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Abstract
The adoption of Schengen Agreement and acceleration of cross-border region building among European Union (EU) member states have considerably diversified the character of identity policies in European border areas. One important outcome is the formation of different spatial identities for improving the policies of cross-border cooperation. Using the formation of internationalized spatial identity of North European twin cities Haparanda (Sweden) and Tornio (Finland) as study example, this article argues that the promoters of cross-border cooperation still pay little attention to the strategic planning and coordination of identity policies. As a result, the promotion of an international spatial identity of cross-border cooperation remains unbalanced failing adequately to support the aims of cooperation policies. The ineffective integration between cooperation policies and international identity of cooperation complicates the building of competitive and dynamic cross-border regions in the EU peripheral areas as well as responding to challenges of EU's territorial cohesion.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to express their warm thanks to the Haparanda-Tornio Tourist office for their permission to use figures 1 and 2.
Notes
The “Tornedalians” are the native population on Swedish territory, and they speak either Finnish or Meänkieli (“Our Tongue”) (Winsa, Citation2005). The official status of Meänkieli (also known as Torne Valley Finnish) was confirmed by the Swedish parliament as a minority language in December 1999. Some authors have argued that Meänkieli has a specific politico-historical background by which it was formed from Swedish and archaic Finnish as a local dialect.