What future for cross-border cooperation? A conference of the European Cross-Border Citizens’ Alliance

In accordance with the main objectives of the European Cross-Border Citizens’ Alliance (ECCA) established in 2020 by the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), the Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT), the Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives (CESCI) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR) as well as with the process of the Conference on the Future of Europe, the ECCA organised an international conference dedicated to the future of CBC on July 5.

The conference aimed at summarising the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on border regimes in Europe and delineating the future perspectives for CBC. The online conference started with the lecture of James W. Scott, professor of the University of Eastern Finland. Professor Scott interpreted CBC as a basic factor of EU’s geopolitical identity and a tool of Europeanisation. By his expectations, CBC in 2050 should form part of everyday governance routines and have an increased political voice.

The first panel discussed the lessons learnt from the effects of COVID-19 on CBC. Jean Peyrony, director of the MOT highlighted the significance of the development of cross-border public services and the involvement of the citizens in the decision-making impacting upon the border areas – even through elected joint bodies, if it is possible.  Furthermore, the pandemic has shown that the collection and sharing of information and data on border areas and cross-border flows (observation) has a crucial role in managing similar crises.

Sławomir Tokarski, director of DG REGIO concentrated, on the one hand, on the factors making possible to avoid future closures (i.e. promoting multi-level governance, overcoming cross-border obstacles, financing cross-border activities) and, on the other hand, he drew the attention to the initiatives of the Commission targeting the improved conditions for CBC. He mentioned, among others, the European Cross-Border Mechanism (ECBM), the cross-border public services and a deeper institutional cooperation.

Arola Urdangarin, director of EGTC Euroregion Nouvelle Aquitaine – Euskadi – Navarra, presented the measures taken by the grouping during the pandemic in order to ease the everyday life of border citizens. In addition, she summarised the results of the survey conducted by the EGTC which had shown that 70% of the respondents had been effected by the pandemic, while 90% of the commuters had given up their job on the other side of the border.

François Hublet, managing editor of the company ’BLUE’ presented the results of the study on subsidiarity problems during the pandemic and the recommendations drafted by the experts of the consultancy agency. He also underlined the importance of citizens’ involvement.

Gyula Ocskay, secretary general of CESCI concentrated on the specific characteristics of the Eastern European experiences: the recall of the memories of closed borders inherited from the communist past, the differences between the measures taken during the migration crisis of 2015 and the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, and the role of positive examples of solidarity giving hope for the future.

The second panel started with the intervention of Pavel Branda, head of COTER Committee of the CoR who had been the rapporteur on ’Cross-border public services’ and the CoR resolution on the future of CBC. Among others, he drew the attention to the significance of the accessibility of health services across the border during a pandemic. Further speakers presented different ’case studies’ regarding how to manage cross-border cooperation – from regional, national and macro-regional point of views.

The conference was the first public event reflecting to the adoption of the CoR resolution on the future of CBC which had also been developed with the active participation of the members of the ECCA.