On May 27, the Jean Monnet Network “Frontem” organised in collaboration with the Babeș-Bolayi University (Cluj) and the CESCI (Budapest) an online cross-border research seminar on the Romanian-Hungarian border.

This event allowed for a crossed perspective between Romanian and Hungarian researchers and actors of CB relations.

The first topic concerned multicultural cooperation, including cases of external citizenship as a double-edged sword, and multilingual education as a response to national minorities. On the subject of cooperation beyond the Schengen border, the speakers balanced the material and symbolic opportunity for Romania if its candidacy was accepted, and the question of the control of illegal cross-border flows that would still arise. The third panel portrayed the border control system during the communist period as an example of communist surveillance mania. The fourth duo presented some issues regarding ethnic groups at the border, with stereotypes on the one hand, and on the other hand the adaptability and negotiation capacity of borderland people, which is a resource that is not yet fully tapped. The last group looked back at the many changes that the Romanian-Hungarian border has undergone in the last 100 years, from a hard, closed and exclusive border to a soft and open one.

Nevertheless, institutionalized cross-border cooperation still needs to develop its strategic and functional aspects, and to strengthen mutual trust.  To this end, it needs further assistance and a supportive attitude from the EU and national authorities.