Short-term Impacts of Enlargement in the Romanian and Hungarian Border Crossing
Short-term Impacts of Enlargement in the Romanian and Hungarian Border Crossing

Summary/Abstract: Romania is a strategic and immensely important link between East and West for both the European Union and Hungary. Furthermore, because of the large Hungarian population in Romania regions, the Hungarian-Romanian state borders are also high priority national strategic regions. Its special position has meant that this 447.8 km long Hungarian-Romanian border section has always reacted as a fi ne seismograph to different regional and local political, economic, social and cultural impacts. This is well reflected by the data on the changes in border traffic. The Euro-Atlantic integration of central-eastern-European countries and the significant differences in this area raise numerous questions about the penetrability of borders. In previous years, international migration expanded gradually; today, this has changed. Besides largescale population movements for social, societal and employment reasons, there are also signifi cant movements associated with international criminal activities. Illegal migration, arms brokering, drug trade, nuclear and other high-tech device smuggling are global risk factors. Moreover, international terrorism has become the main issue in security policy since September 11, 2001. Therefore, the more-or-less rightful fear of international migration, relating to both legal and illegal processes, sharply contrasts with citizens’ natural demand for easy border access and for keeping contacts with Hungarian populations in the transborder region.

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