The new Franco-German Assembly, set up in parallel with the Aachen Treaty, held its first session on 25 March in Paris. It will bring together at least twice a year 100 French and German parliamentarians in equal numbers, meeting in turn in France and Germany.
ADEUS (the Strasbourg Conurbation Development and Urban Planning Agency) and the heads of the two cities on either side of the Rhine held a conference in Strasbourg on 27 February entitled: “What are the issues facing a cross-border metropolitan area Strasbourg- Karlsruhe and their Eurodistricts?”. The presentations are now available.
The French decree establishing the European Territorial Authority of Alsace through the merger of the Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin Departments was published on 28 February. The new authority will come into being on 1 February 2021.
At the 16th Greater Region Summit on 30 January 2019, the Greater Region Executives argued for "ambitious territorial cooperation and a Europe that listens to its citizens".
On 22 January in Aachen, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron signed a new treaty on cooperation and integration between Germany and France.
The Aachen Treaty marks a real recognition of cross-border cooperation as a central element in European construction. The fourth chapter, which is entirely devoted to cross-border cooperation, was drafted with active participation from the MOT.
Under the aegis of the General Commission for Territorial Equality (CGET) on the French side and the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community on the German side, the MOT and the BBSR* have coordinated the production of a brochure entitled “France-Germany: cross-border observation at the heart of Europe”.
Signed on 1 February 2019 by the Minister for the Ecological Transition, François de Rugy, and the French and German regional players, this “territorial project” is designed to accompany the economic redevelopment of the area around the nuclear power station in Fessenheim, whose two reactors are due to be shut down in the summer of 2020.
On the occasion of the European Conference on the Energy Transition, which is taking place in Dunkirk on 22-24 January 2019, the MOT is publishing a new edition of its thematic Guides, on the energy transition and cross-border cooperation.
In December, the Grand Est Region published a brochure setting out its strategic orientations in the area of cross-border cooperation.
After two years of co-construction, the elected representatives of the Grand Est Region presented the major elements of the Region’s SRADDET at an event in Metz on 30 November 2018.
On 11 December 2018 in Brussels, a declaration of intent regarding the development of closer cooperation between France and the countries of the Benelux Union (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) was signed.
On 7 December 2018 in Metz, the EURES Resource and Documentation Centre/Grand Est Cross-Border Workers hosted the annual seminar of EURES advisers in the Greater Region.
It was in the Alsatian town of Wissembourg that, on 12 December 2018, the 30th anniversary of the declaration of intent that established the PAMINA Eurodistrict was celebrated.
A seminar on the fair distribution of taxes and social security contributions in cross-border areas was held on 25 October in Geneva by the FEDRE Foundation and the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
The MOT, and the Jacques Delors Institute have in a 50-page document compiled a summary of the five cross-border citizen consultations that they held with local partners.
The French government has announced its support for the creation of a European territorial authority of Alsace, formed by the merger of the Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin Departments. It will be set up as of 1 January 2021. “We will support the elected representatives in their desire for Alsace. This will all be within the Grand Est Region – not a special status, but an authority with particular competences that derive notably from the cross-border setting and Alsace’s Rhineland identity,” stated the Minister for Territorial Cohesion, Jacqueline Gourault.
What European tools should be used to step up the energy transition? And what policies should be adopted to foster mobility among young people and learning the language of the neighbouring country’s? In Haguenau on 25 October, the citizens’ consultation organised with the MOT and the Jacques Delors Institute in the PAMINA Eurodistrict, with the support of Vincent Thiébaut, MP for the Bas-Rhin Department, brought together a hundred or so citizens to discuss the actions they would like Europe to implement in the cross-border setting.
The French prime minister has entrusted the Prefect of the Grand Est region with a mission relating to the institutional solutions available to give form to the “longing for Alsace”.
Launched in 2017 in the Pamina Eurodistrict, the educational game “Passe-partout – Weltenbummler” (“Globetrotter”) has successfully completed an initial pilot phase, and in September 2018 begins a new phase now covering the whole of the Upper Rhine region. A project to replicate!
On 11 July 2018 in Châlons-en-Champagne in France, a meeting of the Grand Est Regional Administration Committee (CAR) was held: a veritable ‘board meeting’ of the State in the region, bringing together every two months the prefects of the region and the départements, and all of the decentralised services of the State.
This new issue of "InfObservatoire" sets out the cross-border forecasts of the North Lorraine Urban Planning Agency (AGAPE): "With 150,000 French cross-border workers in Luxembourg in 15 years and huge movement of goods, isn't it time […] to make the cross-border dimension a priority issue?"
The executives of the Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin Departments have submitted to the Prefect of the Grand Est Region a proposal for an authority with special status, based on the views of 13,000 citizens.
The General Commission for Territorial Equality (CGET) has just published its 2017 annual report. An extensive chapter looks at the dynamics of cross-border employment. Border issues are also discussed in other sections of the report.
The report by the MP of the Bas-Rhin Department, Sylvain Waserman, was officially submitted to the French Prime Minister on 18 May. It sets out six proposals aimed at promoting a "renewal" of Franco-German cross-border cooperation, in the perspective of the forthcoming new Elysée Treaty.
