News
Focus on cooperation between France, Italy and Monaco
June 2018
Two roundtables devoted to cooperation between France, Italy and Monaco were held in Ventimiglia on 23 May following the MOT's General Assembly. They brought together many local elected representatives, such as Enrico Ioculano, Mayor of Ventimiglia, Jean-Pierre Vassallo, Mayor of Tende and Vice-President of the French Riviera Conurbation Community, Fabio Natta, Mayor of Cesio and President of Imperia Province, Frederico Borgna, Mayor of Cuneo and President of Cuneo Province and Marine De Carne-Trecesson, France's Ambassador to Monaco.
The Mayor of Ventimiglia emphasised that the issues of cross-border mobility and transport remain a priority on the border: "In Ventimiglia, every day 500 cross-border workers face great difficulties in getting to their place of work on the other side of the border."
Another priority – education and languages – was highlighted by Emilie Mousselle, headteacher of the French school in Ventimiglia. "It is a great opportunity for parents to have a free and bilingual French school on the Italian side of the border," affirmed the representative of the parent-teachers' association at the conference. The theme of health care was illustrated by the contribution of the Director of the "La Palmosa" Hospital in Menton, who presented his cross-border perinatal care centre.
These examples are success stories, but nevertheless the potential for cross-border cooperation is still underexploited along this border and many difficulties remain. As the Mayor of Tende pointed out: "We do not have a structure at the political level that gives a framework for dialogue between players on either side of the border. This is a completely cross-border territory! We need a framework to enable us to formulate joint strategies." The MOT's role as a "platform that allows all of the players to get together around the same table" was thus commended by all of the speakers.
Following the roundtables, the Nice-Côte d'Azur Metropolis presented its strategy regarding cross-border projects. These projects, which are funded by the ALCOTRA or MARITTIMO programmes, can be grouped into "integrated territorial plans" (PITER, groups of projects on different themes that implement a common territorial strategy) or "integrated thematic plans" (PITEM, groups of projects on a theme aimed at standardising the approaches used and the pooling of tools).
Back to list
