News
Cross-border territories in Europe – focus for the first day
October 2020
The MOT is hosting the first Borders Forum on 9-10 November 2020, on line: two days in which to demonstrate the central role played by cross-border territories in Europe, to persuade both European and national authorities to place them at the heart of their public action and to bear witness to France’s ambitions on the European stage in this area. Close-up on the programme for the first day, with Europe as the overarching theme .
A year and a half after the European elections, the first day of the Borders Forum is being co-organised with the European Commission and the European Committee of the Regions. Its aim is to reaffirm, at a time when the world is facing an unprecedented health and economic crisis, that European and cross-border cooperation is the right answer.
Elisa Ferreira, the European Commissioner in charge of Cohesion, will speak at the opening as well as in the first roundtable: “Overcoming borders, a major challenge for the future of Europe”.This discussion will be followed by a first highlight: the signing of the European Cross-Border Citizens’ Alliance, initiated by the MOT, the AEBR and CESCI, and supported by the European Committee of the Regions.
A second roundtable will then discuss the tools to be implemented for European cooperation and recovery, as well as the proposed European Cross-Border Mechanism (ECBM).It will be followed by a second highlight: the 2020 award ceremony for the EGTC prize given by the European Committee of the Regions.
In the afternoon, the discussion “10 years of the EGTC Platform and 30 years of INTERREG - outcome and visions for the future” will shine the spotlight on EGTCs. After 30 years of Interreg cooperation, what role have they played? What do they expect of the European authorities, and Member States, to enable them to better act locally and on a daily basis, to serve their citizens?
Finally, the last roundtable of the day will focus on the Franco-German Aachen Treaty and the possibility of similar approaches elsewhere in Europe.
Programme and online registration.
