Within the EU the cohesion policy and encouragement for cross-border cooperation has becomemore important over the years. And in the academia, there has been a lot of research about thesekinds of cooperation. However, there have been few studies of cross-border cooperation regarding underpinning factors for successful cross-border cooperation. This study aims to create a theoretical model for factors that influence the success of such cooperation. This model is later applied to the cross-border cooperation between Västerbotten and Örnsköldsvik in then orthern Sweden and the tree counties of Österbotten in Finland, which is called Kvarkenrådet. The main purpose of this study is to find out whether Kvarkenrådet is a successful cross-border cooperation by applying the theoretical model on Kvarkenrådet:s cooperations. To answer the aim on the study two personal interviews have been conducted with the director of Kvarkenrådet Mathias Lindström and the president of the bord Lennart Holmlund and later the empirical results from the interviews is compared to the theoretical model of factors that influence cross-border cooperation. The result showed that all the factors in the theoretical model could be identified in Kvarkenrådet. Except from the factors in the theoretical model. The conclusion of this study is that Kvarkenrådet is a successful cross border cooperation that is built on many different factorson different level.

The thesis is dealing with development and evaluation of the Cross-Border Cooperation within the EU, as a part of the EU Cohesion policy, with Focus on the Czech Republic. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the cross-border cooperation programmes in the Czech Republic from the applicants' and selected implementation structure subjects' point of view. These selected subjects are the Ministry for Regional Development of the CR, the Centre for Regional Development of the CR and administrative regions of the CR. The first part of the thesis refers to the history and development of the Cross-Border Cooperation within the EU and the CR and to the reasons which led to its establishment. The last part is focused on the description and the evaluation of applicants' and selected implementation structure subjects' experiences with cross-border cooperation programmes and their perception of the Cross-Border Cooperation in the CR. As a method for the evaluation of the cross-border cooperation programmes in the CR were used the following procedures: an analysis of the available publications and internet sources, interview with representatives of the Ministry for Regional Development of the CR and the Centre for Regional Development of the CR, and an inquiry via questionnaire among the administrative regions of the CR.