People who live in provinces at their country's border, especially provinces that share a lot of culture with the neighbouring country – are you glad that you are not a part of the neighbouring country, politically?

This question came to my mind when visiting Ticino region of Switzerland. I understand that Italy is not as economically prosperous as Switzerland, and Ticino gets a piece of the pie along with Zurich, Geneva etc., unlike Lombardy or South Tyrol – whose fortunes are more linked to policies in Rome. Would an average person from Ticino think that he got very lucky because his province is in a union with other rich province's, rather than say, with Sicily or Campania?

What about people from Limburg in Netherlands? Are they glad that they aren't a part of Belgium? And people from Wallonia? Would they rather be a province of France than of Belgium?


15 comments

  1. Dutch/German border resident here, the difference between our nations is very subtle in the direct vicinity of the border. As soon as I drive 5 kilometers into the neighbouring country I realise how immensely different we truly are.

  2. I’m not originally from Limburg, but I’ve lived here for 5 years now. I’m mostly glad we’re part of the Netherlands, I would NOT want to deal with German or Belgian bureaucracy. But I do admit that I usually go to Belgium to fuel my car and I sometimes do my food shopping in Germany. Some of my and my partner’s friends and acquaintances have moved right across the border because housing is a lot cheaper on both the Belgian and the German side of the border.

  3. I live in Skåne which is Swedish but historically was Danish. My ancestors were Danish and fought very hard to remain so and Sweden were very brutal in squashing that.

    I wouldn’t rather be Danish than Swedish but I would much prefer for the Nordic countries to form a new union, and I think that comes easily to me in part from living in the border region. Swedish/Danish issues and cooperation is very fundamental here.

    I think the Arctic region is getting geopolitically unstable, Nordic countries have more in common with each other than differences and we need to stand and act together as a strong unit to have a hope of preserving our way of life. A Nordic union that is an EU and NATO member would be ideal.

  4. I’m relatively close to the Italian/Austrian border, though in the culturally Italian part. I couldn’t care less. I’m just glad we have free movement and no more terrorism 🙂

  5. I can see the Swedish coast from our balcony.

    If you ask whether I would rather be Swedish? The thought is just very strange to me. Would absolutely not wish to be anything else than Danish if I am being honest. I hope most Europeans have this feeling about their own nationality.

    I think it could have been much worse (a very Danish approach to it I guess).

  6. I’m from a municipality in Serbia bordering Bosnia and Croatia… what do you think?

    Now, seriously, there’s not much difference. I grew up with all three countries’ TV, popular music is all the same all over the region, not just in the border towns.

    I have a lot of relatives in Bosnia, so I am them (kind of), Croatians across the border are in the same historical region (Syrmia), so the culture is pretty close. Plus all three were in the same countries for some 113-114 years (until the breakup of Yugoslavia and before that Austria-Hungary)

    In the last 10 years Croatia got way ahead being in the EU, so that’s only major difference (besides all the ethnic/religious ones). Many people have Croatian passports (both Croats and Serbs expeld in the war) which they used to get by esier in Germany or similar.

  7. As someone from Saarland (the German state bordering France and Luxembourg), we had the unique opportunity to be controlled by France two separate times. Both times, we returned to Germany.

    While we’re jokingly called “Saarfranzosen” by Germans, I think older generations felt culturally German and still have some anti-French sentiment even today. From Louis XIV to Napoleon, the French didn’t exactly treat our area well. With this in mind, and a desire to reunify post-WWII Germany, Saarland voted in 1957 to rejoin Germany for a final time. Despite France’s efforts, forcing a whole generation to switch to French didn’t really take hold. Nonetheless, we’re still the only state in Germany where French is taught before English in school. We also commemorate our relationship with the German-French Gardens (Deutsch-Französischer Garten), German-French bilingual schools (Deutsch-Französisches Gymnasium Saarbrücken), Franco-German businesses (Villeroy & Boch), cultural exchanges, and bilingual signage.

    Regarding Luxembourg, I think that, in hindsight, some of us wish that we had voted for our own independence in 1957. Luxembourg is a wealthy nation while Saarland (with its similar population) isn’t doing so well economically. Unfortunately, decision makers and voters in the 1950s didn’t have the foresight to plan for the entire coals and steel industry to disappear over the coming decades.

  8. I live close to a Polish border

    That thought never really crossed my mind or anyone I think of. We’re just glad we can go for cheap shopping whenever we want to.

  9. I used to live 1 km from the French border, I lived on the Italian side, actually the border is at the end of the village, the 2 are just a km apart.
    It amazed me how French the French side was and how Italian side was.
    I was glad to live on the Italian side however because lots of things like restaurants and coffee are cheaper as was the ski pass. I lived there for 5 years.

  11. I Live near the PL/BY border, despite this I’ve never visited Belarus – even when you were allowed to:
    1. There was no point (maybe to get cigarettes/alcohol/fuel)
    2. The queues to the border were absolutely massive with 10+ h waiting times.
    That being said we get Belarusian radio, and used to get a lot of transit (now there’s just 1/10 of the trucks that used to pass)

    From what I heard Belarus, is like Poland 15 years ago but cleaner (less graffiti) and so on.

    And yeah I thank God everyday that I am not Belarussian. tbh, i think that Belarus is the worst neighbor of Poland (worse than even Russia)

    Ps. You can still visit Belarus, but I personally consider it closed due to the situation rn.

  12. Slovakia-hungary border here. I live in Košice and even though I can’t make single sentence in Hungarian, after what our government did, I’m starting to reconsider my opinion on Hungary. For example, income tax: Slovakia – 19-25%
    Hungary – 15%. Corporate tax: Slovakia – 21% Hungary – 9%. Both countries are riddled with corruption and whatever, but at least you can get rich more easily in Hungary.

  15. This sounds like asking if people are either envying or looking down on their neighbours.

    In my personal experience, people living close to the border are usually happy they have easy access to some of the other country’s resources or specialities.

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