Development of the cross-border cooperation presented in the regional scheme of economic development of innovation and internationalisation (SRDEII) of the Grand Est region pursues ambitious goals that strengthen the specific geographic location of this region.
Even though the cross-border development seems to have been achieved, the goals pursued for economic development in the Grand Est region are facing great challenges: Stronger transparency of the programmes of cooperation, better mediation of local competences, reduction of the language barrier between the residents, etc.
The University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute (TBI) promotes lasting peace in Mexico and in the border region, through applied research, innovative educational practices and cross-border partnerships. For twenty years, the TBI has been a source of information on cross-border issues and the relations between Mexico and the United States. The TBI publishes data from surveys and reports on police reforms, arms trafficking and the application of the immigration laws.
The cross-border coalfields led to the development of towns along the border throughout the SaarLorLux area. The industry fell into crisis. The urban spaces now need to counter the demographic and economic degradation. More and more borders disappear as well. New organisational strategies are now being introduced. This article presents two of them: The strategies of conurbations and the cross-border city networks. The article discusses strengths and weaknesses of these strategies.
The article presents the development strategy that was introduced in the late 1990s by the conurbations in Lorraine near the French Luxembourgian border. These cities, developing during the heyday of the mining and steel industries, had to face difficult economic and social situations in the years after the economic miracle. They found new paths for development thanks to the regional policy of the EU, which was targeted at cross-border cooperation. The presented research work dealt with the contribution of this new strategy to improve the living situation of the people near the borders and their development perspectives.
The Central European Service for Cross-border Initiatives was founded in 2009 according to the model of the French association Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière. The centre would like to make implementation of cross-border projects possible. It is supported on a national level and summarises the actors of the border areas. This way, it can promote a structured dialogue between the (national and European) authorities and between the local and regional actors.
The main goals of this work group are:
• Highlighting issues, options, areas of responsibility, and specific activities of these regions;
• Representation of their shared interest with the parliaments, legal entities, authorities and institutions on national and international levels;
• Initiation, support and coordination of cooperation between the regions through Europe;
• Encouragement to exchange experience and information to identify and coordinate the shared interests at the diverse issues and options, as well as to suggest potential solutions.
The work group of European border regions also does lobby work through the representation of the voice of the cross-border regions in the European institutes.
The EUBORDERSCAPES project analyzed the conceptual changes in the study of borders that have taken place in the past decades. The project focused on the social significance and subjectivities of state borders. “Objective” categories of state territoriality were critically interrogating. Parallel to the study of conceptual change, the main research question was “how [do] different and often contested conceptualisations of state borders (in terms of their political, social, cultural and symbolic significance) resonate in concrete contexts at the level of everyday life”.
Saarland’s France Strategy will be discussed in the light of different professional contexts and with the consideration of large regional, national, European and global processes. The contributions are based on a public lecture series in which cross-border realities of life, measures, cooperation and multilingualism in the border region were discussed. The German-French cooperation and the importance of the France Strategy in various fields of action will be discussed, as well as the existing opportunities and challenges, but also possible contributions from academics and society to use the potentials of the border region will be examined from different scientific perspectives.
The aim of the MOT is to facilitate the implementation of cross-border projects. The positioning of the MOT as a network, which is supported at a national level and brings together the involved parties of the border regions, ensures the possibility of a structured dialogue between the authorities (at a national and European level) as well as between local and regional parties.
