Congress acting Secretary General Andreas Kiefer participated in the annual conference of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) held online on 6 November 2020 on "Communication and Networking: AEBR's future cooperation with European Union institutions and other partners". He presented the role of the European institutions in supporting cross-border cooperation in the interest of citizens, municipalities and regions.
"Cross-border cooperation is promoted, among other things, by joint cross-border development structures and programmes for the benefits of citizens, municipalities and regions, partnerships and an appropriate legal framework", explained the Secretary General of the Congress. The 1980 Madrid Convention of the Council of Europe and its three additional protocols provide an appropriate legal framework for decentralised cooperation in Europe and aim to encourage agreements on the development of infrastructure and public services between border regions, underlined Mr Kiefer.
"Besides legal frameworks that need to be adapted, cross-border cooperation also requires a vision, objectives, strategies and concrete actions " he added. "All actors and associations specialised in the field of cross-border cooperation must work together and develop synergies. We should consider the creation of a platform for dialogue, meetings and exchanges on cross-border cooperation, on the basis of existing institutions - for example, an annual high-level exchange of the heads of the institutions concerned to define the cross-border cooperation strategy and coordinate activities for its implementation," the acting Secretary General insisted.
"This annual exchange can be used to share good practices, pool expertise, develop capacity-building and training programmes, support the creation of cross-border projects, measure the impact of cooperation activities at European level and draw up new legal acts if necessary," Mr Kiefer stressed.
The acting Secretary General of the Congress also presented the work of the Congress aimed at promoting territorial cooperation through the creation of Euroregions and the adoption of a series of recommendations, including the drafting of legal provisions on horizontal subsidiarity, the transfer of competences and resources to cross-border cooperation bodies and the need to train and strengthen the capacities of the actors concerned.
"Effective cooperation requires a genuine multi-level governance in order to tackle the current challenges and to further promote the work and commitment of AEBR as a forum for border regions", concluded Andreas Kiefer.
Statement by the Congress acting Secretary General at the annual conference of the AEBR
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