Monitoring the work of the Council of Europe

The MOT follows all of the Council of Europe’s work on cross-border cooperation (including monitoring the implementation of the Madrid Outline Convention, see below).
The MOT also participates in events organised by the Council of Europe on cross-border cooperation. For example:

  • On 25 May 2018, the MOT took part in a conference entitled "Cross-Border Cooperation In Europe: Decentralisation, legal frameworks, and practice", organised under the aegis of the Council of Europe in Dubrovnik. Jean Peyrony, Director General of the MOT participated in the Panel 3: "Exchanging Good Practice for Effective CBC: the EDEN database experience". More info
  • On 22 and 23 October 2015, a European Seminar on democratic governance of cross-border areas was held  in Saint-Louis (France). The seminar was organised by the Council of Europe with the collaboration of the City of Saint-Louis, the Trinational Eurodistrict Basel, the Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière and the Institute of International Sociology of Gorizia (Italy). More info
  • A seminar on “Multi-level Governance in Transfrontier Co-operation” was held on 30 May 2012 in Innsbruck, Austria, during which the MOT and the AEBR chaired the round table on “prospects of transfrontier governance in Europe”.

The Madrid Outline Convention and Protocol nº3 on the Euroregional Cooperation Grouping

Protocol nº3 to the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities (known as the Madrid Outline Convention) drafted by the Council of Europe and concerning Euroregional Cooperation Groupings (ECG) has come into force in Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, and Ukraine (in March 2013) and in France in May 2013.
Consult protocol n°3

The ECG, established on a voluntary basis, enables legal persons governed by public law to work together in order to promote, support and develop, for the benefit of their populations, cooperation actions, either cross-border or inter-territorial (without geographical continuity), in the Member States of the Council of Europe.
Territorial communities or authorities belonging to a State having ratified this protocol can become members of an ECG, as can these States themselves, on the condition that the partnership includes a territorial community or authority situated in their territory. Territorial communities or authorities of a State that is yet to ratify the protocol can become members of an ECG if they belong to a State bordering the State where the ECG has its headquarters, and if an agreement exists between the two States that gives a legal basis for this participation.
The GEC represents an alternative to the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGCT) and could notably be used at the Swiss border, in order to bring together in a single body (possibly governed by Swiss law) all levels of competence, including the State level.

More info on the ECG
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe