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"The cross-border director-general" training course

Bringing together senior managers from border region local authorities from several of France's borders including overseas departments, it enabled them to:

• Deepen their understanding of the specificities of cross-border territories;
• Take stock of the implementation of policies relating to territorial cooperation (European developments and territorial reforms in France);
• Think about their own authority's organisation with respect to cooperation issues.

The training course gave the participants, who are experts in cooperation, a great deal of space to express themselves and position themselves in a forward-looking dynamic.

Given that territorial development falls primarily within the competence of the local authorities concerned, the discussions focused particularly on the priorities for actions to be developed and the coordination between cross-border governance structures (such as EGTCs) and actions by the departments of the authorities that are members of them. The relationship between the different levels – departments, regions and countries – in accordance with their respective competences, was also discussed from the point of view of governance; and the example of the Strasbourg-Kehl tramway served to illustrate the particular difficulties and solutions relating to the setting-up of projects.

Lastly, issues relating to the day-to-day management of cross-border cooperation within a local authority were discussed (its "Europe" department and partners): how can the cross-sectoral dimension in a local authority best be managed? What is the role of the decentralised State? What are the needs in terms of training?

The final discussion was devoted to the concept of "cross-border inter-territoriality": how will the cross-border action of local authorities evolve? What is the role of the director-general? Other sessions of the same type can be organised within the framework of the MOT/CNFPT partnership.

The documents from the training session are available for members on the MOT's website, in French: click here.