Manual on Removing Obstacles to Cross-Border
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MANUAL ON REMOVING November OBSTACLES TO CROSS- 2013 BORDER COOPERATION It is with Europe’s citizens in mind that the ministers responsible for local and regional government of the 47 member States of the Council of Europe launched in 2009 a major survey of difficulties and obstacles that hamper the cooperation across the borders and agreed in 2011 to further develop their cooperation with a view to reduce or remove those obstacles.This Manual is a compilation of both difficulties recorded across the frontiers and solutions found to overcome them. With the help of ISIG of Gorizia (Italy) the data collected through a questionnaire have been systematised and organised in such a way as to enable all actors of crossborder cooperation to find examples that correspond to their situation and solutions that may help them to adopt the response to their needs. 2 FOREWORD FOREWORD Since its establishment in 1949, the Council of Europe, the first political Organisation of the European continent and the only truly pan-European organisation, with its 47 member states (at the time of writing in November 2013), has consistently worked for the development of a “Europe without dividing lines”, in the spheres of human rights, rule of law and democracy. One of its fields of activity has been local and regional governance, with special attention being paid to the principles of local government, the promotion of effective local democracy and citizens’ participation and the facilitation of forms of cooperation between local and regional authorities across political boundaries. Four conventions, several recommendations and a handful of practical tools (all available at: www.coe.int/local) embody this work aimed at making cooperation between neighbouring or non-adjacent territorial communities or authorities legally feasible and practically sustainable. According to these texts, the main actors of crossborder cooperation are local authorities across member States – and non-member States, in the cases provided for in Protocol No 3 – but the beneficiaries are their citizens. It is with Europe’s citizens in mind that the ministers responsible for local and regional government of the 47 member States of the Council of Europe launched in 2009 a major survey of difficulties and obstacles that hamper the cooperation across the borders and agreed in 2011 to further develop their cooperation with a view to reduce or remove those obstacles. This Manual is a compilation of both difficulties recorded across the frontiers and solutions found to overcome them. With the help of ISIG of Gorizia (Italy) the data collected through a questionnaire have been systematised and organised in such a way as to enable all actors of crossborder cooperation to find examples that correspond to their situation and solutions that may help them to adopt the response to their needs. The methodology for moving from the identification of a need to the implementation of the most suitable solution is also given. The Manual is a snapshot of the situation at the end of 2013. The intention is to maintain it on an electronic platform that will be constantly updated with new data and experience. The platform would be hosted by ISIG (www.isig.it) as from 2014. The Council of Europe is confident that this Manual will prove useful to all those involved in crossborder cooperation – central governments, local and regional authorities, associations and citizens – and encourages them to disseminate, to use and to enrich it. Manual on removing obstacles to CBC 3 I.S.I.G. INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIOLOGY GORIZIA ISIG - INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIOLOGY GORIZIA ISIG is an independent research institute recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education and Research and has status as a special adviser to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC). It aims to combine a rigorous scientific commitment to research with the engagement in international cooperation for development and peaceful coexistence. In 1968, in Gorizia, a city on the border of two then-divided Europe, ISIG became an international center of excellence for research and a laboratory for the production of original responses to the needs of the local, national and international communities contributing to the scientific development of new methods and new theories. Today, the originality of ISIG develops through its many research, consulting and planning activities, and conferences and training. ISIG is an institution rooted in the regional context but also dynamically designed and included in the international framework and is recognized as a center of excellence in the study of international relations and of cross-border and ethnic relations and minority rights, peace and conflict resolution, the society and social policy, the economy and local development, democracy and civil society, land use and environmental risk management. ISIG first established itself internationally through two innovative and groundbreaking international conferences which gathered the most prominent scholars and experts on border issues and studies from all over the world, in Gorizia, in 1972 (The problems and prospects of border regions) and 1979 (Borders, regions and trans-national integration). Since then, ISIG became a centre for the convergence of scholars, experts and students focusing on international relations, socio-economic and local development and on issues of integration and co-existence of two or more countries and ethnicities starting from a border perspective. In fact, Gorizia, now located on the (only- administrative) border between Italy and Slovenia, represented, through the scientific work of ISIG, a vivid example of regional co-operation and integration. The research area "Borders and CBC" focuses its activity on (bottom-up) international relations in border areas, focusing on: evaluation of cross-border cooperation, design of institutions and cross-border services training of local authorities to cross-border cooperation, study and sustainable development of border towns and sister cities, study and impact assessment of the EU enlargement process (ETC, IPA, ENPI), EGTC and legal framework-specific financial study and design in the context of European regional policy. Its mission is to identify key structural and relational dynamics that determine the effectiveness and efficiency of cross-border cooperation, institutional design, the evaluation of systems and subsystems, the development of future scenarios, processing and use of specific methods (SWOT CBC, Euroregional Analysis, Delphi …). I.S.I.G. ISTITUTO DI SOCIOLOGIA INTERNAZIONALE INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIOLOGY GORIZIA via Mazzini 13, 34170 Gorizia (Italy) Tel. +39.0481.533632 www.isig.it - [email protected] Follow us on: FaceBook: I.S.I.G. - Istituto di Sociologia Internazionale di Gorizia Twitter: @ISIG_Go Manual on removing obstacles to CBC 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INDEX FOREWORD .............................................................................................................................................................................................2 ISIG - INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIOLOGY GORIZIA ....................................................................................................................3 INDEX .......................................................................................................................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................................................................................7 LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................................................................................8 LIST OF GUIDING QUESTIONS ..................................................................................................................................................................8 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................................................................9 UNDERSTANDING CBC ...........................................................................................................................................................................15 Setting the basis for cooperation......................................................................................................................................................15 Setting the pace for cooperation ......................................................................................................................................................16 Setting the goals for cooperation .....................................................................................................................................................17 Identifying a cross-border problem .............................................................................................................................................17 Identifying appropriate goals .......................................................................................................................................................17 Identifying border opportunities .................................................................................................................................................19