Eurocidade Chaves-Verín

Chaves (44 186 inhabitants) and Verín (14 433 inhabitants) are two towns located on the Portuguese-Spanish border, between North Portugal and the Autonomous Community of Galicia. Far from only 15 km from each other (city centres, because the municipalities are really together, only the former customs separate them),, they both have a great historical importance, Chaves being the site of an important Roman garrison and later being in the forefront of resistance during the Napoleonic invasions of the early nineteenth century and Verín with its Monterrey Castle which played an important role throughout the Portuguese-Spanish wars, having been strategically built on the frontier for the purpose. Since 2007, they form together the Eurocidade Chaves-Verín, a conurbation of 59 000 inhabitants. This common territory is not separated Tâmega River, and form on the contrary a natural corridor between the two cities and countries. Many of the local people, mostly on the Portuguese side, have emigrated to northern Europe, especially France in the 1970’s and return visit their villages in summer (population of Chaves doubles in August). Concerning the proximity cross-border flows, there isn’t yet any statistics available.

The two border areas share some characteristics.
- In term of infrastuctures, they were considerered as isolated: Chaves has been isolated from the coastal urban centers and hads suffered from a lack of convenient road communications till 2007. Recently, a new non-toll highway (A24) was opened to traffic and links Chaves to the rest of Portugal (Vila Real, Porto, Viseu, Lisbon), and in the future will connect to Spain. Verín is linked with Madrid and Ourense/Vigo by the highway A-52 and by the N-525.
- The local economy is still based on agriculture (potatoes, corn, rye or milk production on the Portuguese side and wine production on the Spanish side), industry (water bottling and construction, a sector in crisis today) and services (especially health tourism on the Portuguese side, more cultural tourism on the Spanish side with the Monterey Castle). Today, the cross-border area tries to attract more investors drawing profit from its strategic position in the Iberic peninsula.

Moreover, both cities and their surroundings want to develop the cross-border area through exchanges in the field of culture, of students, the development of a public transport network creating a direct daily link between or access to health or the development of joint activities in the filed of tourism, research, education and vocational training, sports, logistics/industry and environment.

At the local level, Chaves is a municipality (município) divided in 3 civil parishes (freguesias). In Portugal, the municipalities are competent for the management of municipal assets, public works and urbanism , education (the 4 initials levels), culture, environment and streets lighting while the freguesias ensure only proximity services (like, for example, water supply or streets cleaning)..

On the Spanish side, Verín is a municipality (município) formed by 18 parishes (parroquias). In Spain, the competences of every municipality are social services, water supply, street lighting, urban traffic control and urban security, licences for economical activities. The municipalities over 5000 inhabitants have additional competences: public libraries, green areas, proposal of urban planning... Verín belongs to this category because it has more than 5000 inhabitants and less than 20.000 inhabitants.

At the regional level, Chaves belongs to the district of Vila Real and to the Region Norte. The district is mainly competent for coordination of services in the district, for coordination of local authorities activities in regard mainly to civil protection. Portugal (mainland) is divided into five regions, administered by the Commissions for Coordination and Regional Development (Comissões de Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Regional). The commissions are administrative bodies responsible for the development of the regions.

On the Spanish side, Verín belongs to the province of Ourense which is located in the Autonomous Community of Galicia. In Spain, the competences of the province (provincia) are coordination of common municipal services, legal, economic and technical aid to municipalities, provision of supra-municipal services, development and administration of the province. The Autonomous Community (Comunidad autonóma) is one of 17 regional authorities of Spain. It has competences of organisation of the institutions, land development, public works, economy, agriculture, culture, social policies, environmental management, development of economical activities, health, education, etc.

