Seven years after its creation, the LGCC* of the Doubs Urban Conurbation (Agglomération Urbaine du Doubs – AUD) has shown its effectiveness in helping local elected representatives to get to know one another better, which has enabled them to set out joint projects while at the same time speaking with one voice on behalf of the binational territory.
This European Commission report, published on 13 July, looks at the lessons of the Covid crisis and the initiatives carried out since the publication of its 2017 Communication “Boosting growth and cohesion in EU border regions”.
Adopted on 1 July, this resolution constitutes an official contribution from the CoR to the Conference on the Future of Europe. It sets out the concrete proposals of the CoR and the European Cross-Border Citizens’ Alliance (AEBR, MOT and CESCI) to put cross-border cooperation back at the top of the EU's policy agenda after a year disrupted by the pandemic.
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.
What have been the different forms of border crisis since the start of 2020? Alongside the joint initiatives to manage the crises, what are the obvious imbalances they have revealed? To answer these questions, the MOT is publishing a summary of one year of reflections by its “Territorial Solidarities” working group.
In early July, the European Court of Auditors published a report on the implementation of Interreg programmes. It highlighted that “the programmes have clear strategies for addressing the challenges facing the cross-border regions”, but that they are “limited [in their ability] to unlock the potential of these regions”.
Organised by the European Committee of the Regions in association with the other founding partners of the European Cross-Border Citizens Alliance (the MOT, AEBR and, CESCI), on 5 July the Conference on the Future of Cross-Border Cooperation brought together nearly 200 participants.
The health situation threw up a major challenge – that of providing a suitable format for citizens’ participation in the middle of a pandemic. In collaboration with the Euro-Institut and the MOT, the Basel Trinational Eurodistrict (ETB) developed a concept organised around a questionnaire and several virtual events. The aim was both to ensure broad participation from the population and to facilitate real exchanges between citizens from the three countries.
The Basel trinational conurbation is a genuinely shared living area that is strongly interconnected. In designing our Strategy 2030, it seemed extremely important to us to set our goals in accordance with what matters to the region’s population.
The latest Franco-German Council of Ministers, which met on 31 May 2021 alongside the meeting between Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, took stock of the implementation of the Aachen Treaty and the substantial advances in Franco-German cooperation over the past few months. It was also an opportunity to launch new cooperation initiatives, notably in the areas of healthcare, culture and youth, as well as to prepare for the major upcoming international and European events.
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.
The “4D” bill was presented during the Council of Ministers’ session on 12 May. It will be subject to an accelerated parliamentary procedure, and its reading in the Senate is scheduled for July.
Since 2018, the advances in Franco-German relations are major: the signing of the Aachen Treaty, the creation of the Franco-German Committee on Cross-border Cooperation (CCT) and the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly. These democratic innovations, a first in Europe, are enabling us to identify territorial dissonances and to take action to harmonise our national legal frameworks.
Feedback on the MOT Network’s Working Groups: Since 2020, the working groups of the MOT network have been bringing together MOT members at regular intervals to share the experiences of border areas and encourage the emergence of propositions for action. Here we present the findings of the first three groups established.
This study, conducted for the German Ministry of the Interior by Professor Tobias Chilla, of Erlangen-Nuremberg University, confirms the need to take account of cross-border issues not only at local and European levels, but also at national level. It highlights the MOT for France and the CESCI for Hungary, which enable these two countries to be the most active in the development of their cross-border regions.
On 24 March, the MOT made a contribution in a webinar of the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion (ANCT) on cross-border issues, which was facilitated by its director-general, Yves le Breton, and the prefect responsible for cross-border matters, Christian Rock.
On 16 March 2021, French Parliament definitively adopted the draft legislation aimed at simplifying and developing local experimentation initiated by territorial authorities.
On 15 March 2021 the 26th Franco-Spanish summit was held in Montauban, the first to be held between the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez. As well as an agreement on recognition of dual nationality and management of the Covid crisis, cross-border issues were at the heart of the discussions.
The MOT’s network met via video-conference on 4 February, with nearly 100 participants representing virtually all of its members, to discuss its work programme and priorities for the coming year.
In collaboration with the MOT and the Euro-Institut, the Basel Trinational Eurodistrict is currently working on its Strategy 2030, which will set out its role, its organisation and its themes for the coming years. One of its goals is to involve citizens more, as cross-border cooperation is aimed at one thing above all: making daily life and coexistence the border region easier and more enriching for its inhabitants.
Following the Covid-19 crisis in the border regions, and in the light of the scale of the coming transitions, a new impetus and long-term vision are needed more than ever to make these territories engines of solidarity and cooperation between Europeans. What have been the impacts of the pandemic on cross-border cooperation? What are the desirable futures for Europe, democracy and cooperation? These are the questions that the consultation on the long-term future of cross-border cooperation is attempting to answer.
“The Pyrenees have long bound us together”
Since 19 October 2020, a single European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) has brought together Aragon, the Province of Huesca and the Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques Departments.
On 9 October 2020, the final conference relating to the study “Analysis of the contributions made by the 2014-2020 cross-border cooperation programmes in the Grand Est Region”, led by the Region within the framework of the European programme Europ'Act and coordinated by the MOT and the Euro-Institut, brought together in the form of a webinar around one hundred participants.
Having for centuries been areas of expectations, fears and conflict, European borders are now the subject of a Forum. It is a fine symbol. In these difficult times, solutions can only come from our ability to make cross-border areas places of convergence, trust and partnership.
