Welcome remarks by hosts (TEIN, BIG, ITEM)

DG REGIO (to be invited)

Moderator: Martin Unfried

The panel will discuss the future strategy and funding instruments for cohesion policy with a focus on in cross-border regions. In particular, the panel will discuss the future of Interreg programmes with respect to current deficiencies and strengths and the role of other EU funds.

Expected panellists:

1. High-level working group on future of cohesion policy
2. DG REGIO
3. Member Committee of the Region (to be invited)
4. Director Interreg Programme

A new instrument has been proposed to boost cross-border cooperation in Europe and to foster development in border regions: Facilitating Cross-Border Solutions. This panel will present insights from different border regions across Europe and assess what the impact would be. Insights from border regions in the Benelux territory, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, France and Austria by ITEM, CESCI, WSB, Euro-Institut, Faculty of Public Administration – University of Ljubljana, Viadrina Center B/ORDERS IN MOTION, Carinthia University of Applied Sciences.

Moderator: Math Noortmann

Cross-border cooperation: structural inhibitors and functional enablers

In this panel we discuss aspects that facilitate or impede cross-border cooperation. The panellist in this panel address (inter alia) such dogmas and sacred cows as national sovereignty and competitive advantage. But the panel also exhibit sectoral success in the fields of administration, education, entrepreneurship and crime control.

1.      Cross-border regions as laboratories for European integration in the perspective of the European elections 2024: a comparison of the Franco-German and Franco-Belgian borderlands – prof. dr. Bernard Reitel (University of Artois)

2.      European narratives at the Franco-German border (Upper Rhine and Greater Region) in the light of European Elections 2024 – prof. dr. Birte Wassenberg (Sciences Po Strasbourg)

3.      What future in terms of cooperation for a pioneering cross-border region? A study at the Franco-Walloon border. – prof. dr. Fabienne Leloup (UCLouvain)

4.      The cross-border effects in political plans for European Parliament Elections 2024: quo vadis? – Martin Unfried (ITEM)

Discussion on future of border regions in light of the Elections.

Prof. dr. Tobias Chilla, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (contacted, to be confirmed)

1.      Towards de-territorialised cross-border cooperation: Exceptional rules for cross-border situations without territorial differentiation criteria – Prof. dr. Michael Frey (HS Kehl)

2.      A self-centered approach of EU instruments: Active subsidiarity in cross-border cooperation – dr. Jean-Francois Clouzet (Savoie Mont-Blanc University) & dr. Tamara Espineira-Guirao (Sciences Po Rennes)

3.      Evaluation and the Future of Cross-border Cooperation in Hungary – dr. Zsuzsanna Fejes (University of Public Services)

4.      Beyond the current toolbox of the Benelux Union: practices, experiences and foresight – dr. Loth van der Auwenmeulen (UHasselt) (TBC)

1.      Cross-border Cooperation and the Maintenance and Revitalization of Minority Languages – dr. Jordi Cicres (University Pompeu Fabra)

2.      Multilinguism in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine – dr. Daan Hovens (ITEM; TBC)

3.      Adapting new horizons: Unravelling individual readiness in cross-border collaboration within the Dutch-German Borderland – Max Klöters (Fontys Venlo)

4.      Measuring the cross-border integration level through the cross-border cultural powers. The case studies of the Basque, Flemish, and Upper Rhine cross-border regions in the EU – dr. Ahmed Bakry (Kassel University)

panelists:

1.      Cross-border Cooperation & Crisis Management: Results related to Floods and Pandemic – Pim Mertens (ITEM)

2.      Managing cross-border projects towards more resilient cooperation in borderlands. The post-pandemic perspective. – Prof. dr. Joanna Kurowska-Pysz (AWSB)

3.      Strengthening the Resilience of EU Border Regions – Ruslan Zhechkov (Technopolis) (TBC).

4.      Marian Ramakers, Crisis Management from a practitioner’s view

1.      Pooling Cross-border Human Resources in the Healthcare Sector – Caroline Fischer & Le Anh Long (UTwente)

2.      Learning organizations in a cross-border context: What are the leadership challenges of cross-border business development in the Dutch-German borderland? – Oskar J. Bronsgeest & dr. Sofie Moresi (Fontys Venlo)

3.      Grasping crises as a whole – About current challenges and perspectives in light of the labour market transformation in the Upper Rhine Region – Margot Bonnafous & Fabienne Schimek (Euro-Institut)

1.      Exploring the Value of Cross-Border Business Curricula: A Case Study of the Collaborative Design on the Slovenian-Italian Border for MA Level Program in Intercultural Management – dr. Svetlana Buko (SASS FUDS) & dr. Giustina Selvelli (University of Ljubljana)

2.      Towards a European degree for cross-border mobility? – Susanne Sivonen (ITEM)

3.      Internationalisation in an euregional context

To be announced