The Eurocity is located in 2 regions, Galicia and Northern Portugal which initiated a cross-border co-operation in terms of strategic planning in the 1980’s. That wish to co-ordinate spatial policies at the Regional level is due to an increasing integration of both economies in a European context. The first talks started with the entry of Portugal and Spain into the European Union in 1986, a national decision with has led to a strong interlinked economic development at the regional scale. 20 years after that entry, Galicia has become the 4th most important economic partner of Portugal, the Spanish region becoming for Portugal an economic partner more important than the United Kingdom. The volume of trade between Galicia and Northern Portugal has increased tremendously during the past decade. At the moment, it represents more than 7% of all Spanish-Portuguese trade. That integration was made possible because of the free-market policies of the European Union and some infrastructures investments subsidized by the European structural funds (bridges, motorway).

The necessity of a direct public co-ordination at the interregional level led to the creation of a “Working Community” in 1991. That community became the governance tool of the Euroregion “Galicia-Northern Portugal” (see the map below). The executive control of the cross-border governance system is shared by the 2 regional authorities, the president of both public bodies being alternatively president of the working community. The system has also involved other partners through two types of commissions: the thematic commissions (environment – competitiveness/businesses – institutional socio-economical integration) and the territorial ones (4 cross-border valleys and an urban network). Socio-economic representatives and local authorities are associated to the commissions’ work, the spatial groups discussing about thematic issues. Two instruments have been created to support the commissions’ work: a prospective unit and an interregional spatial observatory. The working community has had no legal statutes but it does prevent the group from having a clear interregional mandate in terms of strategic planning and territorial cohesion. Its objective has consisted, till now, in stimulating a cross-border development framework through a multi-scale/multi-thematic platform.

In 1991, another cross-border governance initiative took place in the area. Contrary to the first one, its executive members are local public authorities, that is to say in the present case, 34 Galician and Portuguese cities and medium size towns working in a registered association called “Eixo Atlântico” (see the map below). The main objective of the association is to stimulate connections between its members in terms of sustainable development in a European context as well as take advantages of common potentialities and grow together in several fields. It has helped its members concerning communautary expertise and territorial marketing at the EU scale. More generally the governance initiated by the association is instrumental in the building-up of a polycentric organisation of the cross-border region. It is a transnational information platform for urban centres working with one another in 8 commissions (sustainable development – planning and transportation – youth and education – public services improvement – culture – tourism – sport) supported by a survey unit.

Chaves and Verín have been associated to the work of both governance systems as local authorities involved in the same cross-border valley of Tamega (one of the 4 territorial commissions of the interregional Working Community) and as urban centres members of Eixo atlantico. Consequently, the working habits developed between both city councils in the 2 spatial ensembles and the geographical proximity between the 2 urban settlements contributed to the recent creation of the Eurocity, project that has been really driven and encouraged by that Institution.


