DG REGIO, by its Border Focal Point team is organising a special session at the Regional Studies Association (RSA) 2019 Annual Conferenc.

TITLE: Cross-border Regions: Border Effect Impact of Persisting Legal Obstacles

Cross-border regions are territories in which the economic and social potential is hampered by the mere existence of a border. In spite of the implementation of the Single Market, in EU internal borders legal and administrative obstacles still prevent these regions from reaching their full potential. In a recent Communication – Boosting Growth and Cohesion in EU Border Regions (Com(2017)534) – the European Commission has highlighted the need to overcome such obstacles: “if only 20% of the existing obstacles were removed, border regions would still gain 2% in GDP (…) with potential for over 1 million jobs”

In this Communication the Commission has also stated the need to building evidence of cross-border interaction to inform decision-making: “Collecting data and evidence on border obstacles is the first necessary step towards resolving them but only limited resources are invested in collecting and analysing information on border difficulties and complexities”

Such border effect is illustrated in economic literature. However, its causes, implications and the impacts of Cohesion Policy in reducing such negative impact are not so thoroughly discussed. As such, in the framework of the Border Focal Point activities, following upon the Communication, the present session aims at promoting economic debate about cross-border legal and administrative obstacles and their impact on cross-border regions.

In this line, measuring and researching on cross-border interactions becomes also essential. Having a deep understanding of cross-border flows (in all domains) and to what extend these differ from similar flows in non-border regions, becomes essential to overcome the impact of existing obstacles.

The session invites for contributions in this field, namely including (but not limited to):

• Identification of cross-border legal and administrative obstacles;
• Quantification of obstacles’ impact on economic and social development of cross-border regions;
• Modelling and estimating cross-border flows and assessing how they are hampered by the border;
• Methodologies and practical applications of border effect estimations;
• Assessing the root-causes of border effects and potential policy responses;
• Impacts of Cohesion Policy on reduction of border effects.

If you are interested in presenting a paper in this session, please submit your abstract of no more than 300 words via the RSA platform by 28th February 2019.

More info, registrations, and abstract submission at the RSA site: https://www.regionalstudies.org/sessions/sdc-special-sessions/#605