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EUROREGION – a specific area of cross-border regional cooperation in Europe. Euroregions are not areas excluded from the national jurisdiction and administration, they do not infringe the borders, their statutes and activity cannot contradict the national legislation or the international agreements that are in force. The basic and most important legislation that regulates the rules of cross-border relation and cooperation is the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities (1980, ratified by Poland in 1993). The first euroregions were created in Western Europe in the late 1950s. The oldest euroregion was established in 1958 on the German-Dutch border; the oldest euroregion with Polish participation is the euroregion Nysa (Polish-German-Czech), established in 1991. Since 1990s, the euroregions were being created also in Central-Eastern Europe. By 2017, over 100 euroregions were created. Euroregions are established mostly in order to collectively seek solutions to local problems of cross-border character (protection or reconstruction of natural environment, counteracting ecological threats), and also due to the need to support the economic development (cross-border traffic and local tourism of these areas, construction or extension of cross-border infrastructure) or to create an area of cooperation and relations among people from different countries. Regional development and cross-border cooperation projects were for a long time an important element of the EU policy, especially in the scope of regional development. The idea of uniting regional Europe is still an important part of social and economic integration of the EU members. For many years the EU has been financing this goal and supporting this development through community initiatives [ M. Kaczorowska ].

Literature: Euroregiony: mosty do Europy bez granic, red. W. Malendowski, M. Szczepaniak, Warszawa 2000 ■ J.P. Gwizdała, Euroregiony jako forma współpracy transgranicznej w Europie, Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego, nr 855, „Finanse, Rynki Finansowe, Ubezpieczenia” 2015, nr 74, t. 2 ■ W. Malendowski, M. Ratajczak, Euroregiony: polski krok do integracji, Wrocław 2000.