• Introduction
• The potential of cross-border cultural cooperation
• Numerous structural needs
• Financing cultural projects
• The diversity of cross-border cultural projects

Introduction

Borders are places of meeting, exchange and sharing between cultures. Cross-border cultural cooperation promotes the removal of “border effects” and the development of closer ties between communities. It can play an essential role, especially in areas that have experienced multiple border changes: by making apparent shared cultural roots, links between populations can be created and past divisions overcome. Culture can even contribute to the emergence of real European and cross-border identities, including some whose existence predates that of the States themselves.

It is within cross-border territories that spaces of shared development and European citizenship are being forged. Through their high visibility for local people, cross-border cultural projects are bringing Europe closer to its citizens by making it a tangible reality in everyday life.