Beschreibung:
The formation of a cross-border metropolitan region of Szczecin has passed the first stages, but it is still a long way to go. One of the reasons for a slow step-by-step-development is the “burden of history”, meaning the new definition of the German-Polish border after World War II and the long-lasting charged relationship between the two countries. With the radical changes in Europe in 1989/90, Poland’s entry into the EU in 2004, and the opening of the labor markets, this situation improved considerably. In fact, since these events the cross-border functional interrelations (labor market, housing market, shopping, crafts and services, foreign direct investments) have prospered. Similarly, the development of institutional arrangements shows progress. Within this process, however, realizing concrete projects in the local and regional context is much easier than the coordination of interests on the large scale of states and nations. An important step in the development process of an institutionally stipulated cross-border metropolitan region occurred in 2010, when different local and regional actors on the Polish side joined for a metropolitan initiative.