News

The European cross-border mechanism – a victory for the MOT and its partners

June 2018

The European cross-border mechanism – a victory for the MOT and its partners

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.

This regulation proposes an "off-the-shelf" instrument with two options: the European Cross-Border Commitment (ECBC), or the European Cross-Border Statement (ECBS), while leaving Member States the possibility of using existing instruments.

The aim is to create a "mechanism to apply, for a common cross-border region, in a given Member State, the legal provisions from the neighbouring Member State if applying its own laws would present a legal obstacle to implementing a joint project".
It is a real innovation in terms of designing a multilevel architecture for overcoming obstacles.

The regulation quotes the example of the extension of the tramline from Strasbourg to Kehl. Structures such as the MOT, which is cited by the regulation, could be the initiators of such mechanisms.

The regulation is based on the work over the past three years carried out by Luxembourg and France, with support from the MOT. Via the FUTURIUM platform, DG REGIO wished to dedicate the regulation to Camille Gira, the Luxembourg Secretary of State for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure, and a great champion of this instrument, who died suddenly in May of this year.

Download the draft regulation

Back to list