TERRITORIES
French award for Saarland’s “France Strategy”
March 2021On 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 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".
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.
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.
At its plenary assembly in October, the Grand Est CESER adopted an opinion on cross-border civil society. The MOT had been formally heard as part of the preparation of this publication.
Mountain areas represent over 40% of France’s borders. Among France’s mountain ranges, three of them are located in border regions: the Jura, the Pyrenees and the Alps. This new brochure sets out their common cross-border issues and challenges, while also highlighting concrete cross-border projects.
To discuss these opportunities for the future of cross-border territories, join us for Round table#7 of the Borders Forum, on 10 November 2020: "Cross-border areas, differentiated areas?"
Following the adoption of the first four Cross-Border Cooperation Strategies (Schémas de Coopération Transfrontalière – SCT) by the Nice, Strasbourg and Lille Metropolises, as well as by the Basque Country Conurbation Community, the MOT and its partners embarked on the drafting of a preliminary assessment of these initiatives that has resulted in a publication, co-written with each of these groupings of municipalities.
In the context of the health crisis, all of the neighbouring countries have sought to encourage homeworking. Good news for cross-border workers: the legal uncertainty regarding the social security system governing cross-border workers has been removed until 31 December 2020.
The MOT has published an analysis of the consequences for cross-border territories of the health crisis – the result of a call for experiences issued to all of its members. Organised in three main parts, it aims to set out the impacts, difficulties and initiatives linked to the management of the Covid-19 health crisis in cross-border territories.
While a circular issued by France’s Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, dated 12 May has just extended France’s internal border controls until 31 October 2020,1 there have been growing calls to give attention to the difficulties faced in border territories, notably for the 360,000 cross-border workers who cross the French border every day to work in a neighbouring country.
The barriers that were put up between the two countries from the start of the health crisis have had a major impact on citizens who were used to crossing the border on a daily basis*. In this context, there have been many local cooperation initiatives and the MOT would like to highlight them.
"The coronavirus crisis is putting our European ideals to the test, and obliges us to invent tomorrow’s world. We need to think, in the design of our policies, about the impact of our decisions on our neighbours."
GeoRhena, the Upper Rhine geographic information system, has developed a simplified dynamic mapping tool that enables people to view and search for regularly updated data on developments in the Covid-19 epidemic in the Franco-German-Swiss trinational region.
The MOT has published on its website and on social media a series of maps showing the situation with respect to the easing of lockdown measures along France’s borders.
The territory of the Strasbourg Eurometropolis has an abundance of players and initiatives in the area of cross-border cooperation, for the most part designed and implemented with its German partners in Kehl and Ortenau. It also has several tools for dialogue and cross-border governance that enable it to foster and coordinate the daily contacts that make it one of the centres for cooperation in the Upper Rhine area.
The MP for Moselle, Christophe Arend, and his counterpart, Andreas Jung, have published a joint Franco-German declaration entitled "Together against coronavirus!", calling for Franco-German and European solidarity in this period of crisis.
Since 16 March, the Strasbourg Transport Company has no longer been authorised to serve Germany, and the tramway going from Strasbourg to Kehl stops at the border. Within a few days, following the spread of the coronavirus in Europe, control and restriction measures were put in place at the Grand Est borders, while population containment was implemented.
On 5 and 6 December 2019 in Bonn (Germany), the German Federal Institute for Research on Building Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) brought together the signatories of the "Memorandum for the creation of a European network for cross-border observation", representatives from Germany’s different borders (Statistics offices, local and regional authorities, ministries in charge of territorial cohesion, national bodies), as well as DG REGIO, the ESPON programme, and the MOT.
One year on from the signing of the Aachen Treaty, a Franco-German "Cross-Border Cooperation Committee" was officially established, in Hambach, on 22 January 2020, in the presence of the German Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Michael Roth, and the French Secretary of State in charge of European Affairs, Amélie de Montchalin. Its objective is "to overcome everyday border problems by means of concrete and reproducible solutions".
The MOT and Euro-Institut are carrying out a capitalisation study on behalf of the Grand Est region, funded by the Europ’Act technical assistance programme. Within this framework, three seminars have been held: in Strasbourg on 4 December, in Metz on 3 February, and in Charleville-Mézières on 10 February.
This guide is targeted at those involved in young people’s services across the Eurodistrict: social workers, teaching assistants, youth workers and coordinators, members of associations, administrative staff in the field of young people’s services, teachers, etc. It aims to guide these players in the development and implementation of cross-border projects.