Le codéveloppement dans l’aire métropolitaine transfrontalière du Luxembourg. Vers un modèle plus soutenable ?
Le codéveloppement dans l’aire métropolitaine transfrontalière du Luxembourg. Vers un modèle plus soutenable ?
Border Region
Luxembourg
Language(s)
Français
Allemand
Main Category
Introduction
The purpose of this Working Document is to fuel the debate on policy on cross-border cooperation between Luxembourg and the neighbouring regions by addressing the definition of a co-development policy.
Summary
In view of the multiple possible interpretations emerging in the public debate, the eminently cross-cutting but also sensitive nature of the topic covered, the publication endeavours first of all to explain the reasons why it would be a good idea to adopt a co-development policy. It attempts to define the objectives it should seek to achieve, the actors that might be involved as well as the possible content through a number of concrete proposals for implementation.
Content
The process of European integration has allowed Luxembourg to develop in a space within which the very notion of a border has gradually been transformed, evolving from a concept of barrier that "cuts in two" to one of an interface that "joins together". The gradual removal of obstacles to mobility, although still incomplete, has been a godsend to the inhabitants of this entire cross-border region, who were among the first to witness the concrete opportunities offered by European integration.
Since 1995, the date that marks the birth of the "Greater Region" as an area of institutionalised cooperation, the Grand Duchy has unquestionably become the main economic and demographic centre of gravity in this "little Europe". In just under 25 years, its population has leapt up by 50%, its GDP has more than doubled (+120%), 230,000 jobs have been created there (+108%) and the number of cross-border workers has gone from 55,000 to more than 200,000 (+264%). This momentum as spectacular as it is unique has not occurred without arousing a debate on the limits and vulnerabilities of the Luxembourg development model, from which the territorial cross-border dimension is inseparable.
Indeed, the growing interdependency between Luxembourg and the neighbouring border territories has led to the emergence of a cross-border metropolitan area with a population of 1.3 or 2.4 million inhabitants (depending on the definition used). One of the singular features of this cross-border integration is that it has not been accompanied by economic and social convergence.
The Working Document endeavours to identify the boons and the risks that this model of territorial development represents, both for Luxembourg and for the border territories situated in its functional area. It proposes objectives that a reinforced cross-border cooperation policy could pursue given this context. Finally, it analyses several proposals for cooperation that are regularly put forward in the public debate.
Conclusions
Implementing a logic of co-development could help to strengthen the "win-win" aspect of cross-border integration, which, as things stand, does not always "naturally" lead to such a pattern. It could therefore be targeted on four goals shared by Luxembourg and its neighbours:
- To foster the emergence of "critical mass effects" by pooling and networking resources (human, financial, projects, etc.) in order to make the Luxembourg cross-border metropolitan area more competitive and attractive.
- To create a momentum of socio-economic convergence between the territories (or at least mitigating the divergence currently observed) in order to limit the vulnerabilities associated with an excessive polarisation of activities, in particular encouraging the emergence of "secondary" poles in the cross-border region.
- To put new mechanisms in place to incite all the actors to invest more in border territories.
- To contribute to the reinforcement of the EU's territorial cohesion policy and to the territory's image by trying out pilot cross-border schemes.
18 cooperation projects are highlighted. They could be envisaged as part of a co-development policy focused on 5 main themes: continuing to remove obstacles that hinder mobility, moving towards a logic of "coopetition" in the field of economic development, reinforcing the integration of the training offer against a background of a "talent war", implementing "local" cooperation policies in order to reinforce cohesion and the attractiveness of the metropolitan area, and finally, trying out new solutions in the areas of governance and financing.
Lead
Muriel Bouchet, Director of Fondation IDEA asbl
Keywords
Contact Person(s)
Date of creation
2021