Resilient Borders: twenty pilot actions selected to strengthen the resilience of border regions

February 2025

February 1st, 2025 marked the launch of DG REGIO's Resilient Borders initiative, co-managed by the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) and the MOT. Its aim is to help border regions strengthen their resilience in the face of crises, with the selection of twenty pilot projects that will have to draw up a cross-border governance plan responding to a specific issue in their territory.

The projects are divided into two groups: the first on cross-border crisis management, coordinated by the AEBR, and the second on cross-border spatial planning, coordinated by the MOT. They will now receive financial support and guidance for their implementation.

Resilient Borders draws on the lessons learned from two major publications issued by the European Commission:

For the pilot actions in the Crisis management group: European Commission, 2024, ‘Strengthening the resilience of EU border regions. Mapping risks & crisis management tools and identifying gaps’ (by Technopolis Group, CMCC, and Nordregio), which can be found here: https://futurium.ec.europa.eu/en/border-focal-point-network/news/big-news-border-focal-point-has-just-published-new-study-cross-border-disaster-risk-and-crisis
For the pilot actions in the Spatial planning group: OECD and European Commission, 2024, ‘Cross-border Governance Framework and Tool’, available here: https://futurium.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2024-07/Draft

The action plans will be able to draw on the examples presented to prepare their own joint crisis management plans and implement joint spatial planning measures.

The pilot actions selected respond in particular to the challenges of environmental risk management (floods, drought, fires), health crises, cooperation on transport and the availability of cross-border housing.

The projects selected by an independent jury reflect the diversity of issues facing cross-border regions throughout Europe. They span thirteen different borders and bring together twenty different countries.
Download the map of selected projects

Review of the launch webinar on January 27th

The launch of the initiative was accompanied by a joint webinar for all the projects, organised on January 27th, 2025. Attended by DG REGIO, the OECD and Technopolis, this event was an opportunity for the projects to present themselves and outline the objectives of their pilot actions and their approach. It was also an opportunity for the selected organisations to meet, exchange views and receive the latest information on the implementation of the initiative and the next stages.

The selected projects will now move on to the active development phase of their pilot projects, which runs from February to September 2025. The selected projects and the progress of the pilot actions involved will be shared throughout the project period on the Resilient Borders website.

For more information on the initiative and the selected projects, visit the official website: https://resilientborders.eu