During the current election campaign, almost all political parties stress that “Every region counts. Party manifestos are full of plans to promote broad prosperity in all regions of the Netherlands. Broad prosperity is not only about material prosperity but also about well-being, such as the living environment, social cohesion, health or safety. An analysis in the annual Cross-Border Impact Assessment by expertise centre ITEM (part of Maastricht University) shows that border regions in particular are still a blind spot in the pursuit of broad prosperity. The ITEM report was presented today at a conference in The Hague.
Border region
Regional broad prosperity is measured and monitored in the Netherlands by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The so-called Regio Deals also lean on this data. But the Regional Monitor Broad Prosperity is currently limited to the administrative country borders. Objective indicators such as natural areas per inhabitant, distance to restaurants or sports clubs do not currently look across the border. And yet the inhabitants of border regions emphatically do. Language, culture, differences in legislation or accessibility by public transport can be very decisive for whether or not residents cross the border for work or theatre visits, for instance.
“We need a better understanding of where opportunities and facilities lie, but also where interactions across borders exist,” says ITEM researcher Pim Mertens. “And in doing so, also ask ourselves the question: if there is a facility, is it being used in light of legislation, culture and the like? These data currently exist incidentally to not at all. Nevertheless, CBS’ Border Data initiative provides an interesting basis to build on.”
Impact
peculiar to borderregions is that the impact of policies on one side of the border can be negative, while broad prosperity can be positive for the cross-border region. Even national policy with neighbouring countries does not necessarily benefit the border region, ITEM research shows. The scientists therefore also advise Dutch politicians and policymakers to make much more use to make much more use of partnerships and consultative bodies in which neighbouring countries are also represented.
“The cross-border region must be consideredin context “, said Mertens. “Steering for broad prosperity is always about making choices and weighing up effects on different policy themes and areas. In a cross-border context, this balancing and prioritisation is not yet sufficiently guaranteed across borders. The sectoral political system also complicates integrated thinking about broad prosperity .”
Conference
Traditionally, the presentation of the annual Cross-Border Impact Assessment takes place during the ITEM annual conference. Expertise centre ITEM is organising the conference on Friday 17 November in the Provinciehuis of Zuid-Holland. During the ITEM annual conference in The Hague, experiences will be exchanged to advance, for example, transnational and cross-border infrastructure and mobility projects, and support security, healthcare and energy supply in border regions.
Sustainable mobility and infrastructure is one of the cornerstones of global challenges, but between neighbouring countries and in border areas, there are not only border barriers but also different interests at stake. The aim here is to arrive at an established cross-border structure in which different topics can be put on the agenda, analysed and actually lead to results.
The Institute for Transnational and Euregional cross-border cooperation and Mobility (ITEM) is part of Maastricht University and conducts research on cross-border cooperation and mobility. This year’s Cross-Border Impact Assessment not only looks at the border effects of broad prosperity, but also, for example, those of public transport in border regions, healthcare and large-scale infrastructure projects. All research files can be downloaded here.
