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The Basque Country Community has also adopted a strategy based on the Cross-Border Cooperation Strategy

April 2020

The Basque Country Community has also adopted a strategy based on the Cross-Border Cooperation Strategy

On 15 December 2018, the Basque Country Community approved a “cross-border cooperation” competence. Drawing on the Cross-Border Cooperation Strategy approach, it embarked on a consultative process to draw up its cross-border cooperation strategy up to 2030. The objective was to codesign cross-border public policy and to be aligned with the framework of the forthcoming 2021-2027 European programming period.

In order to draw up this strategy, it set up specific governance and consultation bodies such as a steering committee made up of representatives of the competent institutions on either side of the border, and organised thematic workshops with public and private players from the cross-border territory. It received technical assistance from the MOT and the Atlantic and Pyrenees Urban Planning Agency to complete the drafting of the strategy.

The cross-border strategy now enables the Basque Country Community to prioritise its areas of cooperation, to develop a policy to support the cross-border dimension in order to encourage initiatives by players in the territory, to rethink the frameworks for cross-border governance, and to enhance the Basque Country’s standing at national, European and international level. It comprises four major objectives: facilitating the lives of inhabitants and businesses in the cross-border living area; developing shared values and representations – forging a cross-border sense of belonging; addressing the challenges of the ecological transition, and the management of shared resources and natural spaces; and promoting excellence and the cross-border territory’s standing.

The councillors of the Basque Country Conurbation approved the strategy on 14 December 2019.

More info:
Brochure "Stratégie de coopération transfrontalière 2020-2030 de la Communauté d'Agglomération Pays Basque", 2020: français-basque - espagnol-basque.

Read the article: What is a Cross-Border Cooperation Strategy?

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