New re-bordering left them alone and neglected: Czech cross-border commuters in German-Czech borderland

ABSTRACT

The article focuses on the impact of the new re-bordering, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, on the functional, ideational and institutional dimension of cross-border integration, as perceived by the Czech cross-border commuters employed on the German side of the Euroregion Elbe Labe. The interviews with forty cross-commuters showed that they were left alone in these times of re-bordering and became victims of non-coordination between Czechia and Germany. Yet, cross-border commuting seems to have survived the first pandemic waves and the German labour market will continue to attract the Czech workforce despite that fact the pandemic has introduced a major uncertainty associated with the border crossing. The pandemic has revealed the need for a functional system of the cross-border management in the period of crisis to protect cross-border commuters and provide them with better security.

EDITED BY:

• Evelyn Ersanilli and Agnieszka Kubal

KEYWORDS:

• Re-bordering
• cross-border commuters
• COVID-19
• Czech-German borderland
• border checks

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank both anonymous reviewers, who substantially helped to re-direct and improve the final version of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research conducted by Lukáš Novotný was supported by the LTAB19023 project entitled ‘Problems of Cross-Border Cooperation and Cross-Border Management in the Czech-Bavarian Borderland’ (Inter-Action Bavaria, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic). The research conducted by Hynek Böhm was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland, as part of the project ‘Analysis of the Cross-border Cooperation in V4 Countries’, UMO-2020/37/B/HS5/02445.

Notes on contributors

Lukáš Novotný

Lukáš Novotný is a associate professor of political science at Jan-Evangelista-Purkyne University in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic. His research interests include border studies and political sociology.

Hynek Böhm

Hynek Böhm is a associate professor of regional and social development at Technical University in Liberec, Czech Republic, and University of Opole, Poland. His research interests include border studies and political geography