Cross-border Public Services (CPS) Targeted Analysis Final Report Scientific Report – Annex VII Case study report – Pomurje Foto: Gregor Domanjko Version 16/11/2018 This targeted analysis is conducted within the framework of the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme, partly financed by the European Regional Development Fund. The ESPON EGTC is the Single Beneficiary of the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme. The Single Operation within the programme is implemented by the ESPON EGTC and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, the EU Member States and the Partner States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. This delivery does not necessarily reflect the opinions of members of the ESPON 2020 Monitoring Committee. Authors Očkerl, Petra (IPoP) Peterlin, Marko (IPoP) Advisory Group ESPON EGTC Nicolas, Rossignol Technical Support Hans, Sebastian (Spatial Foresight) Acknowledgements Bencar, Tadeja (Sinergija Development Agency) Böhm, Thomas (ARGE Nature Parks Burgenland) Dešnik, Stanislava (Goričko Nature Park) Fasching, Eduard (Secondary School BORG Bad Radkersburg) Herman, Jožefa (Bilingual Primary School Prosenjakovci) Jambor Bence, Szemena (MNKM Tradehouse Lendava) Jozsef, Hera (MNKM Tradehouse Lendava) Karba, Katja (Sinergija Development Agency) Kovač, Darko (Bus Transport Murska Sobota) Lang, Alois (National Park Neusiedlersee) Pintar, Mirjana (Insitute for Spatial Planning of Medimurje County) Pirc, Tadej (Development Centre Murska Sobota) Rus, Ivica (ZLM – Medimurje County) Sedlatschek, Andrea (Regional Management Burgenland GmbH) Smodiš, Martin (Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief) Srkoč, Rija (Employment Service of Slovenia) Tajmel, Joachim (Nature Protection Association Burgenland) Information on ESPON and its projects can be found on www.espon.eu. The web site provides the possibility to download and examine the most recent documents produced by finalised and ongoing ESPON projects. This delivery exists only in an electronic version. © ESPON, 2018 Printing, reproduction or quotation is authorised provided the source is acknowledged and a copy is forwarded to the ESPON EGTC in Luxembourg. Contact: [email protected] Cross-border Public Services (CPS) Final Report Scientific Report – Annex VII Case study report – Pomurje Table of contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 2 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 2 3 The case study region at a glance .................................................................................... 2 4 CPS provided in the region ............................................................................................. 11 4.1 Trilateral Nature Park ...................................................................................................... 11 4.1.1 A voluntary agreement framed by the Alpine Convention ...................................... 12 4.1.2 Needs to address environmental and landscape protection jointly......................... 13 4.1.3 A CPS using soft and green infrastructure .............................................................. 14 4.1.4 Networking delivery with different tasks and capacities .......................................... 14 4.1.5 Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 15 4.2 Bilingual Primary School Prosenjakovci .......................................................................... 15 4.2.1 A legal framework for domestic services guaranteeing bilingual service access ... 16 4.2.2 Cross-border needs extending an originally domestic service ............................... 16 4.2.3 Domestic existing hard and soft infrastructure are the basis for CPS provision ..... 17 4.2.4 Centralised one-sided CPS delivery ....................................................................... 18 4.2.5 Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 18 4.3 Secondary school in Bad Radkersburg ........................................................................... 19 4.3.1 A voluntary action without specific legal frameworks .............................................. 19 4.3.2 Widening of possible higher education options through cross-border education ... 19 4.3.3 Centralised one-sided CPS delivery ....................................................................... 20 4.3.4 Centralised one-sided CPS delivery supported by Austria and Slovenia ............... 20 4.3.5 Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 21 5 The future of CPS in the region ....................................................................................... 21 5.1 Trilateral Nature Park Goričko-Raab-Őrség .................................................................... 22 5.1.1 Specified CPS development for addressing needs of several target groups ......... 23 5.1.2 Informal governance structures may not be sufficient for overcoming administrative and policy asymmetries ........................................................................................... 24 5.1.3 Potential next steps include clarifications and investigation of governance options25 5.2 Cross-border public transport .......................................................................................... 26 5.2.1 New connections and information services to overcome dependence on individual transport .................................................................................................................. 26 5.2.2 The EU framework provides the principle rules for cross-border bus transport ..... 27 5.2.3 Several potential steps by regional stakeholders and public transport providers required ................................................................................................................... 27 5.3 A considerable potential for potential future CPS in Pomurje region .............................. 29 6 Lessons learned, recommendations & transferability ..................................................... 29 References .............................................................................................................................. 32 Interviews ................................................................................................................................. 32 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 32 ESPON 2020 ii List of Maps Map 3–1 The case study area ....................................................................................... 3 Map 3–2 Population density in the Pomurje region, 2011 ............................................. 4 Map 3–3 Employment rate and the cross-border commuters........................................ 7 Map 3–4 CPS in Pomurje Region .................................................................................. 8 List of Tables Table 3–1 GDP per capita by NUTS3 region, 2011 .......................................................... 6 Table 3–2 Overview of CPS in the Pomurje Region ....................................................... 10 ESPON 2020 iii Abbreviations AEBR Association of European Border Regions BORG Bundes-Oberstufenrealgymnasium Bad Radkersburg CESCI Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives CoR European Committee of the Regions CPS Cross-border public services CPSP Cross-border public service provision EC European Commission EGTC European grouping of territorial cooperation ESPON European Territorial Observatory Network EGTC European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation EU European Union NUTS Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics RS Republic of Slovenia ESPON 2020 iv 1 Introduction This case study report presents the results of one of ten case studies conducted in the frame of the ESPON project "Cross-border public services". It aims at giving an overview of the cross-border public service (CPS) provision in the Slovenian region Pomurje and its neighbouring regions in Austria, Hungary and Croatia (in the following named "Pomurje region"1) and indicating further needs and development potentials for future CPS. For the first time it develops a comprehensive overview of existing CPS in the Pomurje region. Overall, the analysis has revealed that CPS in this region are not well developed despite some achievements. Ten existing CPS have been identified in five policy fields. So far, CPS exist in the fields of transport, education and training, labour market and employment, environmental protection and civil protection. These tackle the regional needs only partly and need further development and spreading. From a regional policy perspective two fields of intervention deserve special attention, these are education and environment protection. Considering the rather poor representation of cross-border public services in the region, these two fields are the most developed. Education with two schools offering cross-border public service seems a good case to find the crucial conditions that enable the service and possibly encourage them in other fields. Although trilateral cooperation of the nature parks has a long tradition, the potential to develop additional cross-border public services is still