On 27 April the European Parliament’s REGI Committee has released a Draft Report with recommendations to the Commission on amending the proposed mechanism to resolve legal and administrative obstacles in a cross-border context. The Rapporteur is MEP Sandro Gozi (Renew Europe, FR), who proposes a new coordination framework called BRIDGEU (Border Regions’ Instrument for Development and Growth in the EU).
The EP asks for a simpler instrument, non obligatory for member states and it highlights the importance of involving local and regional authorities. It builds on the work developed by the EU institutions and other entities during the last years to show the need for such an instrument. Amongst the most quoted initiatives we can find b-solutions, considered “a success” by this draft report and mentioned ten times in the preambular paragraphs and the case studies (three out of four are b-solutions cases). It advocates for CB Coordination Points within national governments to decide whether and how to use the mechanism on a case-by-case basis. It also proposes to conclude commitments and statements with provisions and tasks for non-permanent ad hoc CB Committees.
This report has taken very much into account the European added value assessment Mechanism to resolve legal and administrative obstacles in a cross-border context, prepared by the EP Research Service and released in May 2023, which identifies and assesses three policy options: (1) status quo (such as b-solutions, EGTC, BFP, …), (2) soft-law measures (raising awareness and capacities), and (3) adopting a new legislative instrument (ECBM 2.0). The third option seems to have the highest impact in addressing legal and administrative obstacles. This assessment also quotes b-solutions very often.
In the hypertexts above you can download these documents, but here you also have the URLs:
Draft Report: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/REGI-PR-740608_EN.pdf
Assessment: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2023/740233/EPRS_STU(2023)740233_EN.pdf
The Parliament might approve this report in September, and the Committee of the Regions also works out an Own Opinion European CB Mechanism 2.0 at the COTER Committee. The Rapporteur is Magali Altounian (Renew Europe, FR) from the PACA Region and the discussion took place on 23 June. This draft will be discussed for approval in the CoR Plenary of 9-11 October.
Draft Opinion: https://cor.europa.eu/en/our-work/Pages/OpinionTimeline.aspx?opId=CDR-6083-2022
We will keep on updating on any progress in this article.
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