From vertical to horizontal Europeanisation? Drivers and constraints of cross-border cooperation in the German-Polish borderland

Cross-border cooperation in the German-Polish borderland could develop only after the fall of communism. Even if there were some cross-border activities between the Polish People’s Republic and the German Democratic Republic, they were politically instrumentalised and ideologically driven. However, after the democratic transition of Poland and the reunification of Germany, cross-border structures have been established very quickly within the vertical Europeanisation process. Euroregions, eurocities, partnerships, and other forms were founded already in the 1990s. Yet, the new tool of the EGTC created in 2006 by the European Parliament and the Council has been rarely used by Polish and German actors. Although the COVID-19 rebordering crisis demonstrated the vulnerability of local/regional structures and actors in relation to central level governments, they demonstrated motivation and determination to defend the achievements of cross-border cooperation. This might be interpreted as an indicator of horizontal Europeanisation. Following the Europeanisation approach, the paper aims to discuss determinants of cross-border cooperation in the German-Polish borderland by analysing existing structures and agency behind the cross-border cooperation. It is based on results of qualitative studies (semi-structured interviews and document analysis) conducted in the periods 2017-2020 and 2022-2023 within two research projects focused on German-Polish cross-border cooperation funded by the German-Polish Science Foundation.