Waldemar RATAJCZAK
Impact Of Poland’s Integrationwith The European Union On The Socio-Economic Status Of Polish Regions.
Poland's integration with the European Union countries has had a variety of consequences: political, economic and other. They can be observed most readily at the national level. But from a spatial point of view, the Polish economy is not homogeneous - it varies regionally. The identification of the impact of the integration with the EU on the Polish regions in its socio-economic aspects is the research problem addressed in this paper. One of its findings is that the Structural Funds have had a positive impact on the national and regional economies. Still, the regions of Poland's so-called Eastern Belt (or Wall) need special operational programmes designed to help them catch up with the rest of the country.

Vladimír SLAVÍK, Robert GRÁC
Developing The Capital City Functions Of Bratislava.
Bratislava – along with ten other cities – is one of the European capitals that came into existence most recently after the formation of new States at the end of the 20^th century. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the birth of the Slovak Republic in 1993, Bratislava became the capital of an independent State entity for the third time in its history. The objective of this paper is to analyze the process of developing capital functions, not only in the past but primarily after 1993. In previous research, several authors have dealt with the issue but, in most cases, questions regarding the spatial location of institutions were capital-related and the administrative function was neglected. After a brief recapitulation of the function of the capital in the past, we examine the process of developing a network of all central authorities and other public administration institutions, at regional and lower levels.

Tereza STRÁNSKÁ, Marek HAVLÍČEK
Cological Assessment Of Landscape Development And Changes In The Ivančice Microregion (Czech Republic).
An assessment of the development and changes in the landscape of the Ivančice region over the period 1837-2006 is presented in this article. The monitoring of changes in this landscape was based on old topographic maps, in combination with other historical materials (photographs, chronicles). Analysis of landscape development was based on land use changes in five time periods. The results revealed a distinct simplification of landscape structure and, in particular, a radical shrinkage of permanent grassland stands since the 1950s.

Szilárd SZABÓ, György SZABÓ, Csaba FODOR, László PAPP
An Investigation Of The Environmental Impacts Of Two Sewage Disposal Sites On Soil And Groundwater Conditions In The County Of Hajdú-Bihar (Hungary).
One of the numerous environmental problems in Hungary is the lack of sewage systems at the settlement level and the inappropriate treatment of communal waste water. This problem is apparent especially in small villages with low budgets. An overview of research on the environmental impacts of two sewage disposal sites, constructed without any technical isolation, which were examined for a period of one year, is presented in this report. The aim is to demonstrate the general problems of these sewage disposal lakes, and to indicate some practical experiences with respect to the deterioration of soils and groundwater quality.

Antonín VAISHAR, Jana ZAPLETALOVÁ, Petr DVOŘÁK
Border Administrative Units In The Czech Republic.
The paper deals with outlining the main contemporary problems of the Czech borderland against a background of changing character of the present European borders. The Czech borderland was delimited by 110 micro-regions of the authorized communes situated in the immediate vicinity of the state border. The qualification structure of population was identified as the main indicator of marginality in the borderland. The share of inhabitants elder than 15 years with post-secondary education was chosen as the particular indicator. All 110 frontier micro-regions can be found below the Czech average according to this indicator. Additionally, an analysis of the character of individual sections of the border according to their physical character, historical heritage and presuppositions of the trans-border co-operation was implemented. Catchment areas of the weakest centres and micro-regions consisting of small and very small settlements are considered for the most problematic. An improvement of the qualification structure of people, which has an important impact on preparedness for trans-border co-operation, is the most acute challenge for at least partial overcoming of marginality.