Skip to main content

The Role and Rise of European Cross-Border Entities

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
European Territorial Cooperation

Part of the book series: The Urban Book Series ((UBS))

Abstract

To speak of the role and rise of European cross-border entities , some remarks must first be made in relation to territorial governance as such, as well as the complexity of territory and borders. After some introductory remarks on these themes, the rise of new forms of territorial governance in Europe is debated, which then follows with the description of the institutionalisation of European cross-border entities , and the progress from the Euroregion to the EGTC. To reflect upon the role of cross-border entities in the twenty-first century, the example of binational cities is used, to then close with some future recommendations. While one of the best contributions cross-border entities have made so far and may continue to make is in lobbying for a continued interest in the territorial dimension of European policy in the future, they should be more proactive, defining their own agenda, based on their own challenges, and involving all the social actors in their cross-border communities. This would make their solutions more contextual and their identity more established—even if this takes a longer period of time to accomplish.

The original version of this chapter was revised: Belated corrections have been incorporated. The erratum to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74887-0_14

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Change history

  • 31 October 2018

    In the original version of the book, belated corrections from author for Chapters 2, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, frontmatter and cover have been incorporated. The erratum book has been updated with the changes.

Notes

  1. 1.

    Not to be mistaken for “Eurocity,” the given name of an active European association that agglomerates 130 of Europe’s largest cities.

References

  • Anderson J (2002) Borders after 11 September 2001. Space Polity 6(2):227–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barca F (2009) An Agenda for a Reformed Cohesion Policy. A place-based approach to meeting European Union challenges and expectations. Independent Report at the request of Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy

    Google Scholar 

  • Beltrán Garcia S (2008) Puesta a Punto de la Figura de la Agrupación Europea de Cooperación Territorial en el Ordenamiento Español, Más Fácil y Más Difícil? Revista da Eurorrexión Galicia-Norte de Portugal 13:23–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Biot V (2012) The European grouping for territorial cooperation (EGTC): which potential for a fruitful governance on the EU territory. In: 52nd congress of the european regional science association: “regions in motion—breaking the path”. Regional Science Association, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Google Scholar 

  • Boijmans P (2014) Administrative capacity building linked to the management of ESI Funds. DG - Regional and Urban Policy, Brussels

    Google Scholar 

  • Boman J, Berg E (2007) Identity and institutions shaping cross-border cooperation at the margins of the European Union. Regional Federal Stud 17(2):195–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brenner N, Elden S (2009) Henri Lefebvre on State, Space, Territory. Int Political Sociol 3:353–377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buursink J (2001) The binational reality of border-crossing cities. GeoJournal 54:7–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castells M (2004) The network society. a cross-cultural perspective. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham

    Google Scholar 

  • Chilla T, Sielker F, Othengrafen F (2017) Governance diffusion in Europe—the EGTC tool and its spatial implementation patterns. Working Paper No.2

    Google Scholar 

  • CoR (2017) EGTC Monitoring report 2016 and impacts of Schengen area crisis on the work of EGTCs. European Committee of the Regions

    Google Scholar 

  • Davoudi S, Evans N, Governa F, Santangelo M (2008) Territorial governance in the making. Approaches, methodologies, practices. Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles 46:33–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Domínguez L, Pires I (2015) EU Cross-border cooperation. historical balance and future perspectives. In Domínguez L, Pires I (eds) Cross-border cooperation structures in Europe. Learning from the past, looking to the future, (Eurociclio Studies and Documents No. 82 ed.). P.I.E. Peter Lang, Brussels, pp 23–48

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehlers G (2007) The binational city Eurode. The social legitimacy of a border-crossing town. PhD Thesis, Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehlers N (2001) The utopia of the binational city. GeoJournal 54:21–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eskelinen H, Kotilainen J (2005) A vision of a Twin City: exploring the only case of adjacent urban settlements at the Finnish-Russian Border. J Borderland Stud 20(2):31–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ESPON (2006) Governance of Territorial Urban Policies from EU to Local Level. Project 2.3.2. ESPON

    Google Scholar 

  • Evrard E (2016) The European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC): towards a Supraregional Scale of Governance in the Greater Region SaarLorLux? Geopolitics 21(3):513–537

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faludi A (2012) Multi-level (Territorial) Governance: three criticisms. Plann Theory Practice 13(2):197–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flash Eurobarometer 452 (2017) Citizen’s awareness and perceptions of EU regional policy. Survey conducted by TNS Political & Social at the request of the European Commission, June 2017

    Google Scholar 

  • Gualini E (2003) Cross-border governance: inventing regions in a transnational multi-level polity. disP Plann Rev 39(152):43–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Häkli J (2008) Re-bordering spaces. In: Cox K, Low M, Robinson J (eds) The SAGE handbook of political geography. SAGE Publications, London, pp 475–476

    Google Scholar 

  • Heddebaut O (2001) The binational cities of Dover and Calais and their region. GeoJournal 54:61–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herrschel T, Tallberg P (2011) Introduction—regions, “Fuzziness” of opportunity? In: Herrschel T, Tallberg P (eds) The Role of Regions? Networks, Scale, Territory. Kristianstads Boktryckeri, Sweden, pp 7–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Interact (2017) Ideas for INTERREG post-2020—Cross-border programmes Report, May 2017

