Legal solution for the institutionalisation of urban agglomeration areas (Legal accessibility: Sixth milestone)

As part of the 6th milestone of the Legal Accessibility project, a study was carried out with the involvement of French experts to take stock of the situation and governance models of cross-border conurbations in France, showing their modalities and legal frameworks and the underlying territorial dynamics.

As part of the project, building on the French experience, an analysis focusing on Hungary was written, consisting of three chapters:

• The history of Hungarian municipal associations and agglomeration organisations since system transformation (Roland Hesz and Zsombor Nagy)
• Evaluation of the solutions for cross-border agglomeration applied within the French framework based on the Hungarian regulatory environment (Edit Somlyódyné Pfeil PhD)
• Hungarian legal solutions for the institutionalisation of urban agglomerations (Norbert Jankai)

The aim of the above studies is to provide ammunition for the institutionalisation of French-style urban cooperation along the Hungarian borders adapted to the Hungarian reality. The vast majority of border towns, despite the EU’s open internal borders, are in a peripheral position, as their organic influencing area and the administrative grid ensured by the national administrative system do not coincide. As they are not able to perform their spatial development functions in a 360 ° circle without hindrance, the operation of the local institutions cannot be ensured economically or they can be provided only within the administrative system of the given country, which is a foreseeable guarantee for gradual decline.