ABSTRACT
The appearance of the Soviet Union in the Carpathian basin and the political and economic power that it exerted over the whole of Eastern-Mid-Europe also had a widespread influence upon the regional development of the Carpathian Basin. By the beginning of the 20th century in historical Hungary certain distinctive regional cores were emerging and, through the process of economic development, definitive regions became established. Hungary, with its central position in the Carpathian basin, and its relatively open economy, is interested in cooperation at all levels including cross-border regional cooperation, as well as international regional cooperation. Political borders crossing the Carpathian Basin made what had previously been internal regional relationships into international links in a legal sense. Trust and ambitions for mutual advantages would be important requirements for regional cooperation and development, but local geographical coherence would provide the spatial foundations.
