The Council presidency and European Parliament negotiators today reached a provisional agreement on a new Border Regions’ Instrument for Development and Growth in the EU – BRIDGEforEU.
The regulation on the instrument seeks to support the development of cross-border regions by making it easier to find solutions to their challenges, such as infrastructure development and the management of cross-border public services.
According to the provisional agreement, the new legal framework will complement existing possibilities and cover the land border regions of neighbouring member states, as well as maritime borders.
Member states will be free to decide whether to set up cross-border coordination points responsible for handling cross-border files and how to resolve cross-border obstacles. Those member states who do not wish to set up cross-border coordination points will have limited reporting obligations. Island member states will be exempt from these requirements.
Although the regulation will not apply to border regions with third countries, it opens up the possibility for member states to set up equivalent procedural frameworks under national law to address cross-border issues in their cooperation with third countries.
The co-legislators have also agreed that only public or private law entities would be able to initiate cross-border files, while natural persons would not be able to do so.
Next steps
The provisional agreement will now need to be endorsed by both institutions in their entirety and undergo legal-linguistic revision before formal adoption.
Member states’ EU ambassadors will be invited to confirm the agreement at their meeting on 20 December.