Cross-border integration and local communities, 2012: Effects of the entry of the Republic of Slovenia into the Schengen area on the development possibilities of the ethnically mixed area in Prekmurje

Within the ARRS program group "Areas of cultural contact in integration processes" a case study among members of the Hungarian national minority in Prekmurje in the border area, specifically on the border with Hungary, Austria and Croatia was conducted by field survey. The purpose of the study was to get to know the life of the minority in the border area, that is culturally mixed area of Prekmurje, to determine the intensity of cross-border contacts along the Slovenian-Hungarian border and to identify the role of the minority in maintaining various contacts with Hungary, the role of the media in informing about minority issues, the opinion of the border population regarding the effects of Slovenia’s entry into the Schengen area on the further development of relations between the Hungarian minority in Slovenia.