Longstanding cooperation between Member States, Non-Member States, and border regions or municipalities, has been pursued as part of European Union (EU) strategies to achieve a Europe without borders. This cooperation has been enhanced by the European integration process, the development of the European Single Market, and the resultant reduction in overall formalities, time and costs with increasing interactions and flows within the EU internal and external border regions.  

Cross-border regions represent 40 % of the EU territory, host nearly 37.5% of its population and produce over 30% of the EU’s GDP. Cross-border regions are places of innovation, cooperation and constant exchanges at local level. While acting as gateways for the national networks, they reflect both the national character and regional or local specificity. Yet, many cross-border regions face specific challenges and, some of these, generally, perform less well economically than other regions within the respective country.

For the last 25 years, the EU has been investing in cross-border regions through Interreg, with the aim of ‘enhancing the cooperation process with a view to strengthening the overall harmonious development of the Union’. The European Commission has a major role in this process by proposing legislation and funding mechanisms or by supporting Member States, Non-Member States and regions to better identify challenges and develop operative arrangements. While INTERREG funding has been an important component in alleviating border obstacles and enhancing the spirit of cooperation, it is not the only answer.  Thus, in 2017, the Commission, acknowledged that measures that go beyond European funding were needed and identified 10 actions that have ‘great potentials to remove further hurdles’ in key areas, mainly due to changes and/or administrative procedures, such as: finding jobs, accessing healthcare or accessing public services.

Long-lasting trends such as ageing, depopulation and in- and outmigration imply that cross-border regions are facing additional cultural and socio-economic challenges. Due to the great diversity of cross-border regions and given the territorial specificities, these can relate (but are not limited): to hampering the access to labour markets (for example, failing in recognising competencies, qualifications and different tax regulations) or the access to services of general interests - like public transport, healthcare or education, or to affordable and quality housing, to name a few. For example, high mobility across borders has contributed to a sharp increase in rental demand and a rise in property prices which was not correlated with the purchasing power; or to a sharp increase in the demand for public services (in particular for education and health) as it might be easier to access these on one side of the border. On this last point, encouraging cooperation between the Member States to improve complementarity in service provision is one of the main priorities for the EU, as for instance, the need to access quality health services in border regions has surfaced even more in effect of the pandemic.  

While cross-border regions have become innovative laboratories for testing cooperation on different joint opportunities or in resolving specific problems, there are still many steps to be taken to seize the opportunity of integrated interventions for the governance of functional areas, as these are still limited by the persisting legal and administrative obstaclesviii, but also heavily rely on softer spheres like information, culture and interpersonal relations.

In the past years, the resilience of cross-border regions has been put to the test:  

• Brexit had a great impact, where the withdrawal of the UK with its sizeable population of 68 million from the EU has caused significant border-related obstacles relating to trade, customs, migration, interlinkages of local and regional economies, travel and other matters. There are specific issues in relation to Ireland which shares a land border with the UK and a pre-existing Common Travel Area. The pre-pandemic EU Cross-border cooperation survey (2020), revealed that living conditions in cross-border regions were improving (as 38% respondents were more inclined to consider living in a border region as an opportunity, than an obstacle, due also to improved cross-border mobility, reaching 56% of the citizens / +3pp as opposed to 2015). A survey on the impact of Brexit, revealed that most of the respondents feared the societal impact, ‘pinpointing to problems with the supply, delivery, delays in delivery, and general availability of goods, and of a hardening of views on both sides, including among young people’.
• The decision of national governments to shut down borders during the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unusual new reality, limiting the mobility of people and goods, putting on hold all the restrictions and limitations that these regions have struggled to erase or minimise. For people living in the Nordic countries, this was an unconfronted situation, because the borders had not been closed in the past 50 years. The combined effects of Brexit and the pandemic have exposed the fragility and interdependency of cross-border regions.
• And not lastly, conflicts around the European space are continuously bringing more challenges: the most recent were the immediate effects of the Russian invasion on Ukraine, experienced severely in particular by cross-border regions of the eastern EU member states, that had to quickly react to the massive flow of migrants – which challenged their social and adaptive capacity in providing basic living and caring facilities. This type of pressure has been experienced as well by the Mediterranean countries, from 2010 on (and with a high peak in 2015) - with the massive migration flows from North/ Central Africa, as well as from Middle East countries.

