PART I INTRODUCTION 11 12 CONTENT PART I: INTRODUCTION 11 1. THE DANUBE SPACE 15 1.1 Space without Qualities? 15 (1) Space in the limelight ... 15 (2) ... but yet unknown 15 (3) Macro-structures: huge, landlocked and distinctive 16 (4) Many nations, many languages and even more peoples 16 (5) What a space 17 1.2 The Notion of the Danube Space 17 (6) There is no common notion of the Danube Space 17 (7) Perception depends on point and scale of view 18 1.3 Defining the Study Area 18 (8) Working definition, no definite solution for Danube Space delimitation 18 (9) The core countries 19 (10) The periphery of Danube Space 20 1.4 Relations to Other Macro-Regions 21 (11) The Danube Space as a bridge 21 (12) Danube Space and the Balkans 21 2. THE DANUBE SPACE STUDY 23 2.1 The Objectives of the Study 23 (13) Three main objectives 23 (14) A tool for co-operation (and for promoting co-operation) 23 2.2 The Study's Approach 24 (15) Focus on the regions of the Accession Countries of the core area 24 (16) First starting point: The long term effects of the 1989 bifurcation 24 (17) Second starting point: The process of European integration 25 (18) Reviewing the driving forces of regional processes 26 (19) In-depth analysis of the spatial drivers and impacts on the core 27 (20) Synthesis of issues and trends by types of regions 27 (21) Policy orientations 27 2.3 Methods Applied and Procedures 28 (22) The methods applied 28 (23) Availability of regional information: disappointing 29 13 2.4 Information Base and Data Issues 30 (24) Severe impediments for empirical analysis 30 (25) Very different results of recent statistical regionalisation 32 3. INTRODUCING THE CORE COUNTRIES 33 3.1 Austria 33 3.2 Bulgaria 35 3.3 Czech Republic 37 3.4 Hungary 39 3.5 Romania 41 3.6 Slovak Republic 43 3.7 Slovenia 45 14 TABELLENVERZEICHNIS Table 1 Territorial Shares of the Danube River Basin 19 Table 2 Size of NUTS-regions in the Danube Countries 34 Table 3 Data for Austria on the NUTS II Level 1997 34 Table 4 Data for Bulgaria on the NUTS II Level 1997 36 Table 5 Data for the Czech Republic on the NUTS II Level 1997 38 Table 6 Data for Hungary on the NUTS II Level 1996 40 Table 7 Data for Romanian on the NUTS II Level 1996 42 Table 8 Data for the Slovak Republic on the NUTS II Level 1996 44 Table 9 Data for Slovenia on the NUTS III Level 1996 46 ABBILDUNGSVERZEICHNIS Map 5 Austria - Territorial Units, NUTS II and NUTS III 34 Map 6 Bulgaria - Territorial Units, NUTS II and NUTS III 36 Map 7 Czech Republic - Territorial Units, NUTS II and NUTS IV 38 Map 8 Hungary - Territorial Units, NUTS II and NUTS III 40 Map 9 Romania - Territorial Units, NUTS II and NUTS III 42 Map 10 Slovak Republic - Territorial Units, NUTS II and NUTS III 44 Map 11 Slovenia - Territorial Units, NUTS III 46 15 11 1. THE DANUBE SPACE 1.1 Space without Qualities? (1) Space in the limelight ... In the Commission document, "Europe 2000+", the Danube Space was identified as one of the ten transnational regions where enhanced co-operation could create new incentives for positive development. Ever since, the Danube Space has been attracting more and more attention. The number of initiatives and projects, conferences, seminars and programmes that refer to the Danube Space keeps increasing every year. The growing interest in this part of Europe may be attributed to a number of reasons of which the highest ranking is its unique intermediate geographical position between the economic core of Europe and the Black Sea region, as well as its regained geopolitical importance and the positive metaphorical power of the eternally flowing river. The limelight focused at the Danube Space creates great expectations in the public debate - inside and outside the area - with respect to the speed of the evolution underway and with respect to the attainable results of political action. Such expectations easily turn into frustration if they are not met and frustration in turn may cause the interested parties and actors to reduce their efforts and hence causing even poorer results than would otherwise have happened. (2) ... but yet unknown It is very obvious for anyone studying the Danube Space that in general there is little information and even less knowledge on the subject. This seems to be true not only for the outsiders (in a spatial sense), but also for those living in the area. The latter are sometimes more interested in other far away regions and affairs rather than in their own and their neighbour's affairs, language barriers being only one of the reasons. Although the amounts being invested by public and private bodies in building up a knowledge base on the Danube Space is increasing, it is still low and needs to be raised substantially in order to achieve a fruitful dialogue within the Danube Space and its reference areas. Knowledge about the Danube Space is fragmented both in terms of the territories and in terms of the topics. Most likely, time will eliminate this lack of knowledge and resulting lack of mutual understanding. But for the time being, it is necessary to acknowledge this disturbing fact so as to avoid neglecting its consequences when making assessments and decisions. 