Published by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, this guide aims "to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the rules that apply to this type of intervention by local authorities, acting on their own initiative within the framework of multilevel diplomacy".
The French decree establishing the European Territorial Authority of Alsace through the merger of the Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin Departments was published on 28 February. The new authority will come into being on 1 February 2021.
The "Cross-Border Metropolitan Regions" Initiative, which works on developing cross-border cooperation along Germany’s borders, has just published a position paper on the European Commission’s proposal to create a "mechanism to resolve legal and administrative obstacles in a cross-border context".
In adopting its opinion on the proposal for a regulation on the ECBM on 22 November 2018, the European Parliament’s Regional Development Commission (REGI) embarked on the process of inter-institutional negotiations on the proposed tool.
The MOT took part in the 8th EGTC Platform, which took place on 8 October at the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels. The meeting was an opportunity to celebrate the activities of the groupings and to welcome the new EGTCs.
A new French law on the freedom to choose one’s professional future, adopted on 1 August 2018, introduced a simplified system of administrative procedures for employers located outside France that temporarily post workers to France. This substantial simplification of administrative procedures should in particular encourage the posting of workers within cross-border regions where people live collectively regardless of the national borders that cut across them.
By Manuel Goehrs, published by Peter Lang, 2018 - in French. "By observing the mechanisms of cross-border cooperation in the European Union, this book proposes to investigate the legal bases for an ‘integral’ federalism or a ‘personalist’ federalism."
This catalogue of good practices is designed to be a practical guide that gives people a better understanding of the "Euroregions": definition, list, typology, historical and geographical development, their role in cross-border governance, sectors of cooperation and the Euroregions' projects, etc.
The MOT took part in a conference entitled "Cross-Border Cooperation In Europe: Decentralisation, legal frameworks, and practice", organised under the aegis of the Council of Europe on 25 May in Dubrovnik.
On 29 May, the European Commission published its draft regulations for cohesion policy in the 2021-2027 period.
Among the European Commission's draft regulations is a new regulation on "a mechanism to resolve legal and administrative obstacles in a cross-border context". The regulation is based on the work over the past three years carried out by Luxembourg and France, with support from the MOT.
The report by the MP of the Bas-Rhin Department, Sylvain Waserman, was officially submitted to the French Prime Minister on 18 May. It sets out six proposals aimed at promoting a "renewal" of Franco-German cross-border cooperation, in the perspective of the forthcoming new Elysée Treaty.
To mark its 20th anniversary, the MOT produced a map of European cross-border territories. Now, on the occasion of its 21st General Assembly, it is publishing – and has had printed in the form of a large poster – a map showing the cross-border territories along France's borders.
The European Committee of the Regions has just published its annual "EGTC Monitoring Report". This publication looks at developments in existing EGTCs and the new ones set up in 2017, as well as implementation of the European regulation on EGTCs. This year, it has focused particularly on the effects of the regulation on regions and cities where EGTCs are active.
A new European Grouping of Cross-Border Cooperation (EGTC) was set up on 13 March 2018. Called "Pirineos-Pyrénées" ("Pyrenees" in Spanish and French), it groups together the main territorial authorities of the centre of the Pyrenees mountain range: the Diputación de Huesca, the Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques Departments and the Government of Aragon.
The intergovernmental working group on innovative solutions to cross-border obstacles met for the sixth time on 6 February 2018. It is working on the proposal for a new European tool dedicated to cross-border cooperation: the European Cross-Border Convention (ECBC).
In the context of its partnership with the CNFPT (French National Centre for the Territorial Civil Service), the MOT organised, with a number of partners, different training sessions.
On 20 and 21 September 2017 in Brussels, a conference was held to mark the adoption of the Communication entitled “Boosting growth and cohesion in EU border regions”.
Over the course of the first meeting of the Conference of the Territories (a new platform for exchange, consultation and decision-making headed by the French prime minister), Emmanuel Macron presented the new differentiation of public action, a vector for a new equality of opportunity for the territories.
Within the context of the regional accord for the application of the Espoo Convention (1991) in a tri-national framework, the French-German-Swiss Upper Rhine Conference has published a guide to procedures for cross-border consultations concerning projects, plans and programmes with significant impact on the environment.
On 30 May 2017 at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels, the fifth meeting of the intergovernmental working group on innovative solutions to obstacles to cross-border cooperation was held.
This report was drawn up within the framework of the strengthening and deepening of Franco-Belgian cooperation initiated by the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Prefecture.
The project "Gestion Européenne Conjointe des Connexions et Transports pour les îles – GEECCTT-ILES" (Joint European Management of Connections and Transport for the Islands), which is aimed at creating transport links in the Western Mediterranean, has just been approved by the Interreg programme's monitoring committee.
This publication looks at developments in EGTCs during 2016. Based on an updated overview and case studies, the report aims to highlight the EGTCs' main areas of action, their involvement in cohesion policy, and their achievements and the obstacles encountered.