Thus, while the integrated long-term effects of Brexit, the pandemic or of the war are still to be assessed, some of the impacts are already heavily felt by the people living and working in cross-border areas. Over two million cross-border workers have been faced with heavy disruption of commuting patterns due to the overlapping crises; simultaneously, changes in national labour laws on remote working had impacted the economic stability of cross-border regions that are highly dependent on the commuting workforce. It exacerbated the already persistent obstacles, such as the different administrative cultures and language barriers as well as bureaucratic impediments in pursuing joint labour markets, as exemplified by the non-recognition of professional qualifications from other countries.

On a day-to-day basis, cross-border mobility (workflows and exchanges) brings real benefits for local economic development, by sustaining a diverse economic structure of cross-border regions. In this context, creating and maintaining the necessary transport and communication networks, ensuring effective distribution from the main gateways and within the corridors, is of the outmost importance. But delivering and maintaining efficient public transport systems in cross-border regions comes with its specific challenges and bottlenecks. In this context, a greener mobility and the environmental transition can be seen as accelerators for cross-border cooperation.  

Environmental challenges are an important matter in a cross-border setting. Even though essential efforts have already been made to more promote the green and smart transitions, with most of the funds allocated at the end of 2020 from the Interreg V-A programme dedicated to preserving and protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency and to strengthening research, technological development and innovation (receiving almost 40% of the funding out of the 11 thematic objectives), the development of cross-border regions is not devoid of environmental and digitalisation concerns. The issues to be tackled range from managing biodiversity and natural networks, reducing biodiversity losses, diminishing land degradation, desertification or increasing resilience of agriculture and forestry against climate change, ensuring the access to fresh water supplies, including management of common water bodies/rivers or supplying drinking water, or resolving potential conflicts in water use – energy, transport, protection, and locally sourced food production, among others. Establishing joint environmental initiatives and mitigating the effects of climate change calls for coordinated and coherent actions, measures and policies, integrated across borders, as well as for supporting and promoting existing successful initiatives. Only by taking this approach, the answer to the increased regional environmental vulnerability could be delivered in an efficient manner. New additional challenges with likely social impacts will be also brought by the digital transition or by the measures taken on the path to energy independence.  

As indicated by many institutions, as well as by the stakeholders involved in the TAP consultation process, an important aspect to be tackled is to facilitate the access to data that capture cross-border specificities at the right territorial level. This is a prerequisite for effective policy implementation, good cooperation and coordination at all administrative levels, as well as it effectively contributes to reducing or resolving some of the bottlenecks that border regions face, or to pinpointing new areas for cooperation. The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the need for monitoring and observing interactions across border, stressing the importance of having datasets available at the cross-border level especially for public service provision (e.g., health), emergency responses, labour market, transport/mobility, institutional cooperation, but also in implementing the EU Green Deal. Cross-border monitoring and observation is addressed effectively at domestic scale (national, regional, local), however, authorities in cross-border regions or at the European level are in need to develop specific, harmonised/integrated datasets for cross-border territories. The evidence brought by the existing ESPON research and analytical studies published by the European Commission (e.g., by DG Regio) pinpointed the necessity to further improve and defragment data collection on cross-border flows, impacts or services across the different administrative levels (according to their competencies). This goes hand in hand with integrating / harmonising methodologies for data collection (reliable primary data, regularly collected from the local level in border areas) – by promoting, scaling-up and adapting the best practices at EU level, especially for those areas that have not been as much involved in these processes (for instance, border regions of Eastern and Southern Europe, or of the EU enlargement countries). 

