The Significance of Cross-Border Cooperation and the Need for Territorial Evidence ESPON seminar: A World without Borders: Refugees, Cooperation and Territories Luxembourg, 8 December 2015 Alfonso Alcolea Martínez European Committee of the Regions ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Europe without borders? ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Europe without borders? Former checkpoint between Frankfurt am Oder and Słubice © A. Alcolea, 2008 ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu © A. Alcolea, 2008
Europe without borders? Nova Gorica railway station Border between Italy and Slovenia, till 2004 and today ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
From a fragmented Europe… Disparities EU 28 European Commission 6 th Cohesion Report ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
From a fragmented Europe… Impact of the crisis in 2010 GDP growth in real terms 6 th Cohesion Report ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
…to a polycentric interconnected Europe ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
The role of the Co. R ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
The Co. R The EU assembly of local and regional authorities • 350 members and alternates Mission • • Adopting consultative opinions Bringing the EU closer to the citizens Promoting multi-level governance, subsidiarity and crossborder cooperation Meeting point of cities and regions ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
The Co. R Strength based on the expertise The Co. R gathers politicians acting on the ground BUT it is a political assembly • • Just a small fraction of LRAs is represented Not all the members are backed by a public administration Compensation: Networks and platforms • • Subsidiarity, Europe 2020, European Entrepreneurial Regions, EGTCs and cross-border Factual input (expertise) and wider participation ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Political messages of the Co. R The ETC is a success story of the European integration • • Paradigm shift From cooperation to integration • • Immediate European added value Empowerment of cities and regions Local democracy, subsidiarity and multi-level governance From joint projects in the territory to a joint project of territory Territorial agenda, place-based approach, functional areas Need of cross-border evidence • • Need to know the borders and what happens at the border The contents of the 6 th Cohesion report were insufficient ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
The need for territorial evidence ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Current status Quantitative Qualitative ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu Knowledge gaps Territorial EU in-house
Territorial gaps The EU borders are heterogeneous: Constitutional arrangements Administrative system Political situation Resources allocated to CBC So far, ESPON is the only source of knowledge providing a comprehensive knowledge But there is not a complete and harmonised overview of the situation of the borders ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Quantitative gaps 3 main problems: 1. Data 2. Data and 3. Data Selection, update… dimension, ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu collection, harmonisation,
Quantitative gaps Example: The unemployment gap at the HU-RO border • • • Which concept of ‘unemployed’ What level of data collection? Which frequency of update? Can we measure the cross-border flows? Etc ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Qualitative gaps Which obstacles to cross-border cooperation? Open or closed borders? Single Market Free movement Students, workers… Cross-border structures Like the EGTC European convention Lux initiative Ongoing consultation of the European Commission The EGTCs are very good laboratories of the Single Market at cross-border level, where they exist Could we define a qualitative index of cross-border integration? ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Concrete gaps © Michael Cramer MEP Identification of bottlenecks The example of the ‘missing links’ in railway transport ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Gaps in the EU programmes INTERREG is the main tool 25 years of success Simplification Faster financial procedures Is thematic concentration good for CBC? ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Gaps in the EU programmes There is room for improvement Little use of the CBC in Operational Programmes Many EU programmes keep the logic of ‘national envelopes’ Bottlenecks identified by the EGTCs Why not a clause of automatic cross-boder integration of EU funds? ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Actions of the Co. R ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Co. R actions on CBC Bureau declaration on 25 years of INTERREG 2/9/2015, Luxembourg INTERREG as a success story of EU integration Trust building Simplification ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Co. R actions on CBC Opinion on new instruments for CBC (N. Dobroslavic) Support to the proposal of the LUX Presidency The Co. R has found evidence of need of a European Convention for CBC Empowerment initiative ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu of LRAs They take the
Co. R actions on CBC Joint conference on the Future of CBC 12 -13/11/2015, Brussels Co-organised by the Co. R, the EC, the Congress and the AEBR Important stocktaking by the cross-border community ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Co. R actions on CBC ‘The Future of Cohesion Policy post 2020’ Project consisting in a study and a series of workshops Functional areas and crossborder cooperation identified as main issue 3 March 2016 final conference Co. R own-initiative opinion foreseen ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Co. R actions on CBC TIA – Territorial Impact Assessment Add the territorial dimension to the Impact Assessment, considering the outcome of legislation and policies in different regions TIA is a priority for the Co. R and an issue of inter-institutional cooperation ESPON has been the main partner of the Co. R in all the TIA related activities ESPON Quick Scan tool used for milk quotas, Natura 2000 and other TIA exercises The Co. R is organising the inter-institutional trainings ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Conclusions The CBC is gaining momentum in the EU agenda Which impact of the refugee crisis? Which follow-up to the impetus given by the LUX Presidency? The Co. R has improved its stance in CBC and will do more in the future ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
Thank you very much! European Committee of the Regions Directorate C - Consultative works Alfonso Alcolea Martínez Administrator – Cross-border cooperation and EGTCs Web: www. cor. europa. eu/egtc E-mail: egtc@cor. europa. eu Twitter: @EGTCPlatform Facabook: EGTC ALFONSO ALCOLEA egtc@cor. europa. eu
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