 5.08 8.47 Dunasziget 9 15 1028 11 73 12.33 32.88 13.70 38.36 15.07 Feketeerdö 118 726 19711.41 26.76 9.86 36.62 26.76 Gyõrladamér 5 6 32 1 448 10.42 22.92 66.67 2.08 8.33 Gyõrújfalu 2 6 32 1 8 49 4.08 16.33 65.31 2.04 16.33 Gyõrzámoly 11 5 35 0 4 55 20.00 29.09 63.64 0.00 7.27 Gönyü 11 1 37 1 20 70 15.71 17.14 52.86 1.43 28.57 Halászi 7 11 722 653 13.21 33.96 13.21 41.51 11.32 Hegyeshalom 15 5 917 9 55 27.27 36.36 16.36 30.91 16.36 Hédervár 11 15 17 16 564 17.19 40.63 26.56 25.00 7.81 Kimle 9 8 1022 3 52 17.31 32.69 19.23 42.31 5.77 Kisbajcs 6 7 39 0 5 57 10.53 22.81 68.42 0.00 8.77 Kisbodak 3 24 6 27 7 67 4.48 40.30 8.96 40.30 10.45 Kunsziget 8 1028 2 351 15.69 35.29 54.90 3.92 5.88 Levél 9 5 9 35 1068 13.24 20.59 13.24 51.47 14.71 Lipót 6 202022 10 78 7.69 33.33 25.64 28.21 12.82 Lébény 11 6 18 17 658 18.97 29.31 31.03 29.31 10.34 Mecsér 6 122913 6 66 9.09 27.27 43.94 19.70 9.09 Mosonszentmi 6 162114 15 72 8.33 30.56 29.17 19.44 20.83 klós Máriakálnok 4 20 1539 17954.21 25.26 15.79 41.05 17.89 Nagybajcs 10 533 0 957 17.54 26.32 57.89 0.00 15.79 Öttevény 9 8 24 3 5 49 18.37 34.69 48.98 6.12 10.20 Püski 7 16 722 456 12.50 41.07 12.50 39.29 7.14

Rajka 10 61029 1671 14.08 22.54 14.08 40.85 22.54 Vámosszabadi 12 532 010 59 20.34 28.81 54.24 0.00 16.95 Vének 11236 0 9581.72 22.41 62.07 0.00 15.52 Total 264 386 724 494 306 2174 12.14 29.90 33.30 22.72 14.08

Source: Questionnaires filled out in the settlements Connections of the economic organisations The spatial connections of the economic sector were mapped from the representative survey done at the enterprises. The procurement connections of the economic organisations in the sample mostly remained within the Szigetköz and its region, with Győr, as the economic centre of the whole of North Transdanubia, having a decisive role. Almost half of the examined organisations are trading and catering units, so their procurement is definitely determined by the local demand. They procure goods and services mostly from Győr, to a lesser extent from Mosonmagyaróvár. This can be demonstrated in the sales, as well, as the markets of the enterprises are their own settlement, or the Szigetköz and its region. In the third place of the procurement we find the rest of Hungary, before Győr-Moson-Sopron county, but a greater share of the sales occurs within the county than in the rest of Hungary, i. e. the economic relations of the Szigetköz and its region are characterised by a definitely local and regional market. At the enterprises, as we have already referred in the chapter on the economic organisations, direct foreign exchange of goods can also be seen. The joint ventures and the more significant industrial units have almost the same export and import rates (9% each), which indicates the economic stability of the Szigetköz businesses and the favourable judgement of their products.

Dominant features of the spatial connections The system of connections of the area involving 34 villages is clearly dominated by the two nearby towns, both in the field of human and economic spatial connections. The examined villages can be divided into two well separable parts by the role coming from the traffic corridor function: the villages linked by the traffic corridor running towards the border, and the ones that belong to the Szigetköz in the geographical sense of the word. In this division it is only Gönyü that has a problematic situation, as it does not belong to either category in reality. Having strengthened its port functions, it will more closely gravitate to the agglomeration of Győr, on the basis of its present spatial connections it belongs to Győr to some extent but not to any other examined settlement. We calculated the quotient of the relations coming to and leaving the settlements, designating this way the groups of settlements collecting and launching spatial tracks and the settlements with central character. According to the results, Hegyeshalom, Rajka, Halászi, Abda, Dunakiliti, Dunaszeg, Kisbajcs, Lébény, Hédervár, Kimle and Püski have a lot of incoming connections, having thus a high quotient value, over 0.4. There are 14 settlements where this quotient is very low, below 0.1. These settlements have a very limited range of functions. This category contains the following

© MTA RKK NYUTI The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 79 villages: Győrújfalu, Levél, Bezenye, Feketeerdő, Dunaszentpál, Máriakálnok, Mosonszentmiklós, Dunaremete, Mecsér and Győrladamér. Two settlements do not have a single spatial track arriving at them, coming from their peripheral location: these are Vének and Gönyü that have a one-sided system of connections. The directions of the connections will change in the coming years with the change of the socio-economic structure, the area will probably become even more open, but the influence of the two towns will remain dominant.

