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The Economic and Social Attitude of Young People to the Border Regions Where They Live
109-123Views:111The study maps the North-Eastern European 17-19-year old young people living in the counties along the border in Poland, Ukraine and Hungary. The hypothesis of the research study is that the regional identity of the young people is in significant connection with their transborder economic, social activity. According to another research hypothesis those young people assess their attitude to the neighbouring nationalities „very positively” who travel abroad more often and/or whose relatives are members of that nationality. The regions selected to the research have special geographical endowments, however, they face serious economic and social difficulties as well. The competitiveness and prosperity of these regions more and more depend on whether the people and enterprises living there are able to optimally use all the territorial advantages. The competitiveness of the economy depends on the development of relationships with other territories, however, research studies have shown that current enterprises in this region could not live with the opportunities offered by the region’s location, which can be explained by their postsocialist past (Hardi, 2001). From the 1990s cross-border cooperation started to appear among the North-Eastern European regions. The 2004 EU accession made free movement of goods, services and capital possible for two countries (Hungary and Poland) from among the examined countries. In addition to this movement, the flow of technology and ideas as well as cross-border cooperation have become a more and more important element of the regional development. The reason why the 17-19-year old age group has become the target group of the research study is that they were not only born into these new possibilities but they will also become a part of their daily lives. Hopefully during the next decade this age group will become the engine of the crossborder economy and cohesion due to their regional location and their relations.