Final conference of the project

The final conference of the project was held in Paris on 24th October.

Main recommendations

Three types of recommendation have been put forward by the project's study for a to better articulation between cohesion policy, governance structures and cross-border territorial approaches:

General recommendations

  • Consolidate the articulation between strategy, governance and funding
  • Integrate the cross-border perspective into the mainstream public policies
  • Bolster multi-level cross-border governance

French organisational framework

  • At local level, consolidate the role of local authorities and groupings in the construction of cross-border territories
  • At regional level, consolidate the strategic role of regions, in association with other local authorities and cross-border groupings
  • At national level, ensure the supervision and monitoring of issues related to borders
  • Identify cross-border referents in each ministry
  • Establish an interministerial cross-border steering committee
  • Appoint border referent prefects
  • Bolster the observation of cross-border issues

2014-2020 cohesion policy

  • Consolidate the position of cross-border cooperation in the Partnership Agreement
  • Ensure the coherence between Partnership Agreements of France and neighbouring States concerning aspects related to cross-border cooperation
  • Respect the principle of partnership in drafting and monitoring the Partnership Agreement
  • Give a cross-border dimension to diagnoses of the Partnership Agreement and cooperation programmes 
  • Implement the integrated tools for territorial development
  • Improve the development process of programmes
  • Implement coordination mechanisms between Funds and programmes
  • Better distinguish different types of projects
  • Improve the implementation of programmes
  • Consolidate the tools for capitalisation and networking