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Signing of the Treaty of Barcelona: Advances for cross-border cooperation?
January
On Thursday, January 19th, 2023, President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Pedro Sànchez signed an important Franco-Spanish cooperation treaty, the "Treaty of Barcelona ", in the Catalan capital. What advances does it contain in terms of cross-border cooperation?
This treaty joins the list of recent cooperation treaties signed by France that include a specific chapter dedicated to cross-border cooperation, such as the Treaty of Aachen, signed in 2019 with Germany, and the Quirinal Treaty, signed in 2021 with Italy. One of the objectives of the Treaty of Barcelona is to place Franco-Spanish cooperation in a resolutely European framework.
The treaty provides for, among other things, Franco-Spanish councils for youth, defence and security, a working group on migration issues - the latter being a particularly sensitive subject since the closure of the Banyuls pass in January 2021 - and large-scale projects such as the H2Med hydro-pipeline which plans to link Marseille and Barcelona.
For the territories bordering the French-Spanish border, notable progress can be seen in the "joint definition of a cross-border cooperation strategy", and the creation of a "consultative border cooperation committee".
More info [FR]
