Within the framework of a project funded by the Interreg V France-Wallonie-Vlaanderen programme, the cities of Tournai, Mons, Courtrai and the Lille European Metropolis have set themselves the challenge of strengthening and stimulating the development of their city centres by making use of design.
The results of this project were presented on 16 May 2019 in Biarritz. Launched in 2016, it has built a network of economic players to stimulate businesses’ innovation and competitiveness across three neighbouring territories: Euskadi, Navarra and Aquitaine.
A report on border cities in West Africa has just been published in the OECD’s series "West Africa Papers" on the Sahel and West Africa. Made up of four papers, the "cities" collection is the fruit of systematic analysis of the role played by border cities in the regional integration process in West Africa.
The cross-border territory of the “High Valleys” is located in the heart of the Alps, between Savoie, Piedmont and the High Alps. It consists of 13 groups of municipalities, 147 rural mountain districts and 270,753 inhabitants spread over 6,350 km2. A cross-border strategy "The High Valleys – Smart Destination" was drawn up in order to group together the common development priorities for the coming years.
Within the framework of the Interreg “Greater Region Territorial Development Plan” project, the Greater Region Executives Summit have laid the political groundwork for the drawing-up of a common cross-border territorial strategy for the Greater Region partners.
Signed on 1 February 2019 by the Minister for the Ecological Transition, François de Rugy, and the French and German regional players, this “territorial project” is designed to accompany the economic redevelopment of the area around the nuclear power station in Fessenheim, whose two reactors are due to be shut down in the summer of 2020.
At once a Caribbean island, an overseas collectivity of the French Republic and an Outermost Region (OR) of the European Union, the Collectivity of Saint Martin has resolutely placed regional integration at the heart of its development strategy.
The European Entrepreneurial Region Award rewards EU regions showing excellence and innovation in strategy on entrepreneurial policy. It is open “to all EU territories of Member States, including communities and city's as well as cross-border territories with legal personality such as EGTCs and Euroregions”.
French “pôles de compétitivité” (competitiveness clusters) are entering their 4th phase of construction for the period 2019-2022. A call for applications, launched by the economy and finance minister, and supported by the CGET, will be open until 19 October.
The "Rencontres franco-suisses de l’économie et de l’innovation en Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes", an ‘economy and innovation fair’, was held for the first time in Lyon on 15 January 2018.
On 29 November, Anne Sander MEP, hosted around a breakfast the seventh meeting of her parliamentary working group on cross-border cooperation.
The Cross-Border Jura Arc Forum celebrated the 10th anniversary of its creation on Saturday 21 October 2017 at the town hall of Le Russey in the Haut-Doubs Department.
This report assesses the current state of economic, social and territorial cohesion in the European Union. Following the economic crisis, there are signs of a recovery in Europe, but regional disparities persist between Member States between regions within the same country.
During his visit to French Guiana in October, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, stressed the importance of France's outermost regions.
On 25 October 2017 in Merida (Spain), the MOT took part in a workshop of the European Commission's DG REGIO with the border regions of Spain, Portugal, France and Italy on the topic of obstacles to cross-border cooperation, following the Communication published in September.
The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs has launched a call for projects promoting decentralised cooperation, within which cross-border cooperation has been identified as a priority area.
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 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”.
Every year, the MOT publishes a dossier highlighting exemplary cross-border projects along French borders.
This report, submitted by the General Commission for Territorial Equality (CGET) to the Prime Minister, recommends the creation of a pôle métropolitain encompassing more than 300,000 inhabitants on the border with Belgium and Luxembourg. This would enable North Lorraine to take advantage of its geographical position and of the great attractiveness of its immediate neighbours.
Innovation does not stop at France's borders The Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolis, which now features among the 10 leading smart cities in the world, has been built up around a very dense international ecosystem. This has been in its DNA for a very long time…
Helping entrepreneurs located on either side of the border to create new digital services thanks to geodata on Greater Geneva – this is the aim of the Interreg project "Geofab Greater Geneva" launched on 4 April 2017.*
The CGET has published a study - available in English - on the involvement of the private sector in European territorial cooperation programmes (INTERREG).
Michel Charrat, the President of the European Cross-Border Grouping and Treasurer of the MOT, gives us his analysis of the implementation of the vote in February 2014 in Switzerland, which was aimed at restricting the number of foreign workers.
