A French-German ministerial conference, attended by French secretary of state for European affairs Harlem Désir and his German counterpart Michael Roth, both general-secretaries for French-German cooperation, took place on 6 and 7 July in Metz.
More than 150 people, elected officials and stakeholders in cross-border territories, national and European representatives met in Chamonix on 17-18 June on the occasion of the MOT General Assembly to debate on the impact of territorial reforms on cross-border cooperation.
The current territorial reform in France is going to reinforce the role of regional and local players who are better placed to take action at territorial level. France is converging with most of its neighbours, which should facilitate cross-border cooperation.
On 18 June, following the conference-debate, MOT annual bodies were the occasion of important votes for the association. New statutes, after several months working with members, were adopted.
As part of the programme of the Luxembourg presidency of the EU Council, a workshop on the potential of small and medium-sized towns in polycentric cross-border metropolitan regions took place in Luxembourg City on 30 June.
"The end of roaming – additional charges for telephone calls made and messages sent from abroad – is anticipated with impatience by all border residents,” declared Anne Sander, MEP and MOT vice-president, on the occasion of the launch meeting of a new parliamentary working group on border questions on 24 June at the European Parliament.
Ambitieux projet porté par Le Pays Horloger (France) et le Parc naturel régional du Doubs (Suisse), les Chemins de la Contrebande franco-suisse proposent quatre itinéraires pédestres et VTT entre la France et la Suisse, alternative originale aux randonnées classiques, avec une quête ludique et l’utilisation des nouvelles technologies, qui pimentent les parcours entre France et Suisse et ouvrent un vaste champ de découvertes à partager.
The European Commission adopted on 11th June 2015 the new interregional cooperation programme ("Interreg Europe") between all EU Member States with the participation of Norway and Switzerland, worth more than EUR 359 million.
The report "Qualité de vie, habitants, territoires" (quality of life, inhabitants, territories), delivered to the French Minister of Housing, Territorial Equality and Rural Affairs on 11 May 2015, is available for downloading from the Observatoire des Territoires website [in French].
The KiosK Office, a unique French-German co-production, was inaugurated on 10 June 2015 in Strasbourg in the presence of Harlem Désir, French secretary of state for European affairs.
For the first time, on 29 May 2015, the French Embassy in Madrid brought together local elected representatives and state representatives of the border territories between France and Spain, as well as the leaders of the Aquitaine-Euskadi and Pyrénées-Méditerranée Euroregions, to enable in-depth discussions on all cross-border cooperation between the two countries.
Dans le cadre d'un nouveau partenariat entre le service Mairie-conseils de la Caisse des Dépôts et la MOT, les initiatives et projets transfrontaliers au service de la population locale sont mis en avant et un premier "Bouquet d'expériences transfrontalières" a été mis en ligne.
The MAPTAM (modernisation of territorial public action and affirmation of metropolitan areas) Act of 27 January 2014 has opened up new fields for the cross-border cooperation of large conurbations. Linked with the cohesion policy and the EGTC instrument in particular, it shows that the importance of metropolitan approaches in cross-border living and working areas is being taken into account.
Bridging the gap between France and Germany, Strasbourg is at the heart of the Upper Rhine and has formed diverse partnerships at various levels of cross-border cooperation consistent with its metropolitan policies.
For more than twenty years, the Espace Mont Blanc (FR/IT/CH) has been striving to meet the needs for sustainable and balanced development of the Mont Blanc massif and its valleys, in order to protect and promote this emblematic cross-border territory.
With a view to its presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2015, the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg has placed the clearing of obstacles to cross-border cooperation at the centre of its priorities. A member of the MOT, the Grand-Duchy commissioned it to provide assistance, generating input for one of three technical seminars which took place on 19 May 2015 in Luxembourg City in preparation of its presidency. The MOT analysis is online.
Following an exploratory study carried out by the CGET*, the MOT and the FNAU** and the first European seminar on the observation of cross-border territories held in Nancy in December 2012, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Andorra and Spain concluded an agreement that affirmed their desire to coordinate their initiatives for the statistical observation of border territories.
Joël Giraud, MP for the Hautes-Alpes and former MOT vice-president, has had an amendment to the Health bill passed which requires that the Schémas Régionaux d'Organisation des Soins (SROS) (regional healthcare organisation schemes) include a cross-border section in the territories concerned.
The association’s annual report has just been published. It summarises one year of MOT activities at the service of its members and cross-border territories.
The CHEMI (Centre for High-Level Studies of the Ministry of the Interior - France) publishes the proceedings of the discussions' day on the "cross-border prefect" organized on 20th June 2014, in partnership with the MOT.
In order to illustrate the role of cross-border cooperation and the impact of the projects in the daily life of the inhabitants, the MOT has published a package of project sheets on practical topics such as employment, transport, the environment, health, education and culture.
The Wissembourg cross-border wastewater treatment plant was inaugurated on 18 April 2015, an event attended by a number of elected representatives of the area.
The first German EGTC, “Interregional Alliance for the Rhine-Alps Corridor”, with its registered office located in Mannheim, was approved on 24 April 2015 by the Regierungspräsidium Freiburg.
59 MPs, members of the French parliament’s French-German friendship group, have reacted to the planned dropping of bilingual classes announced by the Ministry of Education as part of the middle school reform.
A circular signed by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has been sent to the regional prefects requiring them to set up regional conferences on public investment before the end of May.
