According to a study by the INSEE published in February 2015, the number of French people living in France but working abroad has increased by 42% since 1999. The study analyses the different causes and characteristics of the resulting flows.
"Wallonia is a border territory par excellence: its relations with its neighbours have always played a crucial role in its development."
Depuis le 1er janvier 2015, la région wallonne a l’honneur et la responsabilité de présider la Grande Région, exercice assumé en étroite collaboration avec ses partenaires belges, la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles et la Communauté germanophone.
This study focuses on various effects of international borders on local public transport: How does it impact demand, service offer as well as framework conditions?
View the question put by the MP Philip Cordery on 13 January 2015 at the Assemblée Nationale to Marisol Tourraine, French Minister of Social Affairs, Health and Women's Rights, about cross-border healthcare, and her reply.
In 2006, under the impetus of civil society, three public employment services (those of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region, Wallonia and Flanders) and Unizo (the Union of Independent Flemish Entrepreneurs) set up the "Eurometropolis Jobs Forum".
On 12 December 2014 in Dunkirk, the closing event of the INTERREG project "TransSport – Sport without Borders" was an opportunity to present the achievements of this project, which since 2012 has brought together seven partners from West Flanders and the North of France.
On 10 December 2014, the conference entitled "What solutions for cross-border healthcare?" took place at the Assemblée Nationale in Paris. Organised by the Assemblée Nationale's "Border Regions and Workers" study group, with support from the MOT, this conference brought together cross-border healthcare experts and elected representatives from all of France's border areas.
As 2014 draws to a close, the technical work to update the report of the French-Belgian parliamentary working group (GTPFB), initiated by the prefecture of the Nord-Pas de Calais Region, is being finalised. This initiative has benefited from the support and expertise of the MOT.
Taking place on 28 September 2014 between Berus (Überherrn, Saarland) and Berviller-en-Moselle (Lorraine) as part of the annual event of the Interreg IVA Greater Region Programme and the 10th anniversary of the Interreg PIG (Public Interest Group), the cross-border walk attracted 170 persons, partner authorities and project operators accompanied by their families, from Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and France.
The TransParcNet meeting of European cross-border protected areas took place this year on the French-Belgian border. An initiative of the EUROPARC Federation, this annual gathering brings together managers of protected areas from across the whole of Europe all of whom are faced with cross-border issues.
Author: Markus Rieder, Ph.D. (public administration); February 2014, 418p, €65. Published in French.
With the launch of the Dutch presidency of the Benelux Union, a new "Benelux Convention on Cross-Border and Interterritorial Cooperation" was signed on 20 February in The Hague.
The West-Vlaanderen/Flandre-Dunkerque-Côte d'Opale EGTC has just published a cross-border public transport map.
The MOT produced a guidebook entitled “The legal framework for cross-border cooperation. The legal instruments available to cross-border projects” which is aimed at helping cooperation practitioners to choose the legal form that is most appropriate for their needs. The document is available in six languages: French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch.
On 16 January 2014 cross-border meetings took place in Maubeuge, organised by the Charleroi-Sud Hainaut region and the Communauté d’Agglomération Maubeuge-Val de Sambre (CAMVS) to reinforce their collaboration initiated in 2011.
The French-Belgian health monitoring unit (EEIG OFBS) and the Wallonia-Lorraine-Luxembourg cross-border health monitoring unit (EEIG LUXLORSAN) organised a conference on health systems and cross-border cooperation, which took place on 18 December 2013 at the Committee of the Regions offices.
The overall objective of the Eurometropolis strategy is to “proceed from the collective project to practical implementations”.
The MOT organized five information seminars in September and October 2013 on operational arrangements for cross-border projects on French borders. Each seminar covered one or two of the French borders. Consult the documentation.
The seminar on legal instruments for cross-border projects organised by the MOT on 29 October 2013 in Lille (at the Nord-Pas de Calais Conseil Régional) brought together nearly 70 French, Belgian and English players involved in cross-border cooperation.
The Parc Naturel Régional Scarpe-Escaut (France) and the Parc Naturel des Plaines de l’Escaut (Belgium), which together form the Hainaut Cross-border Nature Park, received the “Transboundary Park” certificate at the closing ceremony of the annual conference of the EUROPARC Federation on 12 October 2013 in Hungary.
The MOT produced a map summarising the main cross-border agreements, structures and programmes on French borders.
In a dynamic context of reform - redefinition of cross-border policy and decentralisation process in France, preparation of the 2014-2020 programmes at European level - the MOT has produced a methodological guidebook aimed at improving articulation between cohesion policy, governance structures and cross-border territorial approaches.
