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| Austria and future EU neighbours create cross-border cooperation zone
KITTSEE, Austria, Sept 22 (AFP) - Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic on Monday unveiled plans here to create a regional cooperation zone in the heart of central Europe in 2005. It is the first time that Austria and its former communist neighbours, who will all three join the European Union in May 2004, have embarked on this kind of cross-border cooperation. BizVantage – Serious business, investment and technology intelligence for a serious advantage. Officials described it as a bid to "counter centralism" in the enlarged bloc. The zone will have six million inhabitants and stretch from the Austrian provinces of Burgenland and Lower Austria, which incorporates Vienna, to Brno and Trnva in the northeast of the Czech Republic. It incorporates the Slovak capital Bratislava and Hungary's eastern Gyoer et Sopron regions, and a total of 14 mayor cities in the four countries. Officials from the four countries on Monday signed a declaration of intent in a baroque castle in Kittsee in Burgenland, stating that they want to attract joint investment and create common policies on culture, tourism and the environment. Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are hoping that their project will receive funding from the EU, whose borders will extend eastwards to Ukraine after May 1, 2004. The mayor of Gyoer, Imre Eredics, said he hoped the initiative would "reinforce the competitiveness of the region within the European Union." Vienna's mayor Michael Haeupl, said the aim of setting up the zone was to "create a counter to centralism in Brussels." "We do not want centralism, we want to go towards a common cultural policy, shared infrastructure and an integrated economy and tourism policy," he told AFP. One of the first projects the region wants to tackle is the construction of new railways and roads, notably highways linking Austria with Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. At the moment Hungary is the only one of these countries whose capital has a highway link all the way to Vienna. The four countries are also planning to start building new bridges in the fall across the river March, which forms the border between Slovakia and Austria, said Erwin Proell, the governor of Lower Austria. The representatives from the three ex-communist states on Monday stressed the importance of working together to develop navigation on the Danube, as well as joint tourism and environmental projects. They said would strive to meet Austria's higher standards on protection of the environment. The four countries which gathered here Monday were all part of the old Austro-Hungarian empire and their shared history remains tangible. They signed their declaration of intent in a hall dominated by portraits of former Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz-Joseph and his wife Elisabeth in Kittsee, which lies on the border between Austria and Slovakia and only a few kilometres (miles) from Hungary. The castle is home to an Austrian museum that depicts the traditions and folklore of the multi-ethnic regions the cooperation zone will regroup. Kittsee itself used to belong to Hungary's princely Batthyany family and the Burgenland promise was part of Hungary until 1920. Some 10 regional cooperation pacts already exist in Europe, with one grouping Denmark and Germany, and another Austria and Italy. km/ef/msa/ec Austria-EU-EEurope-cooperation C O P Y R I G H T R E M I N D E RThis article is Copyright 2003 by Agence France-Presse. All articles in the clari.* news hierarchy are Copyrighted and licensed to ClariNet Communications Corp. for distribution. Except for articles in the biz.clarinet newsgroups, only paid subscribers may access these articles. Any unauthorized access, reproduction or transmission is strictly prohibited. We offer a reward to the person who first provides us with information that helps stop those who distribute or receive our news feeds without authorization. Please send reports to reward@clari.net. [Use info@clari.net for sales or other inquiries.] Details on the use of ClariNet material and other info can be found in the user documentation section of our web page.
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