15 (3) Macro-structures: huge, landlocked and distinctive The Danube Space is a very large area within the European context. The territory covered by the Danube river basin measures almost 1 million km². This is roughly one third of the EU-15's territory (3.2 mn km²). The greater part of the area is landlocked and surrounded by large mountain ranges: The alps in the west and the Carpathian mountains stretching out from the North of the Danube Space down to the east and southeast and finally the Balkans and the Rhodopes stretching to the south. Two of the three large basins which form the territory are also landlocked: The Czech and northern Austrian highlands also form the European watershed between the Black Sea, North Sea and Baltic Sea, as well as the central plains ranging from eastern Austria and South Slovakia to the Carpathians and south to the Dinaric mountains. The lowlands east of the Carpathians in Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and south Ukraine open to the sea. Evidently, the Danube river and its major tributaries, of which the most important are the Inn, the Drava, the Tisza, the Sava, the Morava and the Prut, shape the landscapes in the lowlands and the mountainous areas. (4) Many nations, many languages and even more peoples The Danube Space touches or covers as many as 18 sovereign states. Some of which are rather young, while others have very long histories as states, but all of them pride themselves with long-standing traditions of culture and society. The languages spoken are hardly fewer in numbers, especially when taking into account the minority languages that are not official languages in any of the Danube countries such as Turkish, Russian, Albanian and Roma. This is an indication of the fact that the Danube Space is populated by a multitude of peoples of more or less different socio-cultural characters. This heterogeneity is partly the result of the frequent changes in the political powers that ruled the territories over the centuries, which led to a comparatively low overlap of settlement territory and political territory. Very often, this heterogeneity has been blamed for causing the persistent, at times openly and at times latent social conflicts. In view of the armed conflicts of the 1990's in ex-Yugoslavia, this threat cannot be denied. On the other hand, examples of peaceful, respectful and fruitful co-existence of the Danube Space's peoples are by far more numerous, outweighing the periods of conflict in intensity and duration. Moreover, the variety of cultures and traditions, which are sometimes closely intertwined, constitute a major source of creativity and adaptability for the societies concerned, a fact that is becoming more and more widely recognised. 16 (5) What a space Although the Danube Space is characterised by a diversity so varied and rich in features that it may even appear to be (over)loaded with history and culture, it still displays very little self- confidence and sense of identity. Its lack of a "sense of direction" reminds one of Ulrich, the protagonist of Robert Musil's opus magnum "Man without Qualities". "Fit for any task, trained in all arts, he remains passive and deprived of orientation for mastering the challenges of life". Ulrich, the passive observer is very much a character of the Danube Space, not only in the actual novel itself, but also in a metaphoric sense. Like Ulrich, the Danube Space has as yet to live up to expectations and achieve its actual significance. It is therefore a rewarding undertaking to look for the possibilities of how it could come to realise its full potential. 1.2 The Notion of the Danube Space (6) There is no common notion of the Danube Space Talking about the Danube Space is easy as long as one is not asked to state exactly where and what it is. An environmentalist's answer might be different; it might refer to the river and its surrounding area, only to then take into account the whole catchment area, thus being quite different from the answer of a politician, sociologist or economist. Even geographers have been giving different answers over time.