The TAP “Living, working and travelling across borders” aims to develop the evidence and knowledge basis about the territorial patterns of upward socio-economic convergence in cross-border regions. The TAP will support the efforts of all stakeholders in enhancing cross-border integration and cooperation by identifying the opportunities, bottlenecks and instruments for alleviating the specific obstacles that cross-border regions face. For this purpose, this TAP aims to build and enhance the evidence collected on cross-border interaction and cooperation, bringing a more comprehensive and integrated overview, to inform decision-making.  

Through observations for the entire ESPON Programme area, this TAP intends to identify best practice examples, instil innovation, and inspire new pathways for cross-border territories to cope with or capitalise on challenges (such as mobility, health, migration or environmental crises). It will seek integrated territorial approaches promoting cohesive cross-border regions, and the development of functional living areas on land and maritime country borders. It shall consider all (internal and external) borders of the European Union including the outermost regions, EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), IPA countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey), the ENP countries and relevant third countries (like the United Kingdom). The TAP will address the integrated territorial development of the four EU macro-regions: the Baltic Sea Region, the Danube region, the Adriatic/Ionian Region and the Alpine Region.

This TAP addresses four of the five Cohesion Policy objectives for 2021-2027:  

• it fosters the objective of a more Social and Inclusive Europe – that promote social inclusion and equal access to all public services; 
• it is in line with the objective of a Europe closer to citizens – to provide a rationale for the sustainable and integrated development of all types of territories and local initiatives; 
• it adheres to the objective of a Smarter Europe – to sustain policy actions towards innovative and smart economic transformation; 
• it links to the objective of a more Connected Europe – to help maintain people’s mobility and connectedness to smooth functioning of strategic transport and digital connectivity.  
• This TAP supports the activities of the Interreg programmes (cf. UE regulation 2021/1059), especially the cross-border programmes whose objective is also to find common solutions to cross-border obstacles.

This TAP correlates well with the objectives of the Territorial Agenda 2030: it addresses a Just Europe objective by contributing to a better-balanced territorial development, redefining the governance of functional regions, contributing to the integration beyond borders and enhancing local resilience potentials; responding to a Green Europe objective to act for better safety and resiliency, economic sustainability, and connectivity of all places.  

It links to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by providing a shared proposal for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future by ending poverty and other deprivations going hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.  

In addition, this TAP correlates well with the New Leipzig Charter, the New European Bauhaus and the Urban Agenda as well as the objectives of the macroregional strategies.  

This TAP specifically adheres to the principles, proposals and objectives set out in the Resolution on a vision for Europe: The Future of Cross-border Cooperation, released by Committee of the Region.

Cross-border regions are rich exponents of European diversity and cooperation. Significant evidence, highlighting their local characteristics and development potentials, has been accumulated through projects / research done by DG Regio, Eurostat, INTERREG programmes, including ESPON, or undertaken by national / regional stakeholders – such as the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung (BBSR), the  Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives (CESCI)xxi, Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT), or European ones – such as Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), European Cross-Border Monitoring Network.  

Building on this diversity, this TAP acknowledges the dual nature of the relations that shape cross-border interactions: on the one hand cooperation and identifying joint opportunities and potentials, and on the other - overcoming the obstacles. In this set-up, the TAP aims to further enhance and build on the opportunities resulting from well-established or new cross-border interrelations, as well as support the work on alleviating challenges. The evidence shows that the cross-border territories are impacted by current trends that society is experiencing, but also by specific obstacles and bottlenecks, such as:  

• geographic / physical obstacles – as borders are set along different geographies, which may limit and/or constraint mobility or accessibility; 
  socio-economic obstacles / disparities; 
• administrative, institutional and governance – lack of common arrangements in institutional terms, different approaches to governance, different levels of competencies at local / regional levels, different approaches to risk management, management of biodiversity or natural networks, etc. (on this point, it is critical to take into consideration the experiences of different EGTCs in order to understand what is possible to address locally and what is not);
• cultural obstacles – language differences, historic divergences or different culture responses; 
• limited access or lack of service provision – where regulatory and policy approaches are still to be developed and integrated at EU level. 

