An even closer alliance is being built, the Strasbourg Declaration was signed

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has tested the solidarity and the principle of free movement of EU Member States which had been built up over the past half century to an unprecedented extent, and has made cross-border cooperation almost impossible. The measures taken by national governments to contain the virus have radically reduced cross-border mobility, making the free movement of workers (including health care workers) much more difficult.

To address these unprecedented challenges, the Committee of the Regions, the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), the French Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT) and the Central European Service for Cross-border Initiatives (CESCI) together launched the European Cross-Border Citizens’ Alliance in the summer of 2020. Apart from gathering news and information on the processes taking place in European border regions, the members of the Alliance also launched an online consultation which resulted in more than 600 responses from individuals living in the area and from relevant organisations. The results of the consultation were summarised in a decision adopted by the Committee of the Regions on 1 July 2021, proposing concrete interventions regarding the future of cross-border cooperation.

The three associations, which played an active role in the creation of the alliance, decided to work even more closely together to achieve the objectives set out in the resolution and to coordinate their efforts in order to defend the achievements in the European border regions from 50 years ago. The Strasbourg Declaration was signed in this spirit on 7 October 2021 in the building of the Council of Europe (CoE).

The signatories of the declaration were welcomed by Andreas Kiefer, President of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly. The Secretary General of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly is well aware of the problems encountered in border regions, as he himself comes from the Salzburg region. He pointed out that the organisations present are working towards the same goals at the local level for which the frameworks are being developed by the CoE. He indicated that the Committee was willing to support the joint work beyond the signature.

Dr. Zsuzsanna Fejes welcomed the participants in her capacity as Vice President of CESCI. In her address, she underlined the strong interdependence of European countries brought to light by the pandemic, and how over the past 70 years they have successfully reduced the divisive effect of borders. The current crisis urges us to do our utmost, in the spirit of the founding fathers, to ensure that we leave a legacy for future generations that is similar to what we have been given.

Christian Dupessey, president of MOT and the agglomeration of Annemasse, stressed that the aim of the signatories of the declaration is to strengthen cross-border cooperation and to put it back at the heart of the European project. To this end, it is of utmost importance to remove obstacles that hinder cooperation and to develop the right tools to do so. From the point of this initiative, Strasbourg has a symbolic role both for the Franco-German reconciliation and for the European integration, particularly in the context of the work of the Council of Europe.

Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President of the AEBR, former speaker of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community in Belgium and former President of the Committee of the Regions, has been working for the Council of Europe since 2000. His first report was on cross-border cooperation. In his view, this topic is a key question for the future of Europe as a whole, and even for countries outside the EU. The signatories of the declaration undertake the hard task of directing proper attention to the issue in a climate after the 2015 terrorist attacks and the 2020 COVID pandemic.

Under the declaration, which aims to keep cross-border cooperation at the centre of the European project, the signatories will cooperate at local/regional, national and EU levels in the future, in the framework of short and long-term projects. Joint work will cover issues such as legal accessibility, crisis management, analysis of cross-border processes, spatial planning and development of functional areas, the financing of cross-border investments, the sharing of public services and cross-border governance. The partners aim to achieve their objectives through data collection, the development of databases, the compilation of policy documents, networking and capacity building activities, knowledge sharing and cooperation with European institutions.

According to the declaration, the initiative is not intended to replace existing alliances. On the contrary, the parties seek to establish the broadest possible cooperation with all those interested in achieving the common goal. For CESCI, the event was made even more significant by the fact, that the signature took place during the Hungarian Presidency of the CoE.