Since September 6th, 2023, the "Kita-Salut" cross-border crèche, located in Saarbrucken and only a 20 minute drive from Sarreguemines, has been welcoming French and German children.
On the border between France, Germany and Luxembourg, the cross-border territory hosting the MOT’s general assembly on June 27th and 28th, 2023, in Metz is a hub for cross-border news, projects and issues. Joint interview with Patrick Weiten, president of the department of Moselle and former member of Parliament, and François Grosdidier, president of Metz Eurometropolis and mayor of Metz.
The conference to launch the new cross-border legal access point, located at the heart of the Strasbourg-Kehl conurbation, was held on May 10th, 2023 at the Strasbourg judicial court. Its chairman, Thierry Ghera, gives us his view on this new service, the first of its kind in Europe.
At the conference "Border Region Academy: Border regions of Germany with its neighboring countries" organized by the German Federal Office for Spatial Planning on April 20th and 21st in Berlin, in which the MOT participated, several significant studies for cross-border cooperation were presented.
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 March 24th, 2023, the Franco-German citizen portal "FRED.info" was put online. Developed in the framework of a partnership between the Land of Baden-Württemberg and the Grand Est Region, the tool is managed by the Franco-German Institute (DFI).
Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis, President of the Corsican Assembly and member of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), answers our questions following the publication of her report to the CoR on regions with "geographic and demographic handicaps". What about border areas?
At the end of 2022, the Commission published its report "Cross-border public services: CPS inventory analysis and policy recommendations".
At the request of Greater Geneva, the MOT produced a note in September taking stock of the methods of financing mobility and the financial resources allocated.
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.
As part of a study for the European Commission on the impacts of the measures taken on borders during the pandemic, the MOT went to Forbach on 26 April to meet users of the cross-border territory.
The Occitanie Region, the Pyrénées-Orientales Department and the Generalitat de Catalunya have announced that five cross-border bus services launched as part of the European project "ConnECT" are to be made permanent.
In order to answer the numerous questions about public services with a cross-border dimension from users of travelling and permanent "France Services" advice points run by the Nord Department, the latter commissioned the MOT to carry out an experimental study in 2021.
To coincide with the updating of the section of its website devoted to public services, the MOT is publishing a new edition of its brochure "Focus" (in French).
AEBR and the European Commission’s DG REGIO have released a series of publications aiming at raising awareness of cross-border cooperation. These showcase relevant information gained through the implementation of the b-solutions initiative, which AEBR has managed on behalf of DG REGIO for the past four years.
With about 30% of the EU population living in internal border regions, the new DG REGIO publication contributes to the growing recognition of the importance of cross-border public transport services (CBPT) and their role in facilitating cross-border activities central to the development of border regions.
At a time when the closure of borders highlights the issues relating to cross-border living areas and their cohesion, the provision of public services specific to these territories was the subject of a dedicated workshop at the FNAU’s last national conference.
Between June and September 2021, the MOT was commissioned by the Lille Metropolis Development and Urban Planning Agency (ADULM) to conduct an analysis of the consequences of the border restrictions in the territory of the Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai Eurometropolis. The aim was to identify the issues highlighted and revealed by the crisis and the brakes on/levers for the development of the cross-border territory.
The Alzette Belval EGTC has unveiled its new cross-border strategy for the next six years.
On the occasion of the 42nd national meetings of the FNAU*, the MOT jointly led a workshop with the Agence d’Urbanisme Atlantique et Pyrénées (AUDAP) on the topic of public service provision and access in cross-border contexts.
Lack of accessibility by public transport remains a major obstacle to opening up isolated European border regions. It is on the basis of this observation that the European Commission launched in 2020 a comprehensive study to identify all existing services on European borders.
Initiated by Anne Sander MEP, the European Parliament's pilot project "Cross-Border Crisis Response Integrated Initiative" (CBCRII) has just been approved. It can now be implemented by DG REGIO.
On the eve of France’s presidency of the EU, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the head of the Italian government, Mario Draghi, have signed in Rome a bilateral cooperation treaty, the “Quirinal Treaty”. Sixty years after the signature of the Franco-German Élysée Treaty, this “friendship pact” is historical and marks the desire, at the highest level of state, to advance Franco-Italian cross-border cooperation.
At a time when the pandemic is on the rise again in Europe and health measures are being strengthened on both sides of the Rhine, the European Territorial Authority of Alsace and the Grand Est Region, in cooperation with the Centre Européen de la Consommation (European Centre for Consumer Protection) and the INFOBEST network, have made available a digital tool to aid with crossing borders.
The conference on cross-border rail links organised in June 2021 by the MOT and the PAMINA Eurodistrict, with the support of the Committee of the Regions, brought together nearly 200 participants.
