People-to-people projects help healing the scars of history

(Foreword for Elbe-Labe Euroregion publication on people-to-people projects)

After many centuries of conflicts across most European borders, the last half a century has experienced an enormous growth of cross-border initiatives in Europe and a variety of instruments to get citizens closer where there traditionally was a huge divide. A very special type are these people-to-people projects and the small projects’ funds managing them. Their importance in deepening the relationship between citizens across national boundaries in many Central European border areas is yet hardly understood in other parts of Europe, which are more central, populated and developed, or in the desks where many of the regulations, programmes and guidelines are drafted, places where the border effect is not notorious.

It has been a very unequal and strong struggle for European border and cross-border regions to explain this type of projects to EU authorities, programme managers, etc. However, thanks to an open dialogue with the Commission, the support of the Committee of the Regions and also the European Parliament (REGI Committee), some strong steps have already been done in order to protect this particular, sometimes peculiar, way of connecting people across the border.

Very recently, in July 2017, the European Committee of the Regions has adopted an Own Opinion on people-to-people and small-scale projects in cross-border cooperation programmes, on the initiative of local politicians from cross-border regions. It is very relevant to highlight that the rapporteur has been the vice-mayor of a small border town in the Czech Republic, very active in a Euroregion at the triple Czech-German-Polish border, in the CoR and in the AEBR.

These are hard times for European integration and it is also the time to raise awareness about some good news of Europe: integration happens and build European citizenship in a daily basis at border and cross-border areas through the implementation of people-to-people projects. On the other hand, the management of small-project-funds make possible the operation of various cross-border structures in plenty of border areas. It is important to take into account that these structures (Euroregions) are main drivers of integration in their border zones.

And border regions are becoming more clearly in most political agendas. On 20 September the European Commission has adopted a Communication to the Council and the European Parliament on Boosting growth and cohesion in EU border regions, which launches a very interesting set of proposals of concrete action, and acknowledges in its first page the contribution of people-to-people projects to the transformation of border regions, particularly through Interreg.

When European Cohesion and its funding is under a big question mark, and the debate is open, all territorial stakeholders have the duty towards border citizens to defend and make more visible the importance of cross-border interventions at all levels in order to keep on healing the scars of history which still spot our continent.

New instruments for border regions in a Commission’s Communication

In 2017 State of the Union Speech there was no reference to Cohesion, which is a keyword for all of us who are connected to regional and territorial policy and cooperation. But cohesion runs its own race in current European debate. The 7^th Cohesion Forum took place last June, and the 7^th Cohesion Report has been announced for October 2017. In the meantime, the Commission’s Communication to the Council and the European Parliament Boosting growth and cohesion in EU border regions has settle the focus in CBC, in particular highlighting “ways in which Europe can reduce the complexity, length and costs of cross-border interaction and promote the pooling of services along internal borders”. A Border Focal Point (BFP) at the Directorate General of Regional and Urban Policy is going to be a major advance to address doubts, questions, etc., on the implementation of legislation and the coordination of administrative procedures, including the use of e-tools. An online professional network will discuss about legal and administrative issues and solutions through the online platform Futurium moderated by the BFP. Special attention is paid to Interreg as an instrument to solve cross-border obstacles, people-to-people projects, and smart specialisation. 

20 pilot projects are going to be selected in order to test possible solutions to legal and administrative obstacles, legislative measures are recommended, e-government will be promoted as a tool to facilitate cross-border administrative procedures under the once-only principle, information services for citizens such as SOLVIT are to be reinforced and new ones should be in place, full support to cross-border employment, border multi-lingualism, CB accessibility, pooling of health care facilities and mapping of CB health cooperation. Besides, a new instrument is under consideration to apply the rules of a Member State in the neighbouring one for a specific project or action limited in time, located within a border region and initiated by local and/or regional public authorities. Furthermore, building evidence of CB interaction to inform decision-makers will be promoted by collecting data and evidence on border obstacles. The coordination of national institutes of statistics is on-going in order to produce cross-border data. ESPON promotes territorial research linked to border regions.

All this promising scenario has to be taken into account within the discussions on the possible reduction of the budget due to the Brexit and other circumstances. We consider that Territorial Cooperation should not suffer from the cuts, and get even more relevance by earmarking resources in other programmes that only Interreg. And the same should happen with the programmes at the external borders of the EU. A healthy internal EU CBC should provoke stronger external EU CBC. In these times, what is really good news for all regions at the internal borders of the EU/EFTA, should be extended soon to the external borders, to those between the countries of the Neighbourhood Policy, the IPA ones and with the Russian Federation.

After two years of a strong commitment within the Cross-Border Review, the AEBR has deeply welcomed this Communication as a very good opportunity for EU border regions to make a qualitative jump into a further phase of cross-border development and integration, adding an enormous value to the European project. However, we deeply regret that only EU internal land borders are the main object of this set of actions. We have already discussed this with the Commission and different stakeholders, having recommended to promote a specific study for CBC in maritime borders, and a specific initiative addressed to CBC programmes co-financed by the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI CBC) and CBC programmes within the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA-CBC). We are convinced that further actions proposed in the Communication for internal EU land borders will produce an invaluable benefit for the development of these territories, and this will be the main argument to initiate a similar exercise in EU maritime and external border regions.

President Juncker’s 2017 State of the Union Speech

During his State of the Union Speech at the European Parliament on 13 September, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker referred to the positive agenda proposed in 2016 and announced the bouncing back of European economy, the growing reduction of unemployment, the success of the European Investment Plan, and the broke down of public deficit. He also committed to a stronger Union on energy, security, capital markets, banking and a Digital Single Market. Yet open issues remain, but he has insisted in the European Trade Agenda, a stronger and more competitive European industry, EU leadership in the fight against climate change, better citizen’s protection in the digital age and tackling migration very seriously.

After the Five Scenarios for Europe until 2025 presented by President Juncker to move the debate on the EU White Paper last March, now he has proposed an own and very personal sixth scenario and a “Union of Values” as a compass for that scenario, based in three principles: a Union of Freedom, a Union of Equality and Equals, and the strength of the law replacing the law of the strong. He also called for more integration, opening Schengen to Bulgaria, Romania and soon Croatia; extending the Euro to the whole Union, and was optimistic on the accession of Western Balkan countries.

President Juncker announced a stronger Union with a stronger Single Market and Economic and Monetary Union, a European Minister of Economy and Finances, and competences of the European Parliament in the Euro Zone. The EU must also be stronger in fighting terrorism. He also announced very relevant issues such as the merge of the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, the Brexit, foreseen for 30 March 2019, just some weeks before the Election to the European Parliament, and a Special EU Summit to take place in Romania on that day with the aim of taking important decisions for a more united, stronger and more democratic Europe.