Whether at European Union level or within the framework of Greater Europe, cross-border cooperation is one of the great successes of European integration. But the models still have room for improvement, as demonstrated by a debate without a vote organised on 28 October by the Congress’s Chamber of Regions.
From the Carpathians to the Rhine, via the Sudeten Mountains and Lake Geneva, cross-border cooperation is developing within a variety of frameworks, with objectives that are sometimes very practical, such as the sharing of infrastructure, but also longer-term ones, particularly in the field of the environment.
Vitali Bezghin, the Ukrainian Minister for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, presented the programmes bringing together the eight countries and 20 million people living in the Carpathian Mountains, which cover areas ranging from the economy to resource management and landscape conservation.
Whether they are bi-national or multi-national, and whether or not they involve borders outside the European Union or Greater Europe – such as the French overseas regions – these programmes “bring Europe to life in everyday terms”, summarised Pavel Branda, Chair of the European Cross-Border Platform of the EU Committee of the Regions.
He outlined a number of new tools introduced by the EU in this area, such as the regulation on emergency services, which should finally speed up the cross-border treatment of the sick and injured – a process sometimes hampered by outdated provisions: even if an accident occurs on the border between Austria and Italy, Austrian ambulances are not allowed to cross it because they carry medicines in their medical cabinets that are banned in Italy… Obstacles that are completely incomprehensible to citizens, but which should now begin to fade away.
Beyond such examples, cross-border cooperation should also focus more directly on the concerns of young people, according to several young delegates at the meeting. For example, they would like to see cross-border helpdesks providing young people with information on study or employment opportunities in neighbouring countries, and regret that youth information centres too often remain national in scope and do not really cooperate across borders. These are all points which show that cross-border cooperation, however well-developed it may be, still has room for improvement. Members of the Chamber of Regions, like those of the EU Committee of the Regions, have also called in this context for the two bodies to further strengthen their exchanges and collaboration.
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