Overall situation
Chaves (44 186 inhabitants) and Verín (14 433 inhabitants) are two towns located on the Portuguese-Spanish border, between North Portugal and the Autonomous Community of Galicia. Far from only 15 km from each other (city centres, because the municipalities are really together, only the former customs separate them),, they both have a great historical importance, Chaves being the site of an important Roman garrison and later being in the forefront of resistance during the Napoleonic invasions of the early nineteenth century and Verín with its Monterrey Castle which played an important role throughout the Portuguese-Spanish wars, having been strategically built on the frontier for the purpose. Since 2007, they form together the Eurocidade Chaves-Verín, a conurbation of 59 000 inhabitants. This common territory is not separated Tâmega River, and form on the contrary a natural corridor between the two cities and countries. Many of the local people, mostly on the Portuguese side, have emigrated to northern Europe, especially France in the 1970’s and return visit their villages in summer (population of Chaves doubles in August). Concerning the proximity cross-border flows, there isn’t yet any statistics available. The two border areas share some characteristics. - In term of infrastuctures, they were considerered as isolated: Chaves has been isolated from the coastal urban centers and hads suffered from a lack of convenient road communications till 2007. Recently, a new non-toll highway (A24) was opened to traffic and links Chaves to the rest of Portugal (Vila Real, Porto, Viseu, Lisbon), and in the future will connect to Spain. Verín is linked with Madrid and Ourense/Vigo by the highway A-52 and by the N-525. - The local economy is still based on agriculture (potatoes, corn, rye or milk production on the Portuguese side and wine production on the Spanish side), industry (water bottling and construction, a sector in crisis today) and services (especially health tourism on the Portuguese side, more cultural tourism on the Spanish side with the Monterey Castle). Today, the cross-border area tries to attract more investors drawing profit from its strategic position in the Iberic peninsula. Moreover, both cities and their surroundings want to develop the cross-border area through exchanges in the field of culture, of students, the development of a public transport network creating a direct daily link between or access to health or the development of joint activities in the filed of tourism, research, education and vocational training, sports, logistics/industry and environment. Political organisation on both sides of the border At the local level, Chaves is a municipality (município) divided in 3 civil parishes (freguesias). In Portugal, the municipalities are competent for the management of municipal assets, public works and urbanism , education (the 4 initials levels), culture, environment and streets lighting while the freguesias ensure only proximity services (like, for example, water supply or streets cleaning).. On the Spanish side, Verín is a municipality (município) formed by 18 parishes (parroquias). In Spain, the competences of every municipality are social services, water supply, street lighting, urban traffic control and urban security, licences for economical activities. The municipalities over 5000 inhabitants have additional competences: public libraries, green areas, proposal of urban planning... Verín belongs to this category because it has more than 5000 inhabitants and less than 20.000 inhabitants. At the regional level, Chaves belongs to the district of Vila Real and to the Region Norte. The district is mainly competent for coordination of services in the district, for coordination of local authorities activities in regard mainly to civil protection. Portugal (mainland) is divided into five regions, administered by the Commissions for Coordination and Regional Development (Comissões de Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Regional). The commissions are administrative bodies responsible for the development of the regions. On the Spanish side, Verín belongs to the province of Ourense which is located in the Autonomous Community of Galicia. In Spain, the competences of the province (provincia) are coordination of common municipal services, legal, economic and technical aid to municipalities, provision of supra-municipal services, development and administration of the province. The Autonomous Community (Comunidad autonóma) is one of 17 regional authorities of Spain. It has competences of organisation of the institutions, land development, public works, economy, agriculture, culture, social policies, environmental management, development of economical activities, health, education, etc. History of the cross-border co-operation in the area The Eurocity is located in 2 regions, Galicia and Northern Portugal which initiated a cross-border co-operation in terms of strategic planning in the 1980’s. That wish to co-ordinate spatial policies at the Regional level is due to an increasing integration of both economies in a European context. The first talks started with the entry of Portugal and Spain into the European Union in 1986, a national decision with has led to a strong interlinked economic development at the regional scale. 