The European Dimension of Cross Border Co-operation

5th in a series of pluridisciplinary seminars on cross border co-operation

19 June 2009, Room 2, Palais de l’Europe

Introduction by Ulrich BOHNER, Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

It is a pleasure for me to introduce this seminar on cross border co-operation here in the Palais de l’Europe, home to the Council of Europe, which celebrated its 60th birthday last month in London.  Since 1949, the Council of Europe’s overarching aim has been to build a Europe without dividing lines, based on the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Today’s seminar is the fifth in a series of seminars which aim to examine different aspects of cross border co-operation.  Today, in the home of Europe’s oldest pan-European organisation, we are here to look at the European dimension.  Cross border co-operation is a way of bringing together the citizens of Europe, not only in the 27 states which constitute the European Union, and the 47 states of the Greater Europe, that is to say the member states of the Council of Europe, but also beyond and here I’m thinking of one European state which is not a member of the Council of Europe, that of Belarus, but with which our member states co-operate.  Nataliya Romanova, vice-president of the Congress will talk this afternoon about the co-operation between her own region, Chernihiv in Ukraine, and neighbouring regions in the Russian Federation and Belarus.

But co-operating across borders is not always an easy task.  Many dividing lines, or obstacles, stand in the way: not only the geographical or political borders between countries but also the differing political, administrative and legal systems, the linguistic and cultural diversity, and social and economic differences.

Twenty years ago, on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, the Council of Europe adopted a declaration on cross border co-operation in Europe in which it sought the gradual removal of barriers of every kind - administrative, legal, political and psychological - which might curb the development of cross border projects.  At the same time, it declared that the development of cross border co-operation was a major contribution to the progress of European unification, essential to a healthy, fair and balanced growth in the Europe of tomorrow, and important in guaranteeing generations to come a future of peace and freedom.

Twenty years later, when the buzz words are “territorial cohesion”, intercultural dialogue and “bridging the urban-rural divide”, cross border co-operation is playing an increasingly important role in building this Europe without dividing lines and in achieving greater economic and social cohesion which, in turn, leads to a reduction in regional disparities.

The Council of Europe has concentrated its work over the years on promoting cross border co-operation and on finding ways to overcome the obstacles to successful cross border partnerships.  This is not a new field of activity for the Council, indeed the forerunner to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, the Conference of Local Authorities of Europe, organised the first of a series of 8 conferences for border regions in 1972.  The last of these conferences was organised in 2005 in Ukraine on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Madrid Convention.

This convention, so-called because it was opened for signature in Madrid in 1980, or the European Outline Convention between Territorial Communities or Authorities to give it its full title, is the keystone to our work relating to the legal aspect of cross border co-operation.  It outlines “the general, legal and common bases on which bilateral co-operation could be founded”.  Two additional protocols have since supplemented the Convention: the 1995 protocol recognised the right of territorial communities to conclude cross border agreements, the validity in domestic law of their acts and decisions, and the legal personality of any co-operation body set up under such an agreement.  The second protocol of 1998 recognised the right of authorities to set up twinning agreements and set out the necessary legal framework.

A third protocol was recently drafted by the Council’s European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy, which is composed of civil servants from the member states working in the ministries responsible for these issues, and will be submitted to the 16th conference of ministers responsible for local and regional government to be held in Utrecht later this year.  This protocol will facilitate the creation of Euroregional Co-operation Groupings by providing a clear legal framework for co-operation, a text which has been drafted to be complementary to the European Union’s regulation on a European grouping of territorial cooperation (EGTC).  The Congress has actively supported this work and, indeed, its Standing Committee last week adopted an opinion inviting the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers to adopt and agree to open for signature the draft Protocol No. 3 to the Convention.

In 2005, the Committee of Ministers, which is the Council of Europe’s decision-making body, recommended member states to reduce obstacles encountered by their territorial communities or authorities in their transfrontier activities in order to improve cross border and inter-territorial co-operation, in particular by establishing an appropriate legal framework complying with the principles of the Madrid Convention.

I will not go into detail on the Convention and the Council of Europe work on a legal framework for transfrontier co-operation as it will be the subject of a contribution by Andreas Kiefer, Director of the European Affairs Office of the Land Salzburg this afternoon.

