The
Catalan
cross-border area is a
territory with more than a million inhabitants covering 10,000 sq. km,
from the Pyrénées-Orientales department on the
French side (Northern Catalonia) to the Gerona Region in Spain. There
are many similarities between these two spaces separated by the
French-Spanish border: similar morphology, with the Mediterranean coast
to the East, urbanised plains around the two main conurbations of
Perpignan and Gerona, and in the West a much more sparsely populated
mountainous area. The territory is also characterised by a high
attractiveness for tourists, many jobs and a common culture in the
Catalan identity. However, there are also many differences
between the two sides. The economy of the southern part is more
industrial than that of the north, which is more reliant on farming and
services. Cultural differences are also marked with regard to housing:
on the northern side house rental is predominant, whereas on the
southern side the majority of apartments is owner-occupied.
Despite
the weight of history which has
contributed to a distancing
between these two territories, their cross-border links remain very
strong. Today the inhabitants do not hesitate to cross the border for
reasons mainly relating to trading practices and leisure. Some have
even moved permanently to the other side of the border, such as the
many Catalans from the south who live in French Cerdagne.
It is these characteristics, these points in common, these divergences
and these cultural and historical links which make this space a genuine
cross-border living area. And it is this territory, under the name
"Catalan cross-border area", that the local authorities on both sides
of the border want to cover with a genuine joint cross-border project,
based on practical actions.
Towards the creation
of an EGTC
The
political steering committee
for the constitution of a Eurodistrict
of the Catalan area met in Gerona on 21 November 2008. The
representatives of the twenty-five institutions making up the territory
confirmed, at this committe, their determination to organise themselves
in a joint cross-border body.
Since 2007, the twenty-five institutions that signed the
Céret declaration of 27 July 2007 have been working in this
steering committee to attain the objectives they set when signing the
declaration: to structure and harmonise this space through a joint
spatial planning and sustainable development policy with the aim of
solving the day-to-day problems of the populations in areas as varied
as employment, the economy, services, means of communication, tourism,
education, etc. The intention is to set up a cooperation entity for the
Catalan cross-border area with legal personality and financial autonomy.
Gerona
This is the context in which the Mission Opérationnelle
Transfrontalière (MOT) was given the task of providing
guidance for the organisation of this Eurodistrict. The MOT has worked
in collaboration with the University of Gerona on this project: it has
gone over the cross-border territory with a fine-tooth comb, meeting
more than sixty protagonists on the two sides of the border, analysed
the functioning and the issues of the territory and identified the
topics and projects contributing most to structuring, with the aim of
producing a proposal for joint cross-border governance.
The conclusions
of this study were presented on 21 November 2008 in Gerona at the
meeting of the Eurodistrict’s political steering committee.
At the end of this meeting Christian Bourquin, president of the
Pyrénées-Orientales department council, and
Josep-Lluis Carod-Rovira, vice-president of the Generalitat of
Catalonia, on behalf of all the attending elected representatives,
confirmed their determination to set up a joint legal structure for the
Eurodistrict by the end of 2009 in the form of a European Grouping of
Territorial Cooperation (EGTC).
The cross-border territory 
The
Catalan
cross-border area is a
territory with more than a million inhabitants covering 10,000 sq. km,
from the Pyrénées-Orientales department on the
French side (Northern Catalonia) to the Gerona Region in Spain. There
are many similarities between these two spaces separated by the
French-Spanish border: similar morphology, with the Mediterranean coast
to the East, urbanised plains around the two main conurbations of
Perpignan and Gerona, and in the West a much more sparsely populated
mountainous area. The territory is also characterised by a high
attractiveness for tourists, many jobs and a common culture in the
Catalan identity. However, there are also many differences
between the two sides. The economy of the southern part is more
industrial than that of the north, which is more reliant on farming and
services. Cultural differences are also marked with regard to housing:
on the northern side house rental is predominant, whereas on the
southern side the majority of apartments is owner-occupied. 
Despite
the weight of history which has
contributed to a distancing
between these two territories, their cross-border links remain very
strong. Today the inhabitants do not hesitate to cross the border for
reasons mainly relating to trading practices and leisure. Some have
even moved permanently to the other side of the border, such as the
many Catalans from the south who live in French Cerdagne. 
The
political steering committee
for the constitution of a Eurodistrict
of the Catalan area met in Gerona on 21 November 2008. The
representatives of the twenty-five institutions making up the territory
confirmed, at this committe, their determination to organise themselves
in a joint cross-border body. 
The conclusions
of this study were presented on 21 November 2008 in Gerona at the
meeting of the Eurodistrict’s political steering committee.
At the end of this meeting Christian Bourquin, president of the
Pyrénées-Orientales department council, and
Josep-Lluis Carod-Rovira, vice-president of the Generalitat of
Catalonia, on behalf of all the attending elected representatives,
confirmed their determination to set up a joint legal structure for the
Eurodistrict by the end of 2009 in the form of a European Grouping of
Territorial Cooperation (EGTC).