20 years after that entry, Galicia has become the 4th most important economic partner of Portugal, the Spanish region becoming for Portugal an economic partner more important than the United Kingdom. The volume of trade between Galicia and Northern Portugal has increased tremendously during the past decade. At the moment, it represents more than 7% of all Spanish-Portuguese trade. That integration was made possible because of the free-market policies of the European Union and some infrastructures investments subsidized by the European structural funds (bridges, motorway). The necessity of a direct public co-ordination at the interregional level led to the creation of a “Working Community” in 1991. That community became the governance tool of the Euroregion “Galicia-Northern Portugal” (see the map below). The executive control of the cross-border governance system is shared by the 2 regional authorities, the president of both public bodies being alternatively president of the working community. The system has also involved other partners through two types of commissions: the thematic commissions (environment – competitiveness/businesses – institutional socio-economical integration) and the territorial ones (4 cross-border valleys and an urban network). Socio-economic representatives and local authorities are associated to the commissions’ work, the spatial groups discussing about thematic issues. Two instruments have been created to support the commissions’ work: a prospective unit and an interregional spatial observatory. The working community has had no legal statutes but it does prevent the group from having a clear interregional mandate in terms of strategic planning and territorial cohesion. Its objective has consisted, till now, in stimulating a cross-border development framework through a multi-scale/multi-thematic platform. Working Community and Euroregion Galicia – Norte de Portugal In 1991, another cross-border governance initiative took place in the area. Contrary to the first one, its executive members are local public authorities, that is to say in the present case, 34 Galician and Portuguese cities and medium size towns working in a registered association called “Eixo Atlântico” (see the map below). The main objective of the association is to stimulate connections between its members in terms of sustainable development in a European context as well as take advantages of common potentialities and grow together in several fields. It has helped its members concerning communautary expertise and territorial marketing at the EU scale. More generally the governance initiated by the association is instrumental in the building-up of a polycentric organisation of the cross-border region. It is a transnational information platform for urban centres working with one another in 8 commissions (sustainable development – planning and transportation – youth and education – public services improvement – culture – tourism – sport) supported by a survey unit. Members of Eixo Atlântico Chaves and Verín have been associated to the work of both governance systems as local authorities involved in the same cross-border valley of Tamega (one of the 4 territorial commissions of the interregional Working Community) and as urban centres members of Eixo atlantico. Consequently, the working habits developed between both city councils in the 2 spatial ensembles and the geographical proximity between the 2 urban settlements contributed to the recent creation of the Eurocity, project that has been really driven and encouraged by that Institution.
Cross-border territorial cohesion policies
Current cross-border governance in the Eurocidade Chaves-Verín The Eurocity is a relatively new cross-border governance tool as it was officially created in 2007. It is not yet a registered organisation. The system is based on the political co-operation between the Mayors of Verín and Chaves. The Eurocity unites both cities and not the Spanish and Portuguese groupings of municipalities located on both sides of the Tamega valley. The decision was taken by the two mayors to start with a bilateral linkage with a view to extend the co-operation to the surrounding communes in the years to come. It was considered strategically better to search for a local cross-border spatial cohesion at the border point before enlarging the perimeter of actions and decision-making at the local level. The mayors meet each other on a regular basis (once a month). The co-operation is based on a strong political will and a personal good relationship. At the same time, as previously mentioned, the Eurocity is linked with the other policy-makers’ networks in the cross-border area that is to say Eixo Atlantico and the Working Community of Galicia and Northern Portugal. A working group have been formed in September 2007, with the launch of the project and was formed by representatives from both municipalities, as well as CCDR-N, Xunta da Galicia, Diputación provincial de Ourense, Eixo Altántico and Working community Galicia-North Portugal. Also a joint technical secretariat has been set up, formed by one person per city council at the cabinet level, one of them being also Vice-Mayor (City of Verín). In November, the two members of staff have received the support of a new associate, in concern to take care of the itinerant support cabinet to co-ordinate the work of the Eurocity under their supervision . As for the political level, the group of 3 is connected to the task forces of Eixo Atlantico and the Euroregion Working Community. In terms of finance, no European funding has been used up-to-now to pay the cross-border co-ordination. The communication of the Eurocity is in the making. A logo has been created. The events and actions co-ordinated by the Eurocity are mentioned in the media (press and radio) at the local,regional and even national levels. Some articles have also been published in the Spanish and Portuguese national press. Visibility has also been assured by the public support that the Portuguese national government and the Galician regional one have given to the project in several occasions The spoken languages of the cross-border co-operation are Portuguese and Galician/Spanish. As the two idioms share a lot of similarities, each partner speaks its own language and is understood by his counterparts coming from the other side of the border. In terms official activities and written communication, 3 languages are used for instance the common cultural agenda is in Portuguese and Galician, but the activity for children recently developed in order both started learning the other part idiom is in Portuguese and Spanish. This is why at informal level Galician has to be promoted, but the project has to be logical and practical and for children, the Castilian has more future at professional level. Existing programme in favour of territorial cohesion Projects As the Eurocity is a new project territory, it is too early to have developed a large number of actions at that scale, also due to the transferred competences at local level, but some concrete actions have been already put in place and linked directly to the Eurocidade:  Visibility Plan, presented by the Portuguese State Secretary for Regional Development and the Galician Economy and European Matters Minister  Creation of the Support Cabinet with a technical associate.  