The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) 81

8. SUMMARY

During the analysis of the micro-regions within Győr-Moson-Sopron county, the research group had to face the fact that micro-region compatible with the E.D.E.N. project is not the territory of the originally chosen Sokoróalja Regional Development Association, but the Szigetköz settlements that belong to the Association of the Szigetköz Municipalities. In the territory of the Sokoróalja we do not encounter the conflict that arises between tourism development and the management of environmental problems. Tourism is practically absent in the region, and the region falls partly into the catchment area of Győr and partly into that of the regional centre, Tét. The region is poor in attractions, as well. After the consultations with the foreign partners we decided to choose not the Sokoróalja but the Szigetköz area for the implementation of the objectives of the project. The villages and local governments of the Szigetköz abound in conflict situations created by the opposite interests of tourism development and the protection of the environment, since the Hungarian–Slovakian agreement was declared null and void in 1989. In order to make the Danube navigable, a headwater canal would have been built, together with hydroelectric plants generating electricity at Bős (in Slovakia) and Nagymaros (in Hungary). The Slovakian party continues the construction, despite the fact the Hungarian party stopped it in Hungary. As a consequence of the constructions, the level of the subsoil water sank and environment damages have appeared. This drew a special attention to the problems of the environment. Due to the endowments of the area, the development of rural tourism took a momentum in the second half of the 1990s, contributed to a great extent by the construction of the bicycle road supported by the PHARE CBC. The ideas aiming at the protection of the nature strengthened, with the objective to create a national park in the territory, with all its rigour (i. e. the strict restriction of economic activities), or a nature park. The other part of the population, especially those who have launched their businesses in the field of tourism, supported the idea of the nature park. The main source of conflict for the population of the area is thus whether a national park or a nature park should be established. The several smaller-scale conflicts between the owners of forests and equestrian tourism or between water management authorities and tourism, derive from the main conflict and the lack of an adequate legal background. Regional development and rehabilitation concepts have been made for the area since 1993. One was commissioned by the Ministry of Environment (“Rehabilitation and Development Concept of the Szigetköz”), another by the Association of the Szigetköz Municipalities, a third regional development concept for this section of the triple (Austrian–Slovakian–Hungarian) border was supported by the Phare. Of course the Regional Development Concept of Győr- Moson-Sopron County, in effect since 1996, and the Győr-Moson-Sopron County Regional Development Programme valid from 2001 deal with this area, too. In 1998, in the territory of the Association of the Szigetköz Municipalities three other municipal (micro-regional)

© MTA RKK NYUTI 82 The balance between economic development and environmental… (E.D.E.N.) development associations operated, which too have prepared their own regional and rural development programmes, one of them its tourism development concept, as well. These demonstrate that the inhabitants of the area have affection to their village, territory, and are concerned about their future. The development of the Szigetköz is not a simple economic or regional development problem, the restoration and conservation of the ecological balance requires a much more complex approach than this. Thus the development concepts made for the Szigetköz are concerned about this issue; they pay a great attention to the conservation of the natural values and the parallel development of the tourism sector. The Szigetköz is a region with excellent endowments in the developed part of Hungary. Due to the nearby large towns, the employment conditions of this area are good, which promote the development of the Szigetköz. At the same time, the territory of the Szigetköz villages, which are the core area of both tourism and nature conservation, can be free from industrial plants, except for a few food processing units. Owing to its geographical location, the Szigetköz can expect the recreational tourism of the inhabitants of the nearby towns, and it can also rely on international tourism, lying in the Danube valley that is an important European path of water and cycling tourism. The proximity of the borders is an important economic and touristic asset, which can be utilised with an adequate marketing work, at the same time, it is a threat to tourism, because the neighbouring Slovakian territory, the Csallóköz has similar natural endowments and thus touristic offer. This threat can be handled, however, if we promote the cross-border co-operations both in the field of tourism and nature conservation. During the analysis of the land use it turned out that the major part of the Szigetköz is under cultivation as plough-land, where the biggest areas are used by cereal and fodder production (this latter because in the larger farms milk production is the most important activity). In addition, vegetable production, which is traditional in the Szigetköz, can also be found, together with the more and more important growing of industrial plants. Some of the co- operatives and other large businesses consciously try to integrate a large number of small- scale and primary producers, providing them with agricultural services and purchasing their crops. As regards land use and agricultural activity, there are serious tensions among the villages of the region, but these conflicts are fired by the central agricultural policy and their local solution is very difficult. The diagnostic study is only the first step in the successful implementation of the E.D.E.N programme, the second step is the activity of strong local non-governmental organisations and their participation in the programme.

