The Greater Region’s Cooperation Fund has been extended by the Greater Region Summit with a new call for projects. Its aim: "To bring the inhabitants of the Greater Region closer together and to enable them to experience the richness of exchanges across borders".
In January 2022, the Summit of Greater Region Executives took stock at the midpoint in France’s presidency, particularly with respect to the industrial, digital and energy transitions, flood and drought risk prevention, food and promoting short supply chains, culture, youth, sport and tourism, healthcare and security.
On 31 August 2021, the Belgian and Luxembourg Ministers of Health signed a declaration of intent with a view to negotiating a framework agreement on cross-border healthcare cooperation between the two countries.
The Greater Region’s Geographical Information System and ATMO Grand Est have joined forces in order to develop an interactive map that makes it possible to check air quality across the whole of the cross-border territory of the Greater Region.
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.
On 30 October 2019, the construction site of a new cross-border waste water treatment plant was presented to the public – a large-scale project on the border between Belgium and Luxembourg.
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".
To mark its 20th anniversary, the MOT produced a map of European cross-border territories. Now, on the occasion of its 21st General Assembly, it is publishing – and has had printed in the form of a large poster – a map showing the cross-border territories along France's borders.
The MMUST project (Multimodal model and scenarios for cross-border mobility) has just been approved by the Greater Region Interreg VA programme. It is an ambitious project that aims to simulate cross-border movements between France, Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium.
"Beyond the speeches and symbols, what meaning can the concept of a cross-border region have? By defining the region as an identity-based, territorial and institutional construction that endures over time, this work identifies and interrogates the specificities of this process in the cross-border setting. The issues are explored using the emblematic example of the Greater Region, which launched a long-term strategy in 2008 involving Lorraine, Luxembourg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Wallonia."
As part of the "UniGR - Centre for Border Studies" project, the six member universities (Kaiserslautern, Liège, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Saarland and Trier) of the University of the Greater Region (UniGR) are going to set up a "European centre of skills and resources in border studies" with international visibility.
Kussbus is a Luxembourg start-up which has just launched an innovative home-work shuttle service in the Luxembourg-France-Belgium-Germany border territory.
At the request of Luxembourg's Ministry for Sustainable Development and Infrastructures, acting on behalf of the different bodies of the Greater Region's Summit, a consortium led by the North Lorraine urban planning agency (AGAPE) in collaboration with the MOT, the urban planning agencies of Metz (AGURAM) and Nancy (ADUAN), and the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, carried out an assignment to assist with the drawing-up of the Greater Region's territorial development plan.
The "Grex" platform was set up on 4 January 2016 in order to provide operational support to any sole trader or SME wishing to develop an economic partnership in the Greater Region.
"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.
The thesis is about the differences in social security systems and taxes in the European Union’s context (looking at the selected country cases) and how these affect the income of individuals who reside in one country, but commute daily or weekly to another country for work, while keeping their residence place constant (called ‘frontier workers’).
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.
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.
