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Cross-border
economic
development 84 Cross-cutting themes in cross-border economic development
The latest stages of this process are the Modernisation of Territorial Public
Action and the Affirmation of Metropolitan Areas Act (the “MAPTAM
Act”; entered into force on 27 January 2014) and the New Territorial
Organisation of the Republic Act (the “NOTRe Act”; entered into force
on 8 August 2015).
Indeed, the regions are to have sole competence when it comes to
deciding on economic intervention (notably via regional economic
development, innovation and internationalisation plans (SRDEIIs) and a
monopoly on direct aids to enterprises, particularly SMEs and mid-tier
firms). They will take the lead as regards policies supporting economic
development, innovation, the internationalisation of businesses, higher
education and research. However, departments, municipalities and
groups of municipalities will continue to be able to act, provided that
they do so with the agreement of the relevant region. Metropolitan areas
in particular will be able to establish business areas, purchase stakes
in business accelerators, and support higher education and research.
The reform tends to reaffirm the local/regional pairing:
Ì Ì The local level will increasingly be taken care of by “communities
of municipalities”, conurbation communities and “metropolises”
(subsuming urban “departments” in some cases), which in cross-
border areas will be able to implement the local strategies referred
to above (Eurodistricts, etc.).
Ì Ì The regional level will be looked after by the new super-regions,
which are equipped with planning documents (regional sustainable
planning and development and territorial equality plans; regional
economic development, innovation and internationalisation plans)
and are now mainly responsible for the application of structural
funds, including ETC programmes. These regions will be able
to implement the Euroregional strategies referred to above. It
should be noted that, in certain cases, the law explicitly refers to
competences in respect of cross-border cooperation. For example,
the NOTRe Act stipulates: “In border regions, the [economic
development] plan may contain a cross-border component drawn
up in cooperation with the territorial authorities of neighbouring
countries.”
Putting aside the inevitable debate surrounding the appropriateness
of the composition of the new regions, there is a degree of consensus
regarding the fact that these regions will be able to act with greater
coherence when developing strategies128,129 within “dual production-
based and residential systems”130 “that can be implemented and invested
in throughout the life cycle and at each of its various stages (training,
work, housing, entertainment, holidays, retirement, etc.)”.
The department level is not disappearing (other than in the case
of some conurbations), but instead is becoming a link between the
regional and local levels: social cohesion spaces, pooling of public
services (departmental public service plans, role of the decentralised
State), etc. The local roles and mediation functions performed by
departments could even increase within the super-regions in order
to take account of cross-border aspects, notably along the mountain
borders or in new regions with more than one border, such as Alsace-
Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine.
128 B. Lajudie, Réforme régionale: un enjeu pour la croissance?
129 A. Amabile, C. Bernard and A. Epaulard, Réforme territoriale et cohérence économique
régionale
)
130 L. Davezies and M. Taillandier, L’émergence de systèmes productivo-résidentiels
)
In a nutshell…
The economic governance of a territory brings together a
multitude of different public, semi-public and private players –
both collective and individual, and national and international.
A cross-border territory is thus highly complex to manage, all
the more so given that the lack of statistical data inevitably
discourages the various players from considering cross-border
operations. To this end, the costs incurred as a result of the lack
of public action at cross-border level need to be looked at. In
summary, the process of putting cross-border governance in
place is a gradual one, starting with a limited partnership and
then expanding it from a national to a cross-border partnership,
before moving from a limited cross-border partnership to one
bringing together more players. Governance is established using
a cooperative approach, but one that takes account of the fact
that there is competition between the two or three national
territories coexisting along the border (“co-opetition”). Various
processes can also alter the composition of that governance
and the construction of partnerships (such as the territorial
reforms in France).
TANDEM project