Strasbourg, 20 May 2010 LR-IC(2010)Inf
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY
(CDLR)
COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS AND CO-OPERATION
(LR-IC)
PROPOSALS BY THE NETHERLANDS FOR ACTIVITIES ON CROSS BORDER POLICY UNDER THE UTRECHT AGENDA 2009
Secretariat Memorandum
prepared by the Directorate General of
Democracy and Political Affairs
Directorate of Democratic Institutions
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The Dutch Delegation submits the following proposals for consideration and possible decision by the LR-IC Committee:
Recent discussions at the level of member states, bilateral co-operation, EU co-operation (Cáceres Summit on 3 May) and other events (Esztergom conference, 6-7 May) show that there is a need in Europe for further, no less, cross border co-operation. Europe is hindered by unnecessary administrative barriers. Available instruments (the EGTC/Regulation 1082/2006 and the ECG/Protocol No. 3) are important and should interplay – they are not mutually exclusive and could be usefully linked – but at the end of the day the political will on national level to solve CBC problems is the ultimate condition sine qua non.
In other words, if there is no room for the national legislations concerned “to match” across the border, CBC will remain troublesome. At the Esztergom conference the problems related to the existence of differing legislations in such fields as labour law, taxation, civil liability etc. were highlighted. These practical problems remains irrespective of the legal instruments available, be it the EGTC or the ECG.
It is also acknowledged that more information exchange between member states and regions is necessary in order to know what works (and why) and what doesn't (and why). The proposal has been made (at Esztergom) to create a network of cross-border agents that at State level take on board problems of local and regional authorities that cannot be solved without State intervention or change in State policy and/or legislation. In France, the Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT) is such an agent, in the Netherlands, the “grensmakelaar” is, the Benelux Secretariat General is another one, but there are perhaps further examples.
The proposed conference on removing obstacles to cross border co-operation agreed upon at the suggestion of the Netherlands at the Ministerial Conference in Utrecht could deal with these issues and come up with specific proposals and actions. This conference could be jointly organised by the Netherlands and Belgium in the framework of their EU Presidency. The Netherlands intends to discuss this possibility with Belgium and possibly come up with a solution at the LR-IC meeting.
There is also a need for a more long term structured platform to discuss, promote and mainstream CBC in EU policy as well as in the Council of Europe (which by itself could also contribute to the Kiviniemi paragraph about co-operation EU - CoE).
Funding through Interreg is already an existing possibility (for EU members as well as non-EU members through transnational co-operation). But there is absolutely room for improvement to be discussed for instance in the framework of the preparation – which has started right now – towards the new period of EU structural funds/Cohesion policy 2013-2020. In this context the Netherlands is trying to mainstream CBC for a more long-term approach (instead of the short term programming by Interreg 2 to 3 years only and project base oriented). Also the funding of any kind of co-ordination network/exchange network could be part of this discussion and could also fit in possible co-operation models between EU en CoE.
The appendices to Protocol No 3 to harmonize domestic legislations in a way that facilitates CBC and workshops to promote the said Protocol should be further worked upon in order to meet the challenges that were identified in various conferences, including the one in Esztergom on 6-7 May 2010.