Cooperation without frontiers

Spanish and French regions along the border are working together towards shared goals, says Martin Malvy

We see the Pyrénées-Mediterranée Euroregion as the answer to a number of challenges. Created on 29 October 2004, the Euroregion covers a cross-border area whose history and culture spans the Pyrenees. But rather than divide them, the great mountain range has brought the people either side of the border closer together with this shared heritage, and we believe that cooperation between Spanish and French regions is still the best way for all of us to develop the way we want to – and to do so effectively.

In four years, we have achieved a great deal. We have created a rotating presidency for the Euroregion – my region, the Midi-Pyrénées in France, was the first to hold this post, from 2006 to the end of last year. The Balearics region has now taken over in the hot seat. In April 2005, we met with European commission president José Manuel Barroso to present the Euroregion to him, and to discuss with him the question of EU structural funds and regional state aid. We have also led the debate with our respective national governments over the future high speed railway line which will link our two countries, and have also petitioned transport commissioner Jacques Barrot on this same issue.

But the Euroregion is far more than simply a joint lobbying organisation for Spanish and French regions, even if this is one of its key roles. We were also keen that the people living in the Euroregion were kept up-to-date with the work that we were doing on their behalf, and we have launched an internet site, www.euroregion.epm.org to help them do so. The site is accessible in all the languages spoken in the border regions, and provides a wealth of information about the regions, as well as the range of activities and services on offer there.
We have already worked closely with each other on a number of projects, and several more are still underway. To give a few examples: a regional research charter signed in February 2007; a network linking universities, employers and trainers across the Euroregion, with an inaugural meeting held in the Midi-Pyrénées region in November 2006; a conference on equality between men and women held in March 2007; a web-based regional culture initiative and a variety of cultural events held all year round; a guide to regional quality food and drink products and a joint stand at a major food exhibition in Toulouse.

And there is more: in order to support the competitiveness of our regions in both countries, we have created a network of chambers of commerce and industry and of economic development agencies within the Euroregion, and we have also published a guide on doing business in the cross-border regions. In December 2007 we held a meeting on biotechnology in Toulouse that built on the work of the numerous companies operating in this field across the Euroregion on both sides of the border. The Euroregion is also a member of the NEREUS network of European regions with strong links to the space industry, launched in December 2007. And I am delighted to say that links between the universities in all our regions are strengthening all the time.

These encouraging initial results have encouraged us to go further. We have taken advantage of the new rules on European groupings for territorial cooperation (EGTC) and together with Francesc Antich, president of the Balearic region, José Montilla, president of Cataloniua, and Georges Freche, president of Languedoc-Roussillon, we have worked hard to set out a proposal for a new EGTC, which I presented to EU regional policy commissioner Danuta Hübner at the end of my mandate as president of the Euroregion in December 2007.

This EGTC will, for us, mark a new stage in our cross-border cooperation, including a permanent dialogue with the rest of the EU, the creation of joint projects and, most importantly, access to EU funding. With the EGTC, we will have the right legal basis to benefit from the €168m in funding set aside as part of the Spain-France-Andorra cross-border cooperation programme, or from the €99m set aside for the south west Europe international programme. We will also be able to apply for other forms of funding, such as money for research and development from the FP7 programme. The EGTC will also give the Pyrénées-Mediterranée Euroregion its own resources for the first time, since at the present time we do not have a joint budget. The new legal entity status will allow us all to contribute equally to a common budget for common purposes.

We have real ambition for our Euroregion that go far beyond mere twinning or friendly cooperation. Together, as Spanish and French, the members of our community whose heritage dates back for centuries across the passes and peaks of the Pyrenees, will work together to bring the region into a new era - because new technologies know no borders, because competition is no longer between European countries or regions but between Europe and the rest of the world and because it is only by working together that our regions will have the know-how and the experience to live up to then high standards that we have set for ourselves and the people we represent.