How to identify and remove obstacles to cross-border cooperation? How to assess the (likely) impact of domestic policy decisions at the level of cross-border cooperation? How to avoid creating unwanted difficulties to existing collaborations? How to learn from the experiences of others?

The seminar aims to take stock of existing practices and solutions to facilitate such cooperation. It will enable the exchange of good practices and sharing of experiences, based on the information provided by Council of Europe members, associations and regional/local authorities, which will be collected in order to draw up a manual of practices that can be widely shared. The experience of cooperation between Italian and Slovenian local authorities, as well as that of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region and its neighbors will be considered in more depth.

The seminar will also be an opportunity to promote the latest production of a series of SWOT reports (started in 2004), which measure and assess the state of cross-border cooperation between European states in regions such as southeastern, central and northern Europe. The Overview of this cooperation, published in 2012, will also be presented and discussed.

The results of the seminar will be used by the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy of the Council of Europe in order to prepare a handbook aimed at removing obstacles to cross-border cooperation, which will form the basis for proposals to be submitted to the Committee of Ministers to promote effective cross-border and inter-territorial cooperation among member states.

PARTICIPANTS

• Members of the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR), Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and Parliemantary Assembly of the Council of Europe
• European Union institutions
• BENELUX Union
• OECD, ODIHR
• European associations of local authorities and border regions (AEBR, CEMR)
• Cross-border cooperation practitioners from Council of Europe member states (central and local
  authorities, Euroregions and other crossborder cooperation bodies)

PROGRAM – WORKING SESSIONS

1. SESSION I – THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE CONTRIBUTION TO A EUROPE WITHOUT DIVIDING LINES
2. SESSION II – THE ROLE OF NATIONAL AGENCIES AND INSTITUTIONS FACILITATING CROSS BORDER COOPERATION
3. SESSION III – CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION IN EUROPE: AN OUTLOOK
4. SESSION IV – THE EXPERIENCE OF ITALY AND SLOVENIA IN CROSSBORDER COOPERATION
5. SESSION V – HOW TO DEVELOP GENUINE MULTILEVEL GOVERNANCE AT CROSSBORDER LEVEL?

PROGRAM

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