Eurocity Stand in popular fairs in Chaves and Verin, in order to raise awareness the population with the project  Participation in several forums and publication of articles and interviews in diverse media's.  Worldwide children day celebrated in common.  Itinerant exposition (in Verin and Chaves) of young talents (painting, sculpture...) from both cities  creation of a young investigator group (university students) about subjects related with the project.  Inauguration of the Eixo Atlántico Painting Bienal in the Eurocity  Dynamization economical seminars for entrepreneurship  Cultural Common Agenda  Two Interreg IVA applications presented (Eurocidade and Eurocitivas Aqua Novum) in order to develop the project as a whole in one side and to explore the the potential of the best resource that both municipalities have in common, ie, hot springs.  Leisure and Learning Summer activity: Living together with languages, consisting in teaching Spanish and Portuguese and making tourism and sports together for children of both municipalities.  Signature of protocol for citizens of both municipalities have the same conditions in the use of Chaves thermal facilities and pool and sports public installations in Verin  Ellaboration of the strategic agenda for the Eurocity in the next years, and which covers society, eurocitizenship, environment actions, economical development.... Other cross border actions haven’t been developed between the 2 cities because of the competences required, the money needed or the territories involved but they are all contributing to the intensification of cross-border spatial integration. We can distinguish two types of actions: - The structural ones in terms of transportation and economic development. At the beginning of the decade, it was decided to connect Northern Portugal to Galicia by a motorway. The project which will be finished next year (8 kilometres missing, which will be in place in some months) is of the most importance for the Eurocidade as it will cross it. On the economic side, a large logistic centre including a fish market and a business incubator have been financed with Interreg funding in the commune of Chaves near the motorway. The centre was opened in 2006. It was financed with an Interreg funding through a project associating the Portuguese municipalities’ partnership of Chaves (Mancommunidade) and the Spanish one of Mancommunidade of Salnés on the coast. - The culture/tourism-related ones which enabled to promote ancient path crossing the eurocidade such the cross-border smugglers path and the traditional pilgrimage routes in direction of Santiago de Compostela. A network of museum in the region involving the ones of the eurocity has also been established. The next generation of projects concerning the two communes will be more centred on the Eurocity because of the recent strategy validated at that level. Still, some other interregional projects could be also very important for the Eurocity such as the high-speed train project which should connect Spain and Portugal in the area or the polycentric actions put forwards by the association Eixo Atlantico. Global strategy on territorial cohesion First of all, it is important to say that a global territorial strategy has been validated in 2007 at the Euroregion level for the period 2007-2013. That strategy negotiated with socio-economic representatives and local municipalities has taken into account local structuring initiatives such as the Eurocity one. The development strategy built-up at the Eurocity level has also been based on a participatory policy (presented last July). 70 people including representatives of the local population, interests groups and experts and policy-makers at different levels have been associated to the drafting of the strategy which has been validated by a group of 20 people. It was a major involvement of the civil society and other cross-border governance networks (Eixo Atlantico – Interregional Working Community) in favour of a strategic cross-border agenda. The main axes of that strategy established in 2008 are the following ones: - The development of eurocitizenship - The sustainability of the Eurocity - The stimulation of the economy The increase of a European citizenship at a cross-border level is expected especially through the creation of a social free zone implying an access to both public services by the Spanish and Portuguese local population. Because of the peripheral situation of both cities and the actual policy of scale economies organised in national frameworks, a cross-border access to public services existing locally would be a way to maintain some services; to develop some other ones and consequently to prevent the local population from travelling long distances nationally to get access to the needed services. It is especially the case for health services. Education is also a sector requiring a common agenda at the Eurocity size, especially artistic and university facilities. In terms of sustainability, the water resources are an essential asset of the cross-border area. River