Strengthening cross-border cooperation is the main objective of the opinion approved by European local and regional leaders during the plenary of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 13 October. The opinion, drafted by Nikola Dobroslavić (HR/EPP), highlights the importance of cross-border cooperation for regional urban and rural development, and welcomes the initiative of Luxembourg's Presidency of the European Union's Council of Ministers to enhance the cross-border regulatory framework with new tools. It also backs the European Commission's plans to analyse the gaps, solutions and best practices in cross-border cooperation.
Border cities and regions account for about 37.5% of the EU's population and face particular disadvantages compared with the rest of Europe, especially where serious disparities in economic prosperity exist between them. In order not to hamper economic growth and the EU's objectives for economic, social and territorial cohesion, it is essential to address the specific problems and challenges that people living in these areas are facing.
Nikola Dobroslavić (HR/EPP), Prefect of Dubrovnik-Neretva County, pointed out that, "Border regions are the laboratories of the European integration process. This is where the single market and other European policies should be most visible and our achievements and failures show best. Simplifying their cooperation and overcoming obstacles – like differences in legislation and in the institutional organisation, lack of legal certainty and inequality in the level of economic development – has the potential to bring immediate benefits to the day-to-day lives of people, local and regional authorities and businesses."
The members of the CoR welcome the Luxembourg Presidency's initiative for an improved regulatory framework to be established for cross-border cooperation, for the specific legal provisions that already exist on different aspects of this cooperation to be implemented, and for the legal framework in place to be improved or expanded. Luxembourg's proposal introduces a new legal tool that would allow member states, upon request of local or regional authorities, to agree on a common legal framework applicable to a group of cross-border projects in a specific territory. Whilst welcoming the valuable input of the Luxembourg proposal into the ongoing discussion on the future of cross-border cooperation, the CoR points out that, at this stage, this new tool has to be carefully assessed in the upcoming debate within the EU's institutions.
Local and regional leaders also welcome the European Commission's initiative of carrying out an analysis of the barriers, solutions and examples of good practices of cross-border cooperation. They also offer the Commission the support and expertise of the CoR in conducting this analysis and in developing a long-term strategy to further strengthen cross-border cooperation. Moreover, the CoR stresses the need for the existing provisions to be fully implemented and properly used in order to exploit their full potential. This especially applies to the Regulation on the European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), which is not yet widely known and still has not been fully implemented by all member states.
The CoR should present its opinion during the informal meeting of Ministers responsible for Spatial/Regional Planning on 26-27 November 2015.
