The MOT has been commissioned by the SaarMoselle Eurodistrict to support the cross-border territory in implementing the recommendations drawn up during the Franco-German pilot project for spatial planning (MORO).
For almost a year, the MOT, supported by sixteen partners, has been conducting a "cross-border living areas" experiment on five pilot sites on the French borders: PAMINA Eurodistrict (French-German border), the Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai Eurometropolis (French-Belgian border), Nord Lorrain - Luxembourg (French-Luxembourg border), Southern Alps - Riviera (French-Italian-Monegasque border) and Franco-Vaud-Geneva conurbation (French-Swiss border)
On both sides of the Pyrenees, the border territories have a long history of cooperation and are involved in a multitude of cross-border projects in all fields, testifying to the vitality of exchanges across the border.
The new allowance designed to protect the purchasing power of civil servants in the Franco-Swiss cross-border area, announced on September 28th, 2023 by Stanislas Guerini, the French Minister for Transformation and the Civil Service, was extended on December 12th to 133 municipalities, instead of the 61 initially announced.
On December 12th, 2023, the Commission adopted its amended proposal for a regulation, formerly known as "ECBM", renamed "FCBS" ("Facilitating Cross-Border Solutions"). Its aim: to relaunch the creation of this European tool to "facilitate the use of cross-border solutions" by "helping Member States to remove obstacles that affect the daily lives of citizens living in cross-border regions of Europe".
A new financial instrument, with a budget of €14.8 million, has been presented by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Euskadi-Navarra Euroregion. It will support projects in three key areas: multilingualism, employment and mobility.
On 18 January in Girona, over 200 participants attended the presentation of the functional area of the Espace Catalan Transfrontalier (EsCaT), which brings together the province of Girona and the department of Pyrénées-Orientales to form one of the five functional areas of the POCTEFA 2021-2027 programme.
A bi-national cooperation programme between Haïti and the Dominican Republic aims to strengthen relations between national and local authorities and to promote a border development plan.
The 2023-2027 State-Region Plan Contract (CPER) for the Grand Est region provides for more than €2.1 billion in funding for its mobility component.
The European Commission has launched discussions on cohesion policy after 2027 within an independent high-level group of experts, which will publish its conclusions and strategic recommendations in early 2024.
UVic’s Borders in Globalization (BIG) research program offers eight intensive summer institutes exploring borders in the 21st century. Participants develop comprehensive understandings of contemporary borders by learning from top academics in the field as well as policy experts from a variety of international, governmental, non-governmental, and local organizations. Each course is fully hybrid to ensure a personalized and engaging experience for all participants. Our institutes are tailored to policy professionals and academics.
Since 2007, the ESPON Programme, through the Targeted Analyses, has been funding tailor-made studies to support informed territorial decision-making based on sound methodologies and providing scientific expertise.
Following the launch of the Franco-Italian Border Cooperation Committee, and more recently of the "Observ'Alp" project, which brings together numerous partners between France, Italy and Monaco, Christian Estrosi answers our questions on the major cross-border challenges facing the Metropolis with its border neighbors.
On December 4th and 5th, 2023, the partners of Observ'Alp, a project selected as part of the Interreg ALCOTRA program, met in Nice to discuss their work which will unfold over the next two years.
The "PITER ALPIMED" is a cross-border cooperation strategy funded under the Interreg Alcotra program that ran between 2018 and 2022 in the mountain area between the provinces of Cuneo, Imperia and the Alpes-Maritimes department.
The cooperation dynamic launched at the beginning of the year by the French Riviera Conurbation Community (Communauté d'Agglomération de la Riviera Française - CARF) and the City of Sanremo is continuing today, with the aim of setting up an EGTC by the end of 2024.
Promoting the history of the salt roads has been a theme of interest to many local players and elected representatives in the cross-border area for many years.
The event will take place on the 16th and 17th of May 2024, in Strasbourg, on the theme: "Mobility in the regions: the challenge of demand". The call for abstracts is open until 15th January 2024.
An opinion from the Committee of the Regions, voted in plenary session on November 29, focuses on EU regions' cooperation with neighbouring regions and countries.
On November 28, the Commission adopted a list of 166 cross-border energy projects for EU support to help deliver the European Green Deal.
The Commissariat à l'aménagement du Massif du Jura (Jura Massif Planning Commission) has joined forces with the MOT to carry out a cross-border study to take better account of the Franco-Swiss nature of the Jura mountains.
For the first time in 105 editions, cross-border issues were discussed at the French Mayors' Congress, held in Paris on November 22nd.
The 14th episode of the Beyond Borders: Breakfast Debate Series, organized by the Border Focal Point Network, held on November 9th 2023, focused on the future of EU border regions within the post-2027 Cohesion Policy.