In this context, it should be emphasised that the removal of only 20 % of the existing obstacles in the border regions would bring about an increase in their GDP of 2 %, as well as that these obstacles did not hamper entirely territorial cross-border cooperation and solidarity, but the opposite, prospered despite of these. Through this TAP, it is expected, that innovative approaches and best practices that support synergies and enhance the potential and opportunities of cross-border regions (e.g.: successful forms of voluntary cooperation amongst cross-border regions, common practices for local authorities on both sides of the border, etc.) are brought into the spotlight.  

Thus, the following strategic considerations shall be taken into account for this TAP, as these have been highlighted both in official documents (at EU level) or during the stakeholder consultation:

• To contribute to unveiling the possible territorial consequences, opportunities and challenges that might arise in the territorially diverse European cross-border regions, following the various pathways in their development and transformation. On one hand, delivering a better understanding means identifying and mapping recurring bottlenecks and obstacles, as well as pinpointing some new unexplored opportunities for cooperation in relevant sectors (e.g., concerning the delivery and provision of services of general interest or ensuring the equal access to labour or housing markets). On the other hand, it means that a special attention should be devoted to understanding the (territorial) specificities of different cross-border regions and addressing them accordingly, for example, maritime / mountainous / insular/ river-based cross-border regions, outermost or macro-regions. The distinctive regional characteristics and degree of harmonising relations and interactions between cross-border regions will be taken into account, according to their historical identity and evolution (interrupted or uninterrupted interactions / development, as for instance, regions that have been divided by an impassable border for many years or resettled after the Second World War are in a different phase of integration and development than the other regions, and need different instruments for the future). Within this exercise, tailored prospective and scenario-driven analyses could be used as a tool to experiment the different pathways to implementing different objectives and visions, that could easily be related to the green, smart and just transition.  
• To deliver a better understanding of the cross-border context, as there is an important need to bridge the gap between what is required, what is gathered and what is made available in terms of territorial evidence and datasets. Delivering efficient and accurate policy responses and timely measures requires accessing relevant datasets, with the right granularity. Thus, the TAP aims to produce relevant analyses of the spatial processes, from the adequate territorial level (LAU I or LAU II levels when possible), in a more detailed and more dynamic format. The approach is twofold: (I) identify the resources available at the local level and (II) support the development of harmonised/integrated methodologies that will enable the collection of subsequent local datasets, producing (and regularly updating) integrated and specific evidence on cross-border regions. This can be done by either up-scaling existing practices, encouraging and facilitating exchanges between relevant stakeholders, or by piloting different solutions, tailored to specific needs or territories. Under this umbrella falls also the monitoring and observation of cross-border flows, whatever the nature.  
• To support all levels of governance, by providing relevant evidence, datasets and territorial analyses contributing to enabling the horizontal and vertical coordination and across policy sectors, promoting policy action, joint services and cooperation ties towards stronger cross-border functional areas. This seems to be a critical point in the multi-faceted cross-border context: detangling the concept of functional area, as it may be approached not from a single perspective, but based on the understanding of the pushing and pulling factors that drive and shape the interactions in different cross-border territories. Offering an integrated uptake and perspective will help create a better set-up for dialogue between European, national, regional or local stakeholders, enabling exchanges between different territorial actors in planning, managing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating public policies and investments. Addressing the challenges in a different, innovative, way will help fully utilise the potential of existing capacities of border regions, looking also to promote co-action with EU enlargement countries to see the aligned policy approaches. 
• To register the citizen’s perceptions and needs, as these are the subtle driving forces in creating resilient cross-border connections. This approach will aim to enhance networking and involvement of local communities in actions and strengthening cross-border cooperation and future integration, according to the specificities of different border regions.