The Council of Europe can encourage states to facilitate cross border co-operation by adopting instruments such as the Madrid Convention but it is unlikely states will alter, at the Council’s bidding, their structures and distribution of powers solely to settle problems in border regions.  This is one reason why bilateral or trilateral cross border co-operation is most easily implemented at local and regional level, by local and regional authorities and other local partners such as NGOs, local businesses, trades unions and other structures.  This in itself has the added value that policies are being devised in close proximity to citizens and other local actors which ensures cross border co-operation is being implemented in full respect of the principle of subsidiarity.  This bottom-up approach also encourages citizen participation, another important aspect of democracy, in the setting up and implementation of projects which will meet their needs and expectations.  This type of co-operation project will also contribute to the economic development of border regions, for example through the development of clusters, the exchange of innovative ideas, jointly funded research, and so on and thus help to reduce disparities between regions by promoting regional economic growth.

Co-operation between local and regional authorities across borders can help to improve relations between the countries and regions of Europe.  Borders are where Europe’s diversity meets, in all fields: political, economic, professional, institutional, cultural, and success comes from confronting and going beyond these differences, which influence the way people work, their communication modes, even the way they perceive co-operation projects.  So, cross border co-operation can be a good tool for intercultural learning, for creating or reinforcing cultural links and for contributing to mutual understanding.  Thanks to this intercultural dialogue, historical, political or economic differences can be confronted at borders, conflicts can be surmounted or prevented, and reconciliation supported.

Linguistic diversity can also be an obstacle to co-operation across borders which is why in 2005, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers recommended member states promote the teaching of neighbouring languages in border regions.  So many rely on the use of a common language such as English, but it is far more satisfactory to use one’s own language and one’s neighbour’s language than to have recourse to one which is foreign to all sides.

Another obstacle to cross border co-operation is that of mobility which is made difficult due to border regulations and the need for visas.  The Council of Europe member states should work towards generally facilitating border crossing by, for example, allowing a more flexible allocation of visas, creating additional crossings accessible to people living and working around borders, by accelerating customs clearance procedures or by agreeing to single shared buildings at checkpoints;

Co-operation projects are set up according to the specific requirements of the border region concerned.  The aims of one particular project cannot be applied unconditionally to any border region in Europe: the economic and political objectives will be different and will depend on the political, economic, geographic or socio-cultural situation in the border region, in addition co-operation structures will be constructed around the political and administrative systems in the participating states.  Although one project cannot be transposed directly into a different region, exchanges of good practice can inspire co-operation.  This is one of the purposes of the Council of Europe’s database on transfrontier co-operation, called MORE which stands for “Matching Opportunities for Regions in Europe”.  This is a free online database which enables users to look for potential partners in any type of transfrontier, inter-territorial or transnational co-operation projects throughout Council of Europe member states and to share experiences and good practices.  MORE is a service of the Council of Europe and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and has been developed and implemented with the support of the Italian government.  And indeed I encourage you to register and make full use of the database!

So we can see how the Council of Europe and the Congress have endeavoured to promote and create tools to facilitate cross border co-operation.  But the Congress has not stopped there.  Over the past few years, it has been instrumental in the setting up of new co-operation initiatives and later today we will hear from my colleague Giampaolo Cordiale about the Congress’ initiative to set up Euroregions which provide a permanent framework within which local and regional authorities can work in two geographical areas around semi-enclosed seas in the Council of Europe space, the Adriatic and the Black Sea Euroregions.  In the October plenary session, the Congress will hold a debate on the Baltic Sea and the different forms of co-operation which exist.

The Congress’ commitment to promoting and facilitating transfrontier co-operation has led to the creation of a dedicated Working Group on Inter-regional Co-operation.  Until this Group was set up, there was no one body within the Congress responsible for transfrontier co-operation issues.  This meant there was no means of benefiting from the knowledge and experience of Congress members co-operating across borders on a daily basis.  The Group’s chair, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Minister-President of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, will take the floor later in the day to discuss the state of transfrontier co-operation in Europe, the subject of a report he will present to the Congress in October during the next plenary session which will assess the state of transfrontier co-operation today and go on to examine the conditions necessary for successful transfrontier co-operation and the obstacles which hinder or prevent success.  In October, Karl-Heinz Lambertz will ask the Congress to adopt a number of recommendations to be made to the governments of the Council of Europe member states and to local and regional authorities in order that our work to facilitate, improve and promote cross border co-operation can continue.

In 1993, the Vienna summit of heads of state of Council of Europe member countries stated that “The creation of a tolerant and prosperous Europe does not depend only on co-operation between States. It also requires transfrontier co-operation between local and regional authorities, without prejudice to the constitution and the territorial integrity of each State.”  The heads of state urged the Council of Europe to pursue its work in the field of transfrontier co-operation.  Thanks to its initiatives in this field, the Congress continues to work towards its aims and those of the Council of Europe to consolidate democratic stability in Europe and achieve a greater unity amongst the 800 million Europeans it represents through the promotion of transfrontier and inter-regional co-operation.

16 minutes