An enhanced cooperation agreement between Wallonia and the Hauts-de-France Region was signed on 15 September. It covers territorial development, mobility and jobs and reaffirms the desire to complete the planned linking up of the Seine-Escaut Canal on the Belgian side and the Seine-Nord Europe Canal on the French side.
On 18 September 2018 the sixth work meeting of the Cross-Border Strategic Committee (CSC) took place, which had not met since April 2015. Set up in 2013, the CSC brings together representatives of the ministries in charge of territorial development in France and its neighbours: Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium and Andorra, as well as their statistical institutes.
The MOT and UMS Riate* hosted a seminar entitled “Territorial observation and assistance with decision-making in cross-border regions” on 17 September in Paris. It brought together 60 people in order to discuss this crucial subject.
On 20-22 September 2018 the General Assembly of the AEBR was held in Oulu, in Finland – in the heart of the Bothnian Arc, the Nordic countries’ cross-border organisation supported by the Nordic Council.
The MOT took part in the 8th EGTC Platform, which took place on 8 October at the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels. The meeting was an opportunity to celebrate the activities of the groupings and to welcome the new EGTCs.
Why is Europe disorganised? What cross-border projects does the EU fund? Why is it important to vote in the European elections? On 5 October a cross-border citizens’ consultation was organised in Nice by the MOT, the Jacques Delors Institute, the Nice-Côte d’Azur Metropolis and the Alpes Maritimes European Movement.
Two cross-border citizens’ consultations were held on 18-19 September 2018 by the MOT, the Jacques Delors Institute, the European Cross-Border Grouping and the Metropolitan Pole of the French Genevois in Saint-Genis-Pouilly and Annemasse. Around 50 citizens attended on both days to talk about their day-to-day experience of the border and express their expectations and wishes with regard to Greater Geneva and the EU.
On 14 September the Swiss Government introduced its bill concerning the funding of “Third generation conurbation projects”.
A new French law on the freedom to choose one’s professional future, adopted on 1 August 2018, introduced a simplified system of administrative procedures for employers located outside France that temporarily post workers to France. This substantial simplification of administrative procedures should in particular encourage the posting of workers within cross-border regions where people live collectively regardless of the national borders that cut across them.
The MOT has created a new section [in French] on its website devoted to cross-border cooperation in France’s overseas territories. It consists of a general introduction to the geography of and important issues in these areas, then describes the cooperation in three regions concerned: the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean and Amazonia.
On 24 August 2018, representatives of France, Andorra and Spain approved the creation of a new cross-border park: the “Three Nations Pyrenees Park”. This new park results from the merger of four already existing parks: the Alt Pirineu Nature Park in Catalonia, the Ariège Pyrenees Regional Nature Park and the Sorteny Valley and Comapedrosa Valley Nature Parks in Andorra.
In a press release issued in September, the European Cross-Border Grouping provides updates on the major issues of the autumn for Franco-Swiss cross-border workers, such as the “national preference lite” introduced in Switzerland, the payment of cross-border workers’ unemployment benefit by Switzerland and taxing income at source.
By Manuel Goehrs, published by Peter Lang, 2018 - in French. "By observing the mechanisms of cross-border cooperation in the European Union, this book proposes to investigate the legal bases for an ‘integral’ federalism or a ‘personalist’ federalism."
The MOT has partnered with the Jacques Delors Institute to promote the organisation of citizen consultations at the cross-border level. This mobilisation has allowed the holding of five consultations in partnership with a number of MOT members.
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!
It is with great sadness that the MOT learned of the passing of Charles Ricq, professor at the European Observation Centre for Regions (C.O.E.U.R.), and a frequent participant in MOT events.
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.
French “pôles de compétitivité” (competitiveness clusters) are entering their 4th phase of construction for the period 2019-2022. A call for applications, launched by the economy and finance minister, and supported by the CGET, will be open until 19 October.
In July 2018, the European Committee of the Regions published an "Opinion" on this subject, in response to the European Commission’s Communication published in September 2017. The MOT actively contributed to the elaboration of this Opinion. The European Parliament also published its report on the subject on 18 July.
On the occasion of the third Conférence national des territoires (CNT) on 12 July 2018, a “Report on Territorial Cohesion” was presented by Serge Morvan, head of the CGET (General Commission for Territorial Equality) A new tool shared with associations of elected representatives, this report fulfils two objectives: updating an inventory of France and its territories after a decade of crisis, and the elucidation of the factors influencing territorial cohesion. What about cross-border issues?
The 8th meeting of the Working Group on innovative solutions to cross-border obstacles was held on 28 June 2018 at the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels.
France’s borders can be found not only in Europe, but also in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific. France’s overseas territories are all concerned by cross-border issues. At the Assises des Outre-mer (“Overseas France Conferences”, promised in President Macron’s election campaign), the Minister for Overseas France, Annick Girardin, presented the President on 28 June with a ‘blue book’ detailing the roadmap and the priorities for these territories for the President’s five-year term.
During its General Assembly in May 2018 in Nice and Ventimiglia, the MOT held two round tables on the topics "Local cross-border cooperation in the French-Italian border area" and "The French-Italian-Monacan Metropolitan area under construction", which were complemented by a presentation of cross-border projects within the Nice Côte d’Azur metropolis.
On 15 June 2018, the French Ministry of the Interior’s Centre for Advanced Studies (CHEMI) organised with the MOT a day of reflection on cross-border cooperation for the benefit of prefects.
