The 38th Conference of Urban-Planning Agencies was held on 8-10 November in Strasbourg, with the theme "Building a Europe of Places and Links" ("Construire l'Europe des Lieux et des Liens").
Developed over the course of the 2007-2013 programming period, the ESPON territorial impact assessment tool aims to support political decision-makers in identifying the potential territorial impacts of EU policies and legislative proposals in the regions.
In light of the elaboration of a new European strategy for the “outermost regions” (ORs), the Regional Development Commission of the European Parliament published a report in March 2017 to promote cohesion and development in the ORs by applying article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) in an innovative and positive manner.
On 19 June 2017, new conventions were signed between the President of the Council of State of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, François Longchamp, and the President of the Agglomeration community of Annemasse ,Christian Dupessey, enabling the Swiss Confederation’s participation in the financing of 3 Greater Geneva flagship projects, at a level of 26 million euros.
Every year, the MOT publishes a dossier highlighting exemplary cross-border projects along French borders.
The cross-border abattoir in Ur (French Cerdanya) has been operating since the start of April. The facility promoted by Cerdanya District Council (Spain) and the Bourg-Madame abattoir (France) has been 50% financed by the two partners and European funds, with a total cost of €5.4 million.
It was at 4.52 in the morning of 29 April 2017 that the first tram of Line D set off from Strasbourg in the direction of neighbouring Kehl, with the two cities now even more closely linked, within the framework of a project that has profoundly changed the urban landscape.
In order to increase its influence in the development of the Greater Geneva cross-border territory, on 1 May 2017 the French Geneva Region Cooperation Assembly (ARC), the French side of the Local Grouping of Cross-Border Cooperation, became the French Geneva Area Pôle Metropolitain.
On 13 March 2017, around 50 French and British stakeholders from either side of the Dover Strait met in St Margaret's Bay, in Kent, to discuss an action plan for the low-carbon transition.
On 23 March 2017 in Paris, France and Switzerland signed an intergovernmental agreement that clarifies and defines the tax regime governing the binational Basel-Mulhouse EuroAirport, bringing to an end a dispute that has lasted for over two years.
The field visits offered for the first time to participants in the MOT's 2017 general assembly, to Belval and Villerupt, proved to be a moment of very fruitful exchanges.
At its plenary session in February, the Committee of the Regions adopted an opinion entitled "Missing transport links in border regions".
The Cerdanya Hospital, which is located on the border between France and Spain in the Catalan Pyrenees, is an unprecedented example in Europe of cooperation in healthcare (between the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and France).
To be able to treat someone rapidly after a stroke requires coordination between local emergency services and specialist neurology and neurosurgery departments.
Nearly 200 people gathered on 8 December 2016 in Geneva for the signature of the "Greater Geneva Territorial Project 2016-2030", a third generation conurbation project: "We want to move from a financial rationale to a common political vision. We want to make Greater Geneva a collective, shared project that is led by the territory's citizens and stakeholders. We want to work towards the concrete and effective realisation of projects."
Within the framework of the Connecting Europe Facility, the European Commission has launched three calls for proposals concerning the implementation of large European transport networks, amounting to 1.9 billion euros. One of the main goals of these projects focuses on interoperability and the reduction of “missing links” in infrastructure, at a cross-border scale.
The work of 174 pages offers an environmental, social and economic inventory of the cross-border territory of Greater Geneva on the French-Swiss border.
During the European Week of Regions and Cities, the MOT organised two workshops: the first on cross-border investment and the second on rural areas.
On 23 September 2016, the two sides of underground route of the future cross-border rail link between Geneva and Annemasse were joined up by French and Swiss teams.
The EGTC Platform of the Committee of the Regions has presented three recent studies on cross-border cooperation.
To help identify obstacles to investment, the Committee of the Regions has invited the representatives of EU cities and regions to take part in a survey on "Obstacles to investment at local and regional level", the results of which will be presented to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council.
Lancé à l’automne 2014 par le président de la Commission européenne, le plan "Juncker" vise à relancer les investissements en particulier dans les infrastructures, les industries de demain et les compétences. Composé de deux volets – 75 milliards d’euros pour les PME et 240 milliards d’euros pour les infrastructures – il a été mis en œuvre rapidement sur le terrain.
In October 2015, the Greater Geneva local grouping of cross-border cooperation (LGCC) launched an initiative to draw up a territorial project for the whole of the French-Vaud-Geneva conurbation for the 2016-2030 period. This process of reflection will be completed at the end of this year. It involves the elected representatives of the region, both Swiss and French, and cross-border civil society organised through the Greater Geneva Conurbation Forum.
The seminar organised by the Council of Europe was an opportunity to examine cross-border cooperation activity organised around the work of the Basel Trinational Eurodistrict (ETB), the international architecture exhibition IBA Basel 2020 and the Basel Agglomeration programme.
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.
