On Wednesday 23 October, the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) confirmed the existence of an agreement on the negotiating mandate of the Council of the EU on the new regulation aimed at facilitating the use of cross-border solutions.
The proposal aims to help Member States remove obstacles that affect the daily lives of the 150 million citizens living in Europe’s cross-border regions. It is proposed that Member States set up cross-border coordination points, a new service that will assess any requests from border stakeholders on potential obstacles and liaise between them and the national authorities.
The Council supports the creation of a new legal framework to deal with cross-border obstacles to complement existing possibilities. However, it limits the scope of application to regions with land borders and leaves Member States free to decide on the establishment of cross-border coordination points. Member States implementing these instruments would retain the power to decide whether and how to resolve cross-border obstacles.
Council position: https://aeur.eu/f/e03 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)