1. ) Regio Basiliensis
The Regio Basiliensis Association was formed on February 25, 1963, based on the Swiss law of association
2. ) Moyenne Alsace - Breisgau Community o f Interest (CIMAB) November 16, 1964, an association, its seat is in Colmar.
3. ) Working Community o f Alpine Countries (ARGE ALP) Was formed on October 12/13, 1972, in Mösem/Tirol.
Members: Bavaria, and Trient and Bozen- South Tirol Autonomous Province (Italy)
Granbünden, St-Gallen Canton (Switzerland), Lombardy (Italy) Tirol, Voralberg Province (Austria)
4. ) Euroregio
EUROREGIO - Council, April 15, 1978
Cooperation of two Dutch (Twente, Oost-Gelderland) and one German settlement association (Rhein-Ems e. V.), representing a total of 92 village communities and districts
5. ) Alps-Adriatic Working Community November 20, 1978
Was founded by the provinces and regions of the Eastern Alps region. Was expanded in 1989. Its members include:
From Austria: Burgenland, Karintia, Upper Austria, Styria, Salzburg
From Italy: Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Alto-Adige, Lombardy (observer)
From the Federal Republic of Germany: Bavaria From the former Yugoslavia: Croatia, Slovenia
From Hungary: Győr-Sopron, Vas, Somogy and Zala Counties
6. ) Working Community o f the Cantons and Regions o f the Western Alps Was formed in Marseilles, on April 2, 1982, with the participation of 9 regions and cantons:
(Provence, Alpes-Cote d’ Azur, Rhone-Alpes, Liguria, Piemont, Val d’
Aosta, Génévé, Valais, Vaud) 7. ) Pyrenees Working Community
Was formed in Bordeaux, on April 15, 1983. Its members: Aquitaine, Aragon, Catalogne, Euzkadi, Languedoc-Roussilon, Midi-Pyrenées, Navarre, Andorra.
7. ) Jura Working Community
Was formed on May 3, 1985. Its members: Jura, Bem, and Neuchatel cantons, and, from France, the Franche-Comté region.
8. ) Lake Geneva Council
May 17, 1987. Members: Vaud, Valais, and Génévé cantons, and the departments of Ain and Haute-Savoie (France).
9. ) Working Community o f Danubian Countries
May 17, 1990. Members: Germany, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and the Danubian regions of Moldova. The districts of Southern Moldova and Western Slovakia have observer status (3).
To sum up what has been said so far, it can fairly be argued that, from the
’70 s-’80s onwards, there occurred a shift in the ideology of (Western) European regionalism and in the practice conforming to that ideology: whereas, after
World War Two, state-centred regionalism was the dominant form, the period just referred to witnessed a gradual move to centrestage of the type of regionalism that builds from the ground up, which primarily affected the frontier regions.
Obviously, the European institutions, too, had to react to the comprehensive and constantly spreading process, which was crossing national boundaries. The institutionalization o f international regional cooperation was carried out, in the framework of the Council of Europe, as far back as 1980. That is the purpose served by the Madrid Convention (May 21, 1980), or - to give its official title - European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation Between Territorial Communities or Authorities.1 The aims of the Convention might be summed up in the following points:
Article 1
Each Contracting Party undertakes to facilitate and foster transfrontier cooperation between territorial communities or authorities within its jurisdiction and territorial communities or authorities within the jurisdiction of other Contracting Parties. It shall endeavour to promote the conclusion of any agreements and arrangements that may prove necessary for this purpose with due regard to the different constitutional provisions of each Party.
Article 2
1. For the purpose of this Convention, transfrontier cooperation shall mean any concerted action designed to reinforce and foster neighbourly relations between territorial communities or authorities within the jurisdiction of two or more Contracting Parties and the conclusion of any agreement and arrangement necessary for this purpose. Transfrontier cooperation shall take place in the framework of territorial communities’ or authorities’
powers as defined in domestic law. The scope and nature of such powers shall not be altered by this Convention.
2. For the purpose of this Convention, the expression “territorial communities or authorities” shall mean communities, authorities or bodies exercising local and regional functions and regarded as such under the domestic law of each State. However, each Contracting Party may, at the signing of this Convention or by subsequent notification to the Secretary general of the Council of Europe, name the communities, authorities or bodies, subjects and forms to which it intends to confine the scope of the Convention or which it intends to exclude from its scope. 1
1 Hungary acceded to the Convention on April 6, 1992; this was ratified by Parliament, on March 26, 1993, by a Resolution o f Parliament; finally, it was promulgated by Act XXIV o f 1997.
Article 4
Each Contracting Party shall endeavour to resolve any legal, administrative or technical difficulties liable to hamper the development and smooth running of transfrontier cooperation and shall consult with the other Contracting Party or Parties concerned to the extent required.
Source: Collection of Prevailing Legal Regulations.
The Convention owes its special significance to the fact that it serves as a model for the framing of cooperation treaties, by featuring, in an annex, the model inter-state agreements and the outline agreements, statutes and contracts between local authorities.
It is the latter that is especially important from the standpoint of our topic; it is, therefore, worthwhile quoting the relevant recommendation:
2.6 u Outline agreement on the setting up o f organs o f transfrontier cooperation between local authorities ”
Introductory note: It is assumed that several local authorities may get together and form a legally based organisation with a view to providing and operating some public utility, service or facility body.
The creation and functioning of such an association or syndicate will mainly depend on the applicable legislation and the provisions of any previous interstate agreement authorising this form of cooperation (see model agreement 1.5).
There follows a list of the provisions that the articles of association should include, insofar as they are not embodied in the applicable legislation.
The articles o f association should specify inter alia:
1. the names of the founding members of the association and the conditions on which new members may join;
2. the name, headquarters, duration and legal status of the association (with references to the law conferring legal status upon it);
3. the object of the association, the way in which it is to be pursued and the resources at the association’s disposal;
4. the way in which the registered capital is to be constituted;
5. the scope and limits of members’ liabilities;
6. the procedure for appointing and dismissing administrators or managers of the association, as well as their powers;
7. The association’s relations with its members, third parties and higher authorities, especially as regards the communication of budgets, balance sheets and accounts;
8. The people with responsibility for financial and technical control over the activity of the association and the reports arising out of such control;
9. The conditions for altering the articles of association and for the dissolution of the association;
10. The rules applying to personnel;
11. The rules applying to languages.
As is apparent from the above enumeration, the past twenty to twenty-five years have witnessed, parallel with the institutionalization process, a swift spatial and chronological spreading of the various forms of transfrontier cooperation. At the beginning of the ’90s, in Western Europe, according to the data of Iván Illés, the cooperation schemes kept on record involved 46 regions (4).
France and Germany are the countries that are participating most intensively in the cooperation. France is involved in 20 regional cooperation projects, Germany in 19. But, actually, in the case of Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland - owing to their smaller territories and shorter boundary lines - this cooperation is even more intensive: Holland participates in 11 regional cooperation schemes, with Belgium and Switzerland each active in 10 such projects (5).
A substantial proportion of the formations taking part in transfrontier cooperation call themselves euroregion.