    Google Scholar 

  • Jessop B (2013) Hollowing Out the “Nation-State” and Multi-Level Governance. In: Kennet P. (ed) A Handbook of Comparative Social Policy. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp 11–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Knippschild R (2009) Benchmarking cross-border cooperation—the role of successful border regions for territorial cohesion and the need for comparison, criteria and indicators of cooperation. TERRA SPECTRA. Plann Stud 1:13–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Kramsch O (2007) Querying cosmopolis at the borders of Europe. Environ Plann A 39:1582–1600

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kramsch OT (2002) Reimagining the scalar topologies of cross-border governance: Eu(ro)regions in the post-colonial present. Space Polity 6(2):169–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lange E (2015) A Cooperação Transfronteiriça como Oportunidade de Desenvolvimento das Regiões de Fronteira. Da Raia Ibérica à Euroregião Galiza-Norte de Portugal (Tese de Doutoramento em Geografia Humana). Braga: Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade do Minho

    Google Scholar 

  • Lange E (2017) Espessura Institucional Transfronteiriça: da Raia Ibérica à Galiza Norte de Portugal. Geopolític(as). Revista de estudios sobre espacio y poder 8(2):51–89. (in press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lange E, Pires I (2015) From ‘sensed’ to ‘complex’: some reflections on borders throughout history’. Space Polity 19(3):293–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee R (1990) Making Europe: towards a geography of European integration. In: Chisholm M, Smith DM (edds) Shared space: divided space. Essays on Conflict and Territorial Organisation. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Lundén T, Zalamans D (2001) Local co-operation, ethnic diversity and state territoriality—the case of Haparanda and Tornio on the Sweden—Finland border. GeoJournal 54:33–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marks G (1993) Structural Policy and Multilevel Governance in the EC. In: Cafruny AW (ed) The state of the european community, vol 2. Harlow Longman, Boulder Col, pp 391–410

    Google Scholar 

  • Martinez AA (2014) Towards a new generation of european groupings of territorial cooperation. Euro Struct Investment Funds J 2:89–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Medeiros E (2010) Old vs. Recent cross-border cooperation: Portugal-Spain and Sweden-Norway. AREA 42(4):434–443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nadalutti E (2013) Does the ‘European Grouping of Territorial Co-operation’ Promote Multi-level Governance within the European Union? J Common Market Stud 51(4):756–771

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman D (2010) Territory, compartments and borders: avoiding the trap of the territorial trap. Geopolitics 15(4):773–778

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman D (2006) The Resilience of Territorial Conflict in an Era of Globalization. In: Kahler M, Walter BF (eds) Territoriality and Conflict in an Era of Globalization. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 85–110

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • O’Dowd L (2002) The Changing Significance of European Borders. Region Federal Stud 12(4):13–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohmae K (1995) End of the Nation State. The Rise of Regional Economics. Harper Collins Publishers, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Paasi A (2003) Boundaries in a Globalizing World. In: Anderson K, Domosh M, Pile S, Thrift N (eds) Handbook of Cultural Geography. SAGE Publications, London, pp 462–472

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Paasi A (1991) Deconstructing regions: notes on the scales of spatial life. Environ Plann A 23:239–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perkmann M (1999) Building Governance Institutions Across European Borders. Reg Stud 33(7):657–667

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perkmann M (2002) Euroregions: institutional entrepreneurship in the European Union. In: Perkmann M, Sum N (eds) Globalization, regionalisation, and cross-border regions. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp 113–139

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pires I (2015) Portugal-Spain: Olivença. In Brunet-Jailly E, (ed) Border Disputes. A Global Encyclopedia, vol 1. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California, pp 394–404

    Google Scholar 

  • Popescu G (2008) The conflicting logics. Political Geogr 27:418–438

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt TD (2005) Cross-border regional enlargement in Oresund. GeoJournal 64:249–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schultz H (2009) Twin towns on the border as laboratories of European integration. Mobile borders between the mediterranean and the continents around it, XVIII. Isig Journal 3–4:157–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith DM (1990) Introduction: the sharing and dividing of geographical space. In: Chisholm M, Smith DM (eds) Shared Space: Divided Space: Essays on Conflict and Territorial Organisation. Unwyn Hyman, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Special Eurobarometer (2016) Future of Europe. Report. Survey conducted by TNS Opinion & Political at the request of the European Commission. December 2016

    Google Scholar 

  • Strüver A (2004) We are only Allowed to Re-act, not to Act. In: Kramsch O, Hooper B (eds) Cross-Border Governance in the European Union. Routledge, London, pp 25–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Trillo-Santamaría JM, Lois González RC, Valerià Paül C (2015) Ciudades que cruzan la frontera. Cuadernos Geográficos 54(1):160–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Trillo-Santamaría JM (2014) Cross-Border Regions: The Gap Between the Elite’s Projects and People’s Awareness. Reflections from the Galicia-North Portugal Euroregion. J Borderland Studies, 29(2):257–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Houtum H (2000) An overview of european geographical research on borders and border regions. J Borderland Stud XV 1:57–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Houtum H (2010) Waiting before the Law: Kafka on the Border. Social Legal Stud 19(3):285–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Houtum H, Ernste H (2001) Re-imagining spaces of (in)difference: contextualising and reflecting on the intertwining of cities across borders. GeoJournal 54:101–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams E, Van der Velde M (2005) Borders for a New Europe: between history and new challenges. J Borderland Stud 20(2):1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xenos-Gavrielis V (2014) EGTC, the new Regulation and National Authorities. Personal Communication, Brussels

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emily Lange .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Lange, E., Pires, I. (2018). The Role and Rise of European Cross-Border Entities. In: Medeiros, E. (eds) European Territorial Cooperation. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74887-0_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics