Following the Reflection on party programmes in the run-up to the Provincial Council elections and the ITEM Commentary after the election results, we have now also analysed the coalition agreements of the parties in the seven border provinces.
The reflection and commentary concluded that cross-border cooperation played a modest role and the ITEM recommendation was that cross-border cooperation should be given a more central role in provincial politics. Has this been reflected in the Coalition Agreements? Is there indeed a greater focus on cross-border cooperation and horizontal cooperation?
This Reflection focuses on the coalition agreements in the border provinces that have already been published. The same (thematic) method as the earlier Reflection was chosen for this analysis.
It includes the most important cross-border themes:
– Cross-border labour market
– Cross-border care/welfare
– Cross-border mobility/infrastructure
– Cross-border education and culture
– Cross-border security
– Cross-border energy transition/climate
– Cross-border innovation
– Euroregional governance/cooperation
First, a general overview will be given of the role and position of cross-border cooperation as a theme in the coalition agreement. Then the various subsections will reflect on the plans in the coalition agreement for each theme.