On February 6th, 2025, the second meeting of the Franco-Italian Border Cooperation Committee set up by the Quirinal Treaty was held in Nice It follows the meeting held in October 2023 in Turin. The MOT was present at this meeting.
On January 30th, 2025, a cross-border workshop was held in Dunkirk on the subject of land preservation. This workshop took place as part of a mission that the MOT is carrying out for the Banque des territoires, in order to analyse the impact of limited-land-use policies on the French-Flemish cross-border territory, with a focus on the Dunkirk area and the province of West Flanders.
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.
Last month the European Commission published its ‘Handbook on Cross-border Energy Communities’. This document provides a broad overview of how to establish and manage cross-border energy initiatives while contributing to the energy transition and European cohesion objectives.
As part of the Interreg VI Grande Région programme and the SaarMoselle functional area, the MOT is a beneficiary partner in the PRISMA project (‘Projet d'aménagement d'information et d'observation pour un projet d'agglomération SaarMoselle’) for a period of three years, from 2024 to 2026.
On December 18th, the European Commission published a report on cross-border work in Europe. Based on Eurostat data, it highlights the nature, distribution and destination of flows of cross-border workers in European Union and EFTA countries.
The MOT supports cross-border cooperation at all levels and across the globe. Alongside UN-Habitat UNI experts from Heritopolis (www.heritopolis.org) and professionals from a wide range of disciplines and countries, it is contributing to the Anthedon initiative, a vision for the future of Gaza and its integration into a cross-border metropolitan region connected with Israel and neighbouring countries.
Borders in Globalization (BIG) Lab at the University of Victoria is launching a Call for Policy Proposals on academic and policy research related to cross-border management issues and challenges. Topics include border management: border law, trade, mobility, security, artificial intelligence, etc.
With the participation of Haut-Rhin MP and former minister Brigitte Klinkert, and Sandro Gozi MEP, the MOT held its first General Assembly of the year by videoconference on Thursday January 30th. Its president, Christian Dupessey, mayor of Annemasse and president of the Pôle métropolitain du Genevois français, was joined by more than 60 participants who are members of the network.
Find out about the observation resource sites that were presented!
As part of the Franco-Italian friendship reaffirmed by the Quirinal Treaty, the autonomous region of Aosta Valley and the Haute-Savoie department have formalised their cooperation by signing a strengthened partnership agreement on the 23rd and 24th of January 2025.
On February 8th, 2025, Nova Gorica and Gorizia will launch their European Capital of Culture (ECoC) 2025 journey, marking a historic first for a cross-border ECoC.
On December 5th, 2024, the meeting of the ‘Territory’ commission of the CNIS was held, in which the MOT took part. The aim was to discuss the observation of border territories and how to carry out cross-border comparisons: how can existing flows and exchanges between two border territories be monitored? How can the border phenomenon be quantified and its consequences for territories assessed?
On December 20th, 2024, after more than ten years of negotiations, the European Union and Switzerland concluded a set of agreements aimed at strengthening their bilateral relations. These agreements, which have yet to be approved by the Swiss parliament, will have repercussions for Franco-Swiss cross-border cooperation and freedom of movement. Relations between the EU and Switzerland are governed by more than 120 bilateral agreements.
On November 25th, 2024, in Erquelinnes, Belgium, the MOT led a workshop on cross-border mobility as part of the ‘Sambre Avesnois Sud Hainaut’ cooperation strategy. Following a presentation by the MOT of a territorial analysis of cross-border mobility, some thirty elected representatives and technicians from both sides of the border discussed the challenges of improving rail and road links to meet the daily needs of the French-Belgian population.
Since March 2023, the Commission for the planning, development and protection of the Jura mountains (Massif du Jura) and the MOT have been working on a cross-border territorial study of the Franco-Swiss massif.
The end of 2024 marked the start of a new mission for the MOT: supported by the Piedmont Region as lead partner, the A-MONT initiative (cross-border mountain framework agreement) which aims to strengthen the dynamics of territorial cooperation between France and Italy in the Northern Alps.
On December 18th, 2024, around forty participants gathered for a webinar organised by the MOT and the ANCT, in partnership with Small towns of tomorrow (Petites villes de demain), Future Villages (Villages d’Avenir) and Mountain Futures (Avenir Montagnes) programmes.
In collaboration with the European Commission, the OECD’s new report shows that well-designed and well-resourced cross-border governance bodies can help unlock the development potential of border regions.
In France, resigning minister Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet announced on December 3rd, 2024 that the controversial reform of border worker unemployment would be abandoned. This measure, which would have reduced benefits for border workers, was met with strong opposition, particularly in eastern France.
Brigitte Klinkert, MP for Haut-Rhin, has been appointed by the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee as rapporteur for a flash mission dedicated to "cross-border issues for metropolitan French citizens".
On December 16th, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the new BRIDGEforEU instrument aimed at removing administrative and legal obstacles in border regions, representing a major step forward for Europe's border territories!
At the 163rd plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions, several opinions on the future of territorial cooperation, and more specifically on cross-border cooperation, were adopted. In particular, they propose doubling its funding!
In 2021, border workers travel an average of 34 km to get to work, compared with 14 km for non-border workers living in the same areas. The majority go by car. 18% of them have journeys of 50 km or more, and there are significantly more of these long journeys than in 2010.
The EU has launched the ACROSS Data Hub, offering harmonised geospatial data to boost public transport, healthcare, and cross-border governance in border regions.
