In October 2020, the MOT was tasked by the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion and the Banque des Territoires as an “action partner” in the national programme “Small Towns of Tomorrow”.
On 3 February 2021, Saarland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter Strobel, went to Paris to receive the "Prix coup de cœur 2021" awarded by the magazine "Acteurs Publics".
On 9-10 November 2020, the Borders Forum brought together over 700 participants online, around many prominent figures, including ministers and elected representatives, from local to European level.
In 2020, the French government put the so-called 4D Bill – on decentralisation, deconcentration, differentiation and decomplexification – on the political agenda. This is good news for cross-border territories.
The DG REGIO has launched a study to identify all existing cross-border public transport services and related legal obstacles. The contributions to this survey are crucial to ascertain the number of existing services and to gather information on the challenges that need to be overcome.
At a time when we are seeing fresh border closures, the MOT is proposing to take a step back and to analyse the first phase of the crisis and its impact on cross-border living areas.
The MOT’s network met via video-conference on 4 February, with nearly 100 participants representing virtually all of its members, to discuss its work programme and priorities for the coming year.
With the "Territoires en commun" (“Territories in Common”) platform launched on 19 January, the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion and the Banque des Territoires wish to enable all territorial authorities to have access to technical assistance for cooperation and citizens’ participation. The goal is to support territorial authorities and their partners – particularly state partners – in the appropriation of methods enabling the co-design of projects.
On 12 January the French government adopted its new national strategy for protected areas up until 2030.
On 18 December 2020, the border towns of Nova Gorica (Slovenia) and Gorizia (Italy) were designated “European Capital of Culture 2025”. This 100% cross-border candidacy represents a historic milestone for this competition: for the first time, the candidacy and the joint urban and cultural development project were steered by an EGTC in all of the phases of this long process.
On 2 February, the University of Lorraine and the University of the Greater Region, in collaboration with the UniGR-Center for Border Studies, launched the first edition of the “Borders” literary prize, dedicated to the universe of the writer Léonora Miano.
In collaboration with the MOT and the Euro-Institut, the Basel Trinational Eurodistrict is currently working on its Strategy 2030, which will set out its role, its organisation and its themes for the coming years. One of its goals is to involve citizens more, as cross-border cooperation is aimed at one thing above all: making daily life and coexistence the border region easier and more enriching for its inhabitants.
Since 31 January 2021, anyone entering France, including from other European countries, must be in possession of a negative Covid test obtained within the previous 72 hours. However, this obligation does not apply to the inhabitants of cross-border living areas (for journeys lasting less than 24 hours) or to cross-border workers.
Following the Covid-19 crisis in the border regions, and in the light of the scale of the coming transitions, a new impetus and long-term vision are needed more than ever to make these territories engines of solidarity and cooperation between Europeans. What have been the impacts of the pandemic on cross-border cooperation? What are the desirable futures for Europe, democracy and cooperation? These are the questions that the consultation on the long-term future of cross-border cooperation is attempting to answer.
The call aims to mobilise border regions that have already acknowledged and experienced market access barriers due to regulatory or administrative obstacles. Deadline: 15 March 2021.
The European Committee of the Regions is currently working on a legislative opinion analysing the impact of two legislative proposals of the European Commission on EU's regions and cross-border links :
On 30 November and 1 December, at the informal meeting of ministers responsible for urban development and territorial cohesion organised by the German EU presidency, two important documents for Europe’s territories were adopted: the New Leipzig Charter and the Territorial Agenda 2030.
“The Pyrenees have long bound us together”
Since 19 October 2020, a single European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) has brought together Aragon, the Province of Huesca and the Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques Departments.
On behalf of the European Commission’ s DG REGIO, the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) has opened the fourth call for proposals in the framework of the b-solutions initiative. Applications can be submitted until the 11th of March 2021.
On 16 December 2020, UNESCO added craftsmanship of mechanical watchmaking and art mechanics to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This listing gives recognition to an emblematic living tradition in the Franco-Swiss Jura Arc. The candidacy was regarded as exemplary by UNESCO in that it raises awareness of the importance of intangible cultural heritage in a cross-border space
On 9 October 2020, the final conference relating to the study “Analysis of the contributions made by the 2014-2020 cross-border cooperation programmes in the Grand Est Region”, led by the Region within the framework of the European programme Europ'Act and coordinated by the MOT and the Euro-Institut, brought together in the form of a webinar around one hundred participants.
A declaration of intention on the future of institutional cooperation in the fields of higher education and research in the Greater Region was signed on 25 November 2020 in Saarbrücken, at a ministerial conference held under Saarland’s presidency. At the conference, the ministers and representatives from the five partner regions took stock and discussed the consequences of the health crisis for cross-border cooperation between higher education and research institutions.
The first Franco-Italian accelerator has just been set up. Its aim is to help French and Italian SMEs to work together to grow internationally.
Proceedings of the conference of the Compagnie Nationale des Commissaires Enquêteurs* (CNCE) of 4 March 2020.This event was an opportunity to take stock and to set out a number of observations regarding the future of public inquiry procedures in France, the timeframes of which have recently been reduced.
