Building Legal Provisions to Overcome Obstacles to Cross-border Cooperation

In July 2020, the MOT was tasked by DG REGIO to conduct an empirical analysis of the effects of the restrictions imposed by governments in the first wave of the pandemic (March-June 2020) on the inhabitants of border regions. In order to carry out this assignment, the contributions received by members of the MOT network were analysed and, with the help of its European partners (CESCI and the AEBR), more than twenty players on other European borders were questioned. The resulting study, entitled “The effects of COVID-19 induced border closures on cross-border regions”, is now available.

European policies are still in many ways out of phase with the cross-border experience and contribute to a feeling of distance or even lack of understanding between the European Union and its citizens. It is urgent to change approach by encouraging the development of shared cross-border observation in order to obtain better knowledge and understanding of today’s territorial realities.