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The processes of European Union (EU) integration and enlargement have produced a new regional socioeconomic map in Europe. Border regions, in particular, have been put in a state of flux. The re‐allocation of activities, opportunities and threats is changing their socioeconomic role and significance. Thus, border regions have become an issue of great importance during the last fifteen years in both the areas of scientific research and policy making. The overall picture of the actual dynamics occurring at the border regions, however, when economic barriers have been abolished, remains rather unclear. The absence of an appropriate methodological framework for the study of the impact of EU integration and enlargement dynamics on border regions is evident.

The paper proposes a typology for the EU NUTS III border regions, interpreting the socioeconomic dynamics occurring within the enlarged EU space …