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Cross-border
economic
development
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Cross-cutting themes in cross-border economic development
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Following an amendment to the bill on the creation of Bpifrance
introduced by Philip Cordery, the MP for French citizens resident
in the Benelux, the law passed on 31 December 2012 allows
people with knowledge and experience in cross-border economic
development to sit on Bpifrance’s regional policy committees.
This provision was born of the need to increase complementarity
and create new links between national, regional and local funding
programmes and those in the neighbouring countries.
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Some territorial authorities mobilise their own funds within
common cross-border funds.
This is the case for the
Aquitaine-
Euskadi Euroregion
, whose annual calls for project proposals
(total budget of €300,000 for 2014) provide for various initiatives.
Economic development is nonetheless just one of the areas eligible
for this co-financing.
French territorial authorities are in a rather difficult financial situation
compared to their counterparts in neighbouring countries, especially
at the regional level. Though regional authorities have seen their
economic competence expand (aid to businesses, support for
internationalisation, real estate and innovation investment aid)
through the adoption of the New Territorial Organisation of the
Republic Act (the “NOTRe Act”), they do not at present have
leverage comparable to that of the German Länder and the Swiss
Cantons.
Cross-border venture
capital funds
Given the weakness of French territorial authorities compared to their
counterparts in neighbouring countries with regard to capacity to finance
economic development activities and businesses, institutional and
economic players are turning increasingly to cross-border financing
that combines national and European public funding as well as private
resources.
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EUREFI is the first cross-border venture capital fund
set up
at the joint instigation of the European Union and private French,
Belgian and Luxembourg shareholders in the Longwy European
Development Pole (EDP), which is undergoing regeneration.
EUREFI was established in 1991 but actually launched at the end
of the 1990s with an initial capital of €10 million. The fund managed
close to €27.7 million in 2013 and generally makes investments
within the range of €250,000 to € 1.5 million (a single investment
averages around €500,000).
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EUREFI does not target a specific
business sector: the criteria determining businesses’ eligibility
for this funding are based mainly on the (existing or potential)
cross-border nature of their development project and its viability.
Currently, recipients are mostly Belgian and French businesses
that wish to enter the Luxembourg market. This explains the
breakdown by nationality of applications processed by EUREFI:
50% French businesses, 30% Belgian and 20% from Luxembourg.
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Bpifrance figures.