Financed within the framework of the Interreg Grande Région program, the RECOTTE [RECOnversion of Territories through Ecological Transition] project focused on the reconversion of territories through ecological transition on a local cross-border scale.
The 7th Franco-Luxembourg Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) was held in Thionville on April 17th, 2023, in the presence of Laurence Boone, Secretary of State to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, responsible for Europe, and Corinne Cahen, Minister for the Greater Region of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
On April 13th, 2023, the second meeting of the MOT-ANCT working group dedicated to observation, co-hosted by the Atlantic and Pyrenees Urban Planning Agency (AUDAP) and the French Riviera Agglomeration Community (CARF), took place.
The MOT, supported by sixteen partners of its network, initiated a "cross-border living areas experiment" at the end of 2022.
At the beginning of 2023, the DG REGIO of the European Commission together with the OECD have launched a pilot project for multi-level governance and the development of co-developed cross-border strategies.
With more than 200,000 border workers, the Grand Est region is a laboratory for European mobility. As a member of the MOT network, "Frontaliers Grand Est" accompanies these numerous border workers on a daily basis. Julien Dauer helps us better understand the challenges they face.
The MOT has been asked to address a new obstacle to cross-border cooperation in the context of the 2022 call for b-solutions projects. It concerns a case brought by its member, the Alzette Belval EGTC, which aims to establish of a France-Luxembourg medical emergency management community.
The MOT provides tailored support to several territories to facilitate the emergence of projects and links with national and European partners as part of the "Small Towns of Tomorrow" programme of the Agence Nationale de la Cohésion des Territoires (the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion).
Following French President Emmanuel Macron's announcement to "ensure that in the major French metropolises that are currently congested, people who commute can do so without a car, thus decarbonising their journeys thanks to these metropolitan RERs", the elected representatives of the European Metropolitan Cluster of the Lorraine Region have called on the President to ensure that the construction of a "European Metropolitan Express Network to connect all the territories of Lorraine, from the Vosges to the Luxembourg border" is included in the State's priorities.
Since its establishment in 2013, the Alzette Belval EGTC has been working daily basis for more than 100,000 inhabitants of four Luxembourgian and eight French municipalities.
Since its application for the title of "European Capital of Culture", the city of Esch-sur-Alzette, on the Luxembourgian side of the border, has emphasised the cross-border dimension of its territory and has integrated French municipalities and partners.
The Terres Rouges slag heap is a strategic site for the Alzette-Belval territory.
Published in paper format in 2020, this major publication, to which the MOT contributed, is finally available online.
On October 14th, the Prefect of Moselle gathered the Local Committee for Territorial Cohesion (CLCT). On this occasion, a participatory approach was proposed to the various participants, via the organisation of five working groups, the objective of which was to identify the engineering needs of local authorities, the existing solutions, and to promote the exchange of good practices and feedback from the field.
On October 6th and 7th, the Assises Nationales du Foncier et des Territoires were held in Nancy. Aimed at discussing land issues in all their aspects, from upstream to downstream and from strategy to implementation, they brought together nearly 600 people, elected representatives and professionals, from both public and private sectors, for conferences, workshops and round tables, in 11 thematic sessions.
Close to the Franco-German and Franco-Luxembourg borders, Bouzonville and Sierck-les-Bains are drawing up their cross-border goals with the help of the MOT.
The Greater Region’s Cooperation Fund has been extended by the Greater Region Summit with a new call for projects. Its aim: "To bring the inhabitants of the Greater Region closer together and to enable them to experience the richness of exchanges across borders".
On 23 February, the MOT was invited for the first time to take part in the “Tax and Teleworking” working group of the consultative committee on Franco-Luxembourg co-development. In particular, this gave it an opportunity to talk about the preliminary findings of its investigations into cross-border teleworking and its impacts.
In January 2022, the Summit of Greater Region Executives took stock at the midpoint in France’s presidency, particularly with respect to the industrial, digital and energy transitions, flood and drought risk prevention, food and promoting short supply chains, culture, youth, sport and tourism, healthcare and security.
The Alzette Belval EGTC has unveiled its new cross-border strategy for the next six years.
As part of its special report on border exchanges, the Journal des Français à l'étranger has been investigating the difficulties faced by cross-border workers on a daily basis.
This autumn, and for the second consecutive year, the MOT organised nine “territorial meetings”, so as to keep in close contact with the members of its network, and involve them in preparing its annual programme. Held successively in Besançon, Strasbourg, Lille, Annemasse, Charleville-Mézières, Nice, Urrugne, Perpignan and Metz, both virtually and in person, the meetings brought together close to 200 participants in total.
Following the sixth Franco-Luxembourg Intergovernmental Commission (ICG) that took place on 19 October in Belval in the presence of the Minister of State Clément Beaune, agreements between the two countries were reached notably with respect to transport and teleworking.
Following its adoption at its first reading in the Senate on 21 July 2021, the 3DS bill (standing for “differentiation, decentralisation, deconcentration and various measures to simplify local public action”) will be examined under a fast-track procedure in the Assemblée Nationale, in France, from the beginning of December. Taking on a number of the proposals put forward by the MOT, the senators adopted a series of amendments relating to cross-border issues.
In anticipation of the reading of the 4D bill in Parliament, the MOT, on behalf of its network, has sent to the co-rapporteurs of the Senate’s Law Commission on this legislation proposed amendments aimed at strengthening its cross-border component.
