European study on the impacts of border restrictions on citizens

After a year of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is yet again facing fresh border closures and lockdown restrictions. Now it is all the more important to take a step back and analyse the first phase of the crisis and its impact on the cross-border living areas which is done by a study carried out by MOT on behalf of DG Regio and in collaboration of CESCI and AEBR. 

The work was started in July 2020 when the MOT was tasked by DG REGIO to conduct an empirical analysis of the effects of the restrictions imposed by governments in the first wave of the pandemic (March-June 2020) on the inhabitants of border regions.

In order to carry out this assignment, the contributions received by members of the MOT network were analysed and, with the help of its European partners (CESCI and the AEBR), more than twenty players on other European borders were questioned. The resulting study, entitled “The effects of COVID-19 induced border closures on cross-border regions”, is now available.

It comprises two volumes, the first focusing on mapping of the measures taken on national borders both during the lockdown phase and the easing of the lockdowns; an analysis of the very concrete impacts of these measures on the daily lives of the inhabitants of border regions in several areas; an analysis of the role of cross-border structures and agreements during the pandemic; and lessons to be learned from this crisis that has penalised border territories, and recommendations for the future. The second volume consists of a collection of 20 case studies on 20 different borders. Particular attention is given to citizens’ acceptance of the restrictions.

Interviews had been carried out by CESCI from the Hungarian-Slovenian, Hungarian-Croatian, Hungarian-Austrian, Hungarian-Slovakian, Hungarian-Romanian, Austrian-Czech, and Bulgarian-Romanian border section providing a thorough image of the situation during the first wave.