Border: France-Switzerland
Overview
Cooperation programmes
Two European programmes provide a framework for cross-border cooperation on the French-Swiss border:
INTERREG IVA Upper Rhine
This programme is used to fund cooperation projects in the Basle conurbation, an integral part of the Upper Rhine bringing together three countries: Germany, France and Switzerland.
Website of the programme
INTERREG IVA FRANCE – Switzerland
The French-Swiss cross-border cooperation programme covers three departments of the Franche-Comté region (Doubs, Jura, Territoire de Belfort), two departments of the Rhône-Alpes region (Ain and Haute-Savoie) and six Swiss cantons (Bern, Jura, Neuchâtel, Vaud, Geneva and Valais).
The Franche-Comté regional council is the managing authority and runs the joint technical secretariat, and is also the French national authority. The secretariat has a branch in Haute-Savoie, which is under the authority of the Rhône-Alpes regional council and is tasked with coordination, among other duties.
The programme is allocated an ERDF grant of 55 million euros, which funds three priority areas (economy, innovation, training; spatial planning, transport, environment; quality of life, attractiveness, services) as well as technical assistance. The programme has a strong emphasis on spatial planning, which is both a strategic issue and the major funding area in financial terms (40% of the total grant). A number of studies that have contributed to the development of the Geneva cross-border conurbation project were funded within this framework.
Interreg IVA ALCOTRA
A third European programme, Interreg IVA ALCOTRA, funds cooperation projects within the framework of the trinational Espace Mont Blanc. However, the perimeter of this programme does not include the canton of Valais, which can participate in the cross-border projects but does not receive grants from the European programme.
