Living and Researching Cross-Border Cooperation. Vol. 3: The European Dimension - Preamble

INTRODUCTION BIRTE WASSENBERG " Cross-border cooperation can be compared to a patchwork, where pieces of material have been sewn together. The border regions are the seams of Europe and everyone knows that the whole piece is only as strong as its seams. This experience has instilled in me the profound conviction that border regions play a fundamental role as a testing ground and driving force for the development of continental Europe " 1. In his introduction to the fourth volume of the Journal on cross-border cooperation on " Border regions as a testing ground and driving force for the development of continental Europe " , Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Chair of the Working Group of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and Prime Minister of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, highlighted two key points: first, by comparing border regions to " the seams of Europe " , he referred to the historical context of cross-border cooperation. The metaphor of seams in a patchwork reminds us of Alfred Mozer's image of " overcoming borders as the scars of history " from the early 1970s 2. At that time, cross-border cooperation, especially on Germany's borders with France and the Netherlands, was seen as the phenomenon of rapprochement and reconciliation of the people, on both sides of the border, who had been divided by the consequences of World War II 3. Second, by considering the border regions as a " testing ground and driving force for the development of Europe " , Karl-Heinz Lambertz illustrates that, in 2010, cross-border cooperation has become a true European phenomenon. The latter can no longer be compared to the cases of individual cooperation in the 1950s and 1960s, which were limited to a small number of border regions in continental Europe. The research cycle of the Centre for Historical Research Frontières, acteurs et représentation de l'Europe (FARE) of the University of Strasbourg and the Euro-Institut (Kehl) has been dealing with the theme of cross-border cooperation since 2008. The cycle first studied the origins, actors and theoretical basis of this cooperation in the French border regions. The first book published on this subject, Vivre et penser la coopération transfrontalière: les régions frontalières françaises, contains several analyses of the origin of cross-border cooperation on the French-German border and in the Upper Rhine and Saar-Lor-Lux regions. Initially, in the 1960s, local stakeholders encouraged cross-border cooperation, whereas …