Recently, the notion of spatial justice has been discussed as a possible conceptual foundation for rethinking EU Cohesion Policy. While scholars have adopted a dual distributive and procedural ...understanding of spatial justice, the paper argues that, applied to cross-border areas, such a conceptualisation is challenged to explain how the border contributes to disparities. We argue that actively questioning the role of law is paramount for better examination of the dynamics within border areas. An understanding of spatial justice informed by legal geography allows examination of how law fosters and impedes movement across borders. The paper presents three recent examples where policy representatives from affected communities have fought to adapt legal provisions to cross-border spatiality. Whether such initiatives increased border communities' capacities to shape their own development (i.e. European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation) or not yet (i.e. co-development at the Lorraine-Luxembourg border; European Cross-Border Mechanism), these examples show that analysing EUropean borderlands as a spatio-legal category helps understanding of how space and law constantly struggle with one another, and how spatial justice emerges from a movement out of this conflict. The paper concludes by discussing the practical and conceptual implications of combining legal geography and spatial justice for analysing EU Borderlands.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Supranational regionalisation – as initiated on the rubble of the Cold War – increases the complexity and multiplicity of a border’s functions. Novel institutional and functional developments ...structure border areas, making their analysis complicated. This paper aims to analyse this situation in terms of the structuring of border areas. It postulates that supranational regionalisation, such as the European integration process, contributes to the emergence of regionalisation processes at an infranational and transnational level. This paper presents a theoretical framework for a qualitative analysis, allowing cross-border cooperation to be read from the angle of the construction of a region. A “region” is considered a spatio-temporal structure resulting from the evolution of society. This conceptualisation raises the question to what extent actual cross-border cooperation goes beyond the initial intentions of institutional actors to create a progressive autonomy. Two factors contribute to this process: the institutionalisation of the border area as an autonomous entity stimulating the development of the region under construction; the territorialisation of cooperation, i.e. the projection of a common strategy followed by an appropriation of the area.
All over Europe, EGTCs (European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation) are mushrooming. Between 2006, when the EU regulation entered into force, and 2014, 51 EGTCs have been established. Conceived as ...a legal tool to facilitate cross-border, interregional or transnational cooperation, the EGTC was established after years of lobbying from cross-border organisations. Apart from practical guidelines mostly dedicated to the legal possibilities and limitations of this tool, few academic studies examine the significance of this tool for cross-border governance as such. This paper develops such a perspective, using the case study of the Greater Region SaarLorLux, (Lorraine, Luxembourg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Wallonia), where two existing EGTCs are operating. The EGTC INTERREG IV A Greater Region is the only EGTC managing an EU programme; the EGTC Secretariat of the Summit supports the main political organisation in this area. This contribution argues that the EGTC tool can facilitate the emergence of a supraregional scale of governance. This paper examines how this instrument allows the institutionalisation of a cross-border entity in terms of its capacity to embody and perpetuate the cross-border region, and to implement its strategy. It then applies this conceptualisation to the specific context of the Greater Region. The empirical analysis shows that although the two EGTCs institutionalise the cooperation, they are rather conceived as administrative and operational tools. The paper concludes with possible explanations of such a mismatch between the potential of this tool and the effective use of it.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Pour faciliter la gestion quotidienne d'un projet transfrontalier, la Commission européenne a formulé en 2018 une proposition de règlement « relatif à la création d'un mécanisme visant à lever les ...obstacles juridiques et administratifs dans un contexte transfrontalier » (« ECBM »). Ce règlement permet entre autres l'usage d'un droit unique dans la gestion d'un projet transfrontalier. Après avoir resitué cette proposition dans le contexte de l'intégration européenne et de l'objectif de cohésion territoriale, cette contribution s'appuie sur la géographie du droit pour montrer que cette proposition représente un changement de paradigme à deux titres. D'une part, elle agit en faveur d'une plus grande justice spatiale en établissant un mécanisme institutionnel permettant de lever les obstacles affectant spécifiquement les espaces frontaliers. D'autre part, elle impose aux droits nationaux d'étendre la portée spatiale de la norme nationale (i. e. extraterritorialité) et permet ainsi la construction d'une appropriation matérielle de l'espace transfrontalier. La proposition de règlement ECBM suggère donc que la réalisation de la territorialité européenne passe par une porosité accrue du territoire étatique dans les espaces frontaliers.
Pour faciliter la gestion quotidienne d’un projet transfrontalier, la Commission européenne a formulé en 2018 une proposition de règlement « relatif à la création d’un mécanisme visant à lever les ...obstacles juridiques et administratifs dans un contexte transfrontalier » (« ECBM »). Ce règlement permet entre autres l’usage d’un droit unique dans la gestion d’un projet transfrontalier. Après avoir resitué cette proposition dans le contexte de l’intégration européenne et de l’objectif de cohésion territoriale, cette contribution s’appuie sur la géographie du droit pour montrer que cette proposition représente un changement de paradigme à deux titres. D’une part, elle agit en faveur d’une plus grande justice spatiale en établissant un mécanisme institutionnel permettant de lever les obstacles affectant spécifiquement les espaces frontaliers. D’autre part, elle impose aux droits nationaux d’étendre la portée spatiale de la norme nationale (i. e. extraterritorialité) et permet ainsi la construction d’une appropriation matérielle de l’espace transfrontalier. La proposition de règlement ECBM suggère donc que la réalisation de la territorialité européenne passe par une porosité accrue du territoire étatique dans les espaces frontaliers.
