ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the political discourses portrayed the German-Polish border region as an area ready to reap the benefits of European integration and of a neoliberal growth regime which would ensure that economic success and prosperity would radiate from a Berlin growth pole. In retrospect, and as early warnings voiced by critical observers predicted East Germany's peripheries have experienced a dramatic decline through deindustrialization and population loss. Although economic prospects for the coming years indicate that Germany and the accession states will enjoy economic benefits from European Union (EU) enlargement. The chapter also explores that whereas East Brandenburg continues to suffer from stagnation and even negative growth rates, western Poland has maintained a relatively strong position within the national context, as highlighted in particullarly by the agglomeration of Szczecin and its remarkable concentration of economic potential. In practical terms, the failure to develop adequate policy responses, particularly on the German side of the border.