A SWOT analysis of the general socio-economic situation

STRENGTHS • Quickly adapting economy during the 1990s • Presence of strong economic centres • Good geographical and traffic situation, proximity of capital cities, triple border region • Proximity of a macro-regional socio-economic centre (Gyõr) • Proximity of a regional para-centre (Mosonmagyaróvár) • Favourable demographic and migration indices • Economic traditions characteristic of the region • Traditional work culture • Good opportunities for several branches of exclusive tourism (green tourism – nature watch, cycling and equestrian tourism, rowing and boat tourism, thermal tourism) • Considerable resources of thermal water under the gravel layer • Good production possibilities for agriculture (horticulture, stabling animal husbandry)

W EAKNESSES • Degradation of the natural environment • Decreasing supply of labour force • Decline of agriculture and the fragmentation of the holdings • Immature touristic supply, low number of accommodations • The image of the area is damaged by the Bõs–Nagymaros problem • No border crossing facility in the Szigetköz • The major part of the thermal water resources is unexplored • The infrastructure background of special branches of tourism have not been established yet (except for cycling tourism)

O PPORTUNITIES • Utilisation of the location along the border: expansion of the labour market background to Slovakia • Proximity of large urban areas: market for tourism and agriculture • “Stopping” the Vienna–Budapest ship traffic in the area • Co-operation and joint development of the border region • Broader cross-border co-operations – joint planning • Involvement of external investors in the development of thermal tourism

T HREATS • As a result of the state of the environment, the possibilities of the economic and social actors decrease • Similar tourism supply of the Slovakian side, strong expected competition • Investors might be put off by the decreasing and more and more expensive labour force • Persistence of the environmental problems coming from the diversion of the Danube river • Unsolved international problems about the Danube

A SWOT analysis of the infrastructure

S TRENGTHS • Linear infrastructure well built out by Hungarian standards (water supply system, gas supply system, canals etc.) • Excellent traffic situation • Young flats • Large biological sewage treatment plants with only partially utilised capacity

W EAKNESSES • A significant part of the flats have not yet been connected to the canal system, the “utility gap” is wide • The network of inner roads is of poor quality • Social infrastructure (medical surgeries, schools etc.) should be more developed • The pace of housing constructions slowed down in most of the area in the 1990s

OPPORTUNITIES • By the increase of the protection of protected area, considerable resources may come to the area for the improvement of infrastructure • The well-established infrastructure attracts migrants from towns and tourists • The large sewage treatment capacity allows a further significant growth in the number of homes and tourist accommodations

T HREATS • The sewage not collected by the canal system pollutes the soil • The pollution of the Danube endanger the drinking water base

A SWOT analysis of the agricultural land use

S TRENGTHS • Lands of good quality, suitable for horticulture • Gallery forests suitable for tourism purposes • Traditional horticulture and animal husbandry • Operating and developing agricultural co-operatives • Diversified production pattern (commercial fishing, forestry, plough-land cultivation, animal husbandry, horticulture) • Presence of higher education and research base in the field of agriculture (Mosonmagyaróvár)

W EAKNESSES • Some of the co-operatives go bankrupt • Few local units processing agricultural products • Processing and purchasing occur outside the area • Bio-farming is still weak

O PPORTUNITIES • Utilisation of the nearby foreign market • Vertical integration possibilities with the nearby processing companies • Introduction of bio-farming (proximity of nature protection area) • Afforestation, involvement of wetlands in tourism

T HREATS • Over-politicised nature of agricultural ownership, support systems based on the size of the holding and not on technology • Smaller producers are at the mercy of those purchasing the products • Power position of large processing units of foreign ownership • Fragmented holding structure without integration