Cross-border areas in Europe are promoted as places of integration, whose cooperation is encouraged by the Interreg programme and the European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) tool. For ...the 2021-2027 Cohesion Pack, the European Commission proposed the European Cross-Border Mechanism (ECBM), a regulation that would allow one member state to apply the law of a neighbouring member state to facilitate cross-border projects. This mechanism represents a paradigm shift, empowering border areas to manage their own integration (functional-horizontal) and institutionalise a policy pathway for resolving border-specific legal or administrative obstacles (institutional-vertical). This paper analyses the dynamics behind the ECBM proposal according to the multiple streams framework (MSF), revealing policy and politics streams' elements to explain agenda setting in EU policy processes. Methodologically, we apply a document analysis with qualitative content and cross-case analysis elements, and a combined strategy of deductive-inductive codes. This analysis is complemented and validated by expert interviews.
Following the terrorist attacks in Paris (November 2015) and Brussels (March 2016), several EU Member States have decided to re-establish border controls or to build walls inside the Schengen Area. ...Although these decisions are temporary and legally framed by the Schengen code, their extent disrupts the free movement within the Schengen Area, in particular in border areas. While lawyers and economists have analyzed the impacts of this situation, the spatial perspective has remained rather neglected. This exploratory contribution aims to address this gap in the literature by outlining the spatial significance of reintroduced controls for border areas inside the Schengen Area. This contribution firstly undertakes a literature review of the different conceptual tools at hand. These are then compared with a set of exploratory empirical materials. The article focuses more precisely on the Greater Region where France and Germany have reintroduced border controls, thus disrupting in particular daily cross-border flows with Luxembourg and Belgium. The analysis demonstrates that the border acts as a filter, disrupting cross-border flows and cooperation. Also, it sheds some light on the important role played by the ideational perception of the border for practitioners and decision-makers. This contribution concludes by suggesting several paths for a future research agenda.
Territoriality is mostly discussed as the political competence to exert control on a certain space, in particular with regard to the nation state. Globalization and European Integration have ...initiated some debate on this understanding, but cross-cross-border cooperation has rarely been linked to this debate. In these areas enormous political changes have been seen during the recent years. Still, the territorial dimension cannot be addressed, as territoriality as known from nation states is challenging politics. However, the territorial implications are manifold and are increasing throughout Europe. Against this backdrop is conceptual reflection. This paper starts with a brief overview of discussions and the empirical implementation of the territoriality debate. Based on this, the paper attempts to catch up with the political changes - the reflection of cross-border territorialities in a two-fold way. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this field.
First, we propose a methodological approach to study the essential aspects. We study from a conceptual point of view, the dimensions of territoriality in cross-border contexts. These are explored as well as the political-juridical background of cross-border cooperation. Based on this, a C-B-IM-tool (Cross-Border Institutional Mapping) has been introduced, involving three steps: (a) (a1) multi-level mapping of cross-border institutions, (b) (a2) mapping of policy arenas and (c) (a3) mapping of the political topography in the sense of going beyond formalized and codified governance patterns. Secondly, with the example of the Greater Region around Luxembourg, the empirical and conceptual findings on cross-border territoriality are illustrated. We can state an establishing cross-border territoriality that does not replace domestic, state-centric territorialities but that inserts new and complex elements of a multi-level territoriality system.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Les régionalisations supranationales initiées sur les décombres de la Guerre Froide contribuent à complexifier et à multiplier les fonctions de la frontière. Des développements institutionnels et ...fonctionnels inédits structurent les espaces frontaliers, rendant leur analyse complexe. La présente contribution propose d’analyser cette situation sous l’angle de la structuration de l’espace frontalier. Elle postule que les régionalisations supranationales, telles que l’intégration européenne, contribuent à l’émergence de processus de régionalisation au niveau infranational et transfrontalier. Cette contribution présente un cadre théorique d’analyse qualitative proposant de lire la coopération transfrontalière à la lumière de la construction d’une région. La région est définie comme une construction spatio-temporelle résultant de l’évolution de la société. Cette conceptualisation invite à interroger dans quelle mesure l’entité de coopération transfrontalière se différencie des partenaires l’ayant initiée pour prendre une progressive autonomie. Deux éléments concourent à ce processus : l’institutionnalisation de l’espace frontalier en tant qu’entité autonome portant le développement de la région en construction ; la territorialisation de la coopération : la projection d’une stratégie commune puis l’appropriation de l’espace.
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