The European Parliament’s pilot project, the Cross-Border Crisis Response Integrated Initiative (CBCRII), has received its corresponding financial decision, and the important work of implementing the pilot project can now be commended by DG REGIO. 

The pilot project is expected to deliver four results:

• a report on the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis in border regions
• the development of an IT infrastructure to host and update information on cross-border public services in cross-border regions
• the development of an action plan to systematise solidarity and crisis management in EU cross-border regions
• a boost in the potential of border regions through co-development, cross-border spatial planning and multi-level governance. 

The creation of the IT tool to display cross-border public services indicates that services already exist, but that to unlock the full force of their utility, they must be promoted and organised in a way that makes them as accessible as possible, especially in case of crisis (health care, civil protection, disaster management). This project has been devised to learn from the consequences of the COVID pandemic and therefore equip us with the knowledge to ensure that life in the border regions is not so severely affected in potential future crisis. 

This intervention by the European Parliament further proves the necessity of addressing the issues in these regions and giving them the tools to flourish. It demonstrates the significance of the work being done in these areas, such as the progress made by Interreg Programmes.