Conurbations 

The Basque Bayonne-San Sebastián Eurocity extends from Bayonne to San Sebastián along 50 km of the Atlantic front of the Pyrenees, on both banks of the River Bidassoa, the mouth of which marks the border between France and Spain. The main towns in this coastal cross-border conurbation of 600,000 inhabitants are those of the Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz Conurbation community on the French side and San Sebastián on the Spanish side.

This cross-border conurbation forms a true urban corridor and is located on one of the main road axes existing between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe. This situation as an obligatory point of passage for road traffic naturally results in a high flow of traffic at different levels (local as well as trans-European) and of different natures: people (cross-border workers, tourists, patients, students, etc.) vehicles (24,000/day).

Bayonne, France

This cross-border area, lying between the sea and the mountains, is of great beauty and as a result is a territory under great pressure as its infrastructures, area of available land, and real estate are reaching saturation point.

San Sebastian, Spain

Cross-border cooperation operates within a very clear context of voluntary action and is based on a melting pot with a common culture. These premises date back to Spain's accession to the European Community in 1986 but it only really took off as from 1993, the date when a “Eurocity” project was launched, associating the Diputacion Foral de Guipuzcoa and the communes of Fontarabie and Irun on the Spanish side, the District of Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz (which has since then become a conurbation community), and Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Hendaye on the French side.

Hendaye, France

Several issues have been clearly identified during this time, mainly related to transport (motorways, tram-train, ports, airports), health (emergency medicine) and culture (identity and the Basque language).

In terms of the structure of this cooperation, a Bayonne-San Sebastián cross-border observatory was formed in 1997 under the form of a EIEG, consisting exclusively of the Diputacion Foral de Guipuzcoa and the BAB District. It was transformed into the “Cross-border Agency for the development of the Basque Bayonne-San Sebastián Eurocity” in 2000. This structure is both a technical and political tool aimed at revitalising cross-border cooperation through four missions: to conduct or commission studies, seek funding, coordinate public or private initiatives and develop joint initiatives with national authorities and at European level. Since then, significant projects have been developed: a prospective document (White Paper in 2000), a cross-border convention on waste treatment, the creation of the Consorcio Bidassoa-Txingudi (legal structure including Hendaye, Irun and Fontarabie), and the project which is currently under preparation: the Atlantic-Pyrenees Euro-Institute.