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Cross-border
economic
development 62 Cross-cutting themes in cross-border economic development
Ì Ì The three seminars organised by the SaarMoselle Euro district,
the Caisse des Dépôts and the MOT between 2011 and 2013
attest to the recognition of the potential of cross-border business
takeovers and to the start of discussions on the support tools
that may be implemented.101
Taking account of the cross-
border provision of services
Another aspect of cross-border economic development that has grown
in importance in recent years is the cross-border provision of services,
facilitated since the adoption of the “Services” Directive 2006/123/EC.
This opening-up of the cross-border services market enables SMEs
and microenterprises in particular to gain access to neighbouring
markets for personal and business services. But this openness is most
apparent in the construction sector, where it has led to sharp tensions
between domestic and foreign businesses. Fuelled mostly by public
procurement, the construction market is increasingly dominated by
SMEs from neighbouring countries, mainly on the French-Spanish and
French-Italian borders, and in the Greater Region.
There are two types of scenarios:
Ì Ì In the Greater Region, the Luxembourg market attracts a large
number of Belgian, French and German craft SMEs due to
insufficient local capacity. There is therefore a common interest in
facilitating these SMEs’ establishment of activities in Luxembourg.
The Conseil Interrégional des Chambres des Métiers (CICM –
Interregional Council of Chamber of Trades),102 which groups 12
Greater Region chambers of trades and crafts, works to establish
networks for craft support-advisory services and to remove
obstacles to the provision of cross-border services.
Ì Ì The situation is however very different in the south of France.
Spanish firms take their business across the border because of a
slow domestic market and are more price competitive than their
French counterparts. On the Riviera, Italian SMEs often have special
expertise in certain traditional building/renovation techniques. This
gives them a competitive edge vis-à-vis French firms. French
businesses deplore what they see as unfair competition (the
companies work on French building sites, but are domiciled in
neighbouring countries where social legislation is generally less
burdensome), and have called for contracting authorities to be
accountable to local business communities through a kind of
“pact of good conduct”.
101 Further details may be found on the MOT’s website:
102 The Project Factsheet page 99.
Territorial authorities and chambers of commerce and industry are
therefore faced with the major challenge of aligning their management
of cross-border service provision with that of their counterparts on
the other side of the border in order to guarantee a free market with
no distortion of competition.
This aspect is particularly significant in view of the forthcoming European
directive on public procurement, which will introduce new cross-border
possibilities.
Business Centre and Co-Working, Strasbourg
© Jean Isenmann, ADEUS