Governance

Introduction

In the cross-border context, given that it is impossible to have a government as such, it is essential to talk of governance – i.e. a framework that enables diverse public and private players to cooperate across borders.

Focusing on cross-border governance means looking at the issues of ensuring the lasting nature of projects, structuring one-off actions within a longer-term relationship and putting in place an integrated strategy (or common action plan) for a given cross-border territory.

An analysis of the roles of institutional players involved in cross-border cooperation highlights the diversity and dynamism of their different positions.

• First, the differences in the way that political, administrative and legal systems are organised on either side of the respective borders call for the creation of very varied structures of governance (in terms of their composition, functioning, remits, the scale of the territory covered and their legal status).
• Second, notably in the case of France, local authorities are increasingly playing a leading role in cooperation at the same time as the State is repositioning its role towards supporting local initiatives (particularly in its areas of competence: health, taxation, energy, security, etc.).

Cross-border governance takes many different, more or less structured forms: cooperation protocols, conventions, agreements, consorcios, LGTC, EGTC, ECG, EEIG, etc., depending on the objectives of the different initiatives, the cultures of public action, the resources mobilised, etc.

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