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Cross-border
economic
development
3
Editorial
The Caisse des Dépôts was, along with France’s General
Commission for Territorial Equality (the CGET), a founder
member of the Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT).
In a country like France which has 11 land borders, living in a
border region is a reality for nearly a quarter of the population.
More than 380,000 cross-border workers commute to the
neighbouring country every day, a number that is continually
growing. The economic, ecological and also social issues involved
in cross-border cooperation are thus far from being peripheral.
The Caisse des Dépôts group is therefore involved in actions on a daily
basis to facilitate the emergence and implementation of cross-border
projects. For example, our subsidiary Transdev, through Thello (33%
Transdev, 66% Trenitalia), is the first private French company to operate
within the framework of the opening-up of the market in cross-border
transport. We also finance core infrastructures in these territories, such
as the tramline between Strasbourg and Kehl which links the two sides
of the Rhine.
We will also participate in the Juncker Plan by providing financial
engineering, loans, capital and sometimes collateral. To accelerate its
implementation, we have formed a partnership with the EIB in order to
jointly support project developers, notably in the areas of energy and
environmental transition, transport infrastructures, digital technology,
tourism and housing.
The work carried out by the MOT during the past year-and-a-half
on the economic development of cross-border territories, which our
teams have been involved with, have made it possible to draw up an
initial assessment and some initial recommendations that you will find
in this document.
But it is vital to continue these reflections in order to respond to the
needs of cross-border territories, which by nature are complex. I am
therefore delighted that one of the objectives set by Luxembourg’s
presidency of the EU in the second half of 2015 is to put the removal of
the obstacles to cross-border cooperation at the heart of its priorities.
Marc Abadie,
the Caisse des Dépôts’
Director of the Network