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.
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.
The world’s only binational airport, located in the French-German-Swiss region, the Basel-Mulhouse EuroAirport is an example in terms of cross-border cooperation.
After the launch in 2008 of the first French-German rapid intervention facility on the Rhine – the "Europa 1 fire-boat" – the Fire and Rescue Service of the Bas-Rhin Department has worked for five years on the implementation of a new INTERREG project focused on the training of rescue services in the Upper Rhine in combating river-related risks.
On 30 October 2014, French President François Hollande received Didier Burkhalter, President of the Swiss Confederation, to talk in particular about the cross-border airport in Basel-Mulhouse, a subject of disagreement between Paris and Bern since the summer.
On 27 October 2014, the two member institutions of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), set up in 2011 by the Pyrénées Atlantiques Department and the Government of Aragon, inaugurated the Espace Pourtalet Centre, the first concrete result of the work carried out by the EGTC. Located in a converted former Spanish customs house, this new facility comprises a cross-border snow-clearing centre and a cross-border resource centre.
Europe’s first cross-border hospital opened its doors on 19 September 2014 in Cerdanya, on the French-Spanish border.
Cross-border cooperation in the Basel trinational conurbation has grown up since 1995 around projects in the areas of territorial development and public transport.
With its international borders with Switzerland and Italy, the department of Haute-Savoie, which has been a member of the MOT since 2012, cooperates with the cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Valais, as well as the Val d’Aoste autonomous region, in areas such as transport, territorial development, tourism, education, culture and sport.
