A first for the BIG Summer Institutes: a look back at the training day in French organised in collaboration with the MOT

September 2026

This year, the Borders in Globalization (University of Victoria) Summer Institutes, which offer training courses for cross-border stakeholders, policy-makers and researchers, were held for the first time in Brussels, in partnership with the European Commission. This edition also marked a new stage in the collaboration between BIG and the MOT, with the organisation of a training day in French on the 20th of July. Bringing together participants from several cross-border territories within the MOT network, as well as representatives from national ministries (Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs), the day covered a wide range of topics, from fiscal solidarity to security issues and artificial intelligence.

Prof. Dr. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, Director of BIG, opened the discussion by presenting the concepts of coordination, cooperation and collaboration across borders. Jean Peyrony, Director General of the MOT, continued this discussion by highlighting the role of cross-border cooperation in the construction and functioning of the European Union. Turning then to security issues, Prof. Dr. Christian Leuprecht, Director of the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations in the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University and professor at the Royal Military College of Canada, pointed out that, whilst around 90% of migration in Europe is regular, the remaining 10% attracts a disproportionate amount of media and political attention. This focus fuels alarmist rhetoric that risks both undermining democratic debate and calling European values into question.

Rethinking borders through cooperation

Cross-border interdependencies, including both legal and illegal mobility, are a major challenge of the 21^st century. We need to rethink the social perception of borders: states cannot counter threats of all kinds by stopping them at the borders that mark the boundaries of their national territories, but rather through trust and cooperation with neighbouring states and at the European level. This requires fostering informed public opinions – the foundation of sound political decision-making – through better cross-border data, as well as shared visions and narratives. Borders are always local (in terms of populations, flows, values, expectations, etc.) before they are national; each section of a border is different. To manage them, we need to establish ‘cross-border security communities’, based on trust and involving both the national level and local communities.

These issues were then illustrated in the North American context by Charles Mechlers, Director of Regulatory Trade Programs at the Canada Border Services Agency, who reviewed recent developments in relations between Canada and the United States, particularly with regard to customs duties, trade and the management of cross-border flows. The day concluded with a presentation by Dr Thomas Cantens of the International Monetary Fund, focusing on artificial intelligence and data management at a transnational level.

Cross-border cooperation: a key driver

All of these presentations, together with the discussions with participants, highlighted the growing interdependencies between different countries around the world, which make approaches based exclusively on national borders increasingly ill-suited to current realities and the challenges of the future. In this context, cross-border cooperation emerges as a key lever for strengthening the security, resilience and prosperity of regions.