purification in the Valley of Tamega is a major cross-border issue. The protection of traditional rural and urban environment is also considered essential for the sustainability of the area. Finally, the building-up of cross-border technology grids and public transport network is thought to be essential for the physical integration of the conurbation. The stimulation of the economy is based on three main activities and innovation. Firstly it consists in modernising the water cures activities and to develop a tourism concept around thermal services. Secondly, a strategy linking retailing, catering facilities and public fairs is developed to sustain that traditional sector in the area. Thirdly, logistics as a new economic sector in the Eurocity thanks to a previous interreg project is considered to be an essential activity to be stimulated. Finally, an endogenous and innovative development is fostered such as local business entrepreneurship. An improved governance system is required to go from strategic policies to structural actions securing a cross-border territorial cohesion. Added value of the «EGTC» URBACT Project A general overview of the Local Action Plan and the URBACT Local Support Group Assessment of the current governance organisation: is it suitable for the implementation of the common strategy.
Conclusion
The creation of a Eurocity in the Tamega Valley in 2007 is due to a political awareness of a cross-border destiny built-up progressively during the past 20 years. Before the entry of Spain and Portugal is the European Union, connections between the two sides of the border were limited and required no cross-border governance. In our days, flows of goods and people are crossing the area thanks to the European market. A large number of development opportunities exist for territories defining development strategies. The creation of the logistic platform in Chaves is the most vivid example of that spatial regeneration. The European economic integration benefiting to the cities of Chaves and Verín hasn’t necessarily implied a global sustainability up to now. The local population is still ageing, most of qualified youngsters trained in external education centres do not to come back in the area, traditional economic sectors need to be restructured, public services are in a phase of reorganisation because of the changing population trends and water pollution is a constant problem. Some solutions can only be found in a cross-border framework. The recent partnership between Chaves and Verín is a public organisation aiming at seizing common opportunities and at resolving common problems. The governance fostered locally is not cut from the rest of cross-border public networks existing at the regional scale. On the contrary, the strategy developed between the two cities has implied a multi-scale partnership and the two cities have been associated to the strategic policies of the other cross-border structures, that is to say the Working Community of Galicia-Northern Portugal and the Eixo Atlantico organisation. The three platforms have a complementary territorial cohesion strategy because of the interlinked dialog. The issue now for them is to implement their strategies. That is to say to co-ordinate structural projects at the cross-border scale. The most decisive structural project expected between Chaves and Verín in the near future is the reorganisation of the water cures activities. The objective is to transform the Eurocity into a water cures destination at the European scale. Many actions are expected to promote that economic sector. Vocational training is, for instance, one of them. The financing of these actions is expected through Interreg funding. The second most important political objective is to foster a cross-border social free zone leading to an integration of local public services. The implementation of the global strategy will require a new governance system at the local scale hence the decision to create an EGTC. The issue is to create a cross-border development tool to improve the citizens’ quality of life. A participatory policy is expected through the EGTC. As for the water cures project, an Interreg application has been full-filled to get European funding for the EGTC. The partners of the project are the two cities, but also the Eixo Atlantico association, the Regional Government of Galicia and the Diputacion of Ourense. The governance objectives are the following ones: - To structure the Eurocity with an operational team, a communication strategy and a prospective agenda associating multi-level and private/public partners - To create the public window of the cross-border area (located in the symbolic custom offices). - To foster a European citizenship through a common use of public services, a cross-border office for youth, an education strategy and projects linking the conurbation (e.g.: public transports network, cultural agenda). - To catalyse the economic development of the eurocity through tourism, retailing activities and the spirit of entrepreneurship - To contribute to the sustainability of the area especially in terms of river purification The spectrum of actions expected by the Eurocity is a wide one. A series of governance tools (common staff – communication strategy – office for youth – participatory commissions – strategic surveys) will be used to structure the eurocitizenship and the cross-border area. Because of the cross-border partnerships already promoted locally, the Eurocidade experiences will be beneficial to the other territories involved in the «EGTC» URBACT Project. At the same time, the next two years will be a crucial period for the Eurocidade. It will be a time dedicated to innovative methods of governance that is to say the building-up of a more efficient governance local action plan. Photos:

Eurocidade Chaves-Verín

Overall situation Cross-border territorial cohesion policies Conclusion


Conurbations