Resilient Borders

In December 2024, AEBR signed a contract with the European Commission’s DG REGIO to select ten pilot cases to elaborate plans for CB crisis management and ten cases for CB spatial planning. AEBR and MOT cooperate in this project.

The Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) manages, in partnership with the Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT), a new initiative promoted by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional & Urban Policy (DG REGIO): Resilient Borders – Cross-Border Spatial Planning and Crisis Management Pilot Actions.

The general objective of Resilient Borders is to identify and promote sustainable methods of developing resilient border regions through cross-border spatial planning and crisis management. To achieve this objective, 20 pilot actions will receive financial support to prepare joint cross-border spatial planning or crisis management plans.

The project started on 1 January 2024, and the first call for proposals will be launched in the spring of 2024.

Background Information

DG Regio promotes “Resilient borders” —Cross-Border Spatial Planning and Crisis Management Pilot Actions (Grant Agreement 2022CE160AT316)— within its set of initiatives under the umbrella of the “Cross-Border Crisis Response Integrated Initiative” (CB- CRII). It is coordinated by AEBR and implemented in cooperation with the MOT.

The action runs for 24 months, and the total budget of the action amounts to 1,052,631.58 €.

AEBR and MOT will launch two calls for proposals to distribute sub-grants of up to €40,000 for 20 cases to be selected to implement pilot actions.

Eligible actors are:

• Local and regional authorities in border regions of the 27 EU countries and those in the EFTA;
• public entities (national, regional, local) from border regions of the 27 EU countries and EFTA;
• Cross-border entities (EGTCs, Euroregions and similar CB structures with legal personality can also apply (even if they are not public bodies).

Beneficiaries can organise different types of activities aimed at strengthening cooperation in the fields of spatial planning and crisis management:

• preparing a study, roadmap, memorandum, draft agreement or protocol, inventory/database (relevant data collection), testing phase/experiments based on the findings, etc.
• organising consultations, study/field visits, meetings, workshops (rooms, equipment, translation/interpretation, catering, travel costs), etc.
• disseminating and promoting the pilot action through communication campaigns, modules, etc.

The MOT is responsible for following up on Spatial Planning cases and will focus on creating or strengthening an integrated approach embedded in multi-level governance. The aim is to develop bundles of cross-border public services that coherently address the cross-border area concerned with supporting territorial cohesion and alignment of sectoral and territorial policies on both sides of the border.

Crisis Management cases will aim to set up or improve a joint reaction to different types of crises, expected and unexpected (pandemic, environmental, security, natural disaster, migration, terrorist attack…) that impact border regions and require the coordinated action of national, regional and local authorities across borders. The aim is to develop plans to jointly deal with crises affecting both territories across borders, building the skills and techniques to better detect, evaluate, grasp, and handle serious situations in tandem.

Expected results of the action:

• a high involvement of local and regional authorities and representatives of cross-border territories and their structures in the call(s) for proposals in 2024;
• a successful implementation of 20 pilot actions in 2025;
• the implementation of a successful campaign to raise knowledge and awareness of viable methodologies to develop governance and resilience of cross-border territories by December 2025.

To successfully implement this action, AEBR needs to effectively involve its target audiences: local and regional authorities and cross-border cooperation actors (euroregions, EGTCs, etc.).

AEBR will disseminate more information regarding this action soon. For more information, contact AEBR’s team at info@aebr.eu.

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