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1200 | 105 | The institutionalization of cross-border living areas in European borderlands: pipe dream or realistic solution? | Christophe Sohn

This paper discusses the taking into consideration of the concept of cross-border living areas in reflections on the lessons to be learned from the health crisis in terms of cross-border cooperation. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light, in an often-brutal way, the obstacles that hinder the daily life of the inhabitants of increasingly integrated border regions and where the territories on both sides of the borders are interdependent. In France, a derogatory regime was granted by the national authorities to residents of cross-border living areas who thus did not have the obligation to be in possession of an antigenic test for their daily movements across the border. This timid institutional recognition was the prelude to taking into account the reality of cross-border living areas in many reflections and discussions on cross-border realities at regional, national and even European levels. Although the subject is now being addressed at the different levels of governance, many questions remain as to the possibilities of implementing the concept of cross-border living areas in the regulatory frameworks and public policies that govern the functioning of cross-border cooperation. From an undeniable geographical reality, the cross-border living area has become a subject of concern in public policy debates; but to giving it regulatory recognition in Europe and making it an effective instrument at the service of the inhabitants of border regions, the road still seems long.

Christophe Sohn
Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)


 
ID Abstract: 105