EUREGHA took part to two days of rich exchanges on the future of cross-border cooperation in Europe. The focus of the meeting was the European Cross-Border Platform, a European Committee of the Regions forum that brings together cross-border stakeholders to strengthen cooperation and address the needs of border regions. The conference also represented a unique opportunity to meet in person both EUREGHA members and partners – including the event organiser CESCI, CBI, EGTC GO, and Cerdanya Hospital – and representatives of other border regions and EGTCs across Europe.
Strengthening EGTCs. What emerged from the conference is clear: EGTCs should be recognised as intermediate bodies, embedded in strategic frameworks and institutional dialogues – not just project managers, but territorial governance actors. The future points to EGTCs acting as platforms, connecting government, business, academia and civil society across borders.”
CESCI’s contribution: data and digital monitoring. CESCI shared valuable lessons from their online platform tracking Hungarian EGTCs, highlighting the importance of data integrity and consistent communication practices across groupings. A timely reminder that visibility starts with knowing what you have.
Visibility matters, but results matter more. EGTC GO‘s Romina Kocina made a compelling case: flagship programmes and tangible outcomes build credibility far more than communication alone. The boost Gorizia received as European Capital of Culture is a perfect example of how attention creates recognition. Talking about EGTCs’ visibility, she stressed that it’s more important to show what an EGTC actually does through European funds on the ground, rather than focusing on what an EGTC is.
Meanwhile, EUREGHA member Adriana Perez Fortis from Cross-border Institute of Healthcare Systems and Prevention presented the Health for Borders project (Dutch-German border, €3.2M, 2024–2029), building a model for structured cross-border health cooperation across four work packages, from network-building to citizen empowerment. They are actively calling for partners to co-organise a European Cross-Border Health Summit in 2029.It was a great pleasure to meet our members in such a high-level framework and connect with many like-minded regions and stakeholders around a key message: Cross-border cooperation is not a niche topic, it is at the heart of European integration.
Cross-border healthcare: a growing priority. Our Marco Di Donato from EUREGHA presented the work of our Working Group on Cross-border Healthcare, which just launched an updated position statement on cross-border healthcare, deliberately timed around the next MFF negotiations – a signal of the network’s ambition to shape EU policy at the highest level.
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