In a communication published on Wednesday 20 September, the European Commission announced that a Border Focal Point would be set up to help cross-border regions seeking to remove certain regulatory and administrative barriers that hinder job creation and investment.
The European Commission considers cross-border co-operation crucial to the single market and in this respect, it underlines a number of important figures. Cross-border regions cover 40% of European territories and account for around 30% of the European population or 150 million people. They are also responsible for producing approximately 30% of European GDP.
What will Border Focal Points consist of? They will be a specific kind of forum for experts from the European Commission. They will specialise in cross-border questions and their role will involve directly responding to specific requests made by the local and regional authorities experiencing regulatory and administrative difficulties.
The communication aims to “promote growth and cohesion in the cross-border regions of the European Union”. The Border Focal Point objectives will be to: guarantee that the future action taken by the European Commission takes into account regional dimensions; provide the member states and appropriate actors with assistance on legal and administrative issues, particularly those relating to the transposition of the directive; exchange good practices and experiences between the different actors in the most efficient way possible. To this end, a network of online professionals will be set up and based on the lines of the Futurium, an online platform that already exists and was created by the Commission. This network will be monitored by the Commission.
Many areas of action planned
The Commission is also planning to launch a call for offers and pilot projects by the end of the year, which will initially target the public authorities seeking to resolve specific cross-border administrative problems. 20 projects will be selected.
The Commission is also seeking to provide a comprehensive mapping of cross-border cooperation in cross border healthcare, in an effort to establish best practices on this basis, as well as work out future challenges. This study is also expected to be available next year through the Border Focal Point. An event in this connection is expected to be organised by the European Commission in 2018. A study on cross-border level rail connection shortcomings is also expected to be published by its services in 2018. This study will be distributed among the different stakeholders involved, by way of the Border Focal Point.
Luxembourg proposal is back. One interesting point involves the fact that the European Commission is examining the possibility of a proposal to facilitate advanced cross-border cooperation under the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU. We provided a report about this in a previous newsletter (see EUROPE 11380). This will involve applying, within the context of cross-border cooperation, the law in force in a member state in another member state, on a voluntary basis between the appropriate authorities and within a specific time period and area. In this connection, the Commission will call for pilot projects to be set up to establish the pertinence of this instrument.
Given the fact that many different areas are covered by national and regional remits, the Commission is also calling on the member state and regions to promote bilingualism, enhanced cooperation between public employment services and develop genuine e-governance as soon as possible.
Committee of the Regions satisfied. The President of the Committee of the Regions, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, stated during this event that setting up a Border Focal Point was a step that went “in the right direction” for strengthening cooperation between cross-border regions in many areas, such as health, tourism and environmental protection. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)