Friday, July 10, 2015
S07 (13 rue de l'Université)
Since the 1980s, cross-border cooperation in European regions experienced a boom. Cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation have been strengthened on various levels: Politically through the principle of subsidiarity and the formation of the Committee of the Regions by the EU Treaty of Maastricht (1992), legally through the Council of Europe´s Madrid Convention for cross- border cooperation (1980) and financially through the EC joint initiative INTERREG (1990). With the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) the EU introduced in 2006 the first institutionalized legal instrument for cross-border cooperation.
The evolution from informal to institutionalized cross-border cooperation has led to a debate about a “Europe of the Regions”. In a European multilevel governance composed by strong regions as actors and a supranational European body, the national layer is losing power horizontally and vertically. On the vertical dimension various public, private and social partners are involved in decision-making and implementation processes in cross-border regions. The EU Regional Policy´s principle of partnership fosters public-private partnerships (PPP) and lays the foundation for cross-border governance. Europeanized institutions such as Euroregions/Euregios or EGTC shall enhance the European Integration on the regional layer and support the social, economic and territorial cohesion in the European Union.
The research project is dealing with the new legal instrument EGTC. To what extent does this cooperation instrument for territorial entities provide an added value to its respective (cross-border) regions and its population? Does this instrument enhance cross-border governance regarding the political will formation and decision-making of actors in borderlands?
The evolution from informal to institutionalized cross-border cooperation has led to a debate about a “Europe of the Regions”. In a European multilevel governance composed by strong regions as actors and a supranational European body, the national layer is losing power horizontally and vertically. On the vertical dimension various public, private and social partners are involved in decision-making and implementation processes in cross-border regions. The EU Regional Policy´s principle of partnership fosters public-private partnerships (PPP) and lays the foundation for cross-border governance. Europeanized institutions such as Euroregions/Euregios or EGTC shall enhance the European Integration on the regional layer and support the social, economic and territorial cohesion in the European Union.
The research project is dealing with the new legal instrument EGTC. To what extent does this cooperation instrument for territorial entities provide an added value to its respective (cross-border) regions and its population? Does this instrument enhance cross-border governance regarding the political will formation and decision-making of actors in borderlands?
