On behalf of the European Commission, the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) has opened the fourth call for proposals in the framework of the b-solutions initiative.

Through the present call, b-solutions offers one more (and last) opportunity to public bodies in European border regions and to cross-border structures to find solutions to legal or administrative obstacles hindering cross-border cooperation.

Despite the successes of the Interreg funding scheme throughout the last 30 years, national boundaries still pose many obstacles to the growth of European border regions. Citizens, workers, institutions keep facing problems arising because of overlapping or non-harmonised legislations on the two sides of national borders, resulting in over complicated situations.

If you experience problems in your territory because of a lack of coherence of legislation applicable on the different sides of the border, or inconsistencies and overlapping of the different administrative procedures, do not miss this opportunity and apply to the present call for proposals. Applications can be submitted until the 11th of March 2021.

The awarded applicants will obtain specialised legal advice on defining and, eventually, solving, the obstacles that they encounter when cooperating with their neighbours. The support provided by b-solutions’ is of a technical nature and it comes in the form of legal consultation given by experts with sound legal background and knowledge of cross-border instances.

Please, note that the implementation period of the cases selected under the present call will span from the beginning of April 2021 to the end of June 2021.

Information gained with the implementation of b-solutions will be utilised to prepare a publication informing about the difficulties that local and regional authorities as well as citizens in border regions face due to persisting obstacles. This knowledge will contribute to raise awareness, learn more about the needs of border regions and, ultimately, to look for innovative solutions. Among others, the b-solutions initiative illustrates how the proposed European Cross-Border Mechanism could facilitate the application of solutions to long-standing, costly obstacles.

With b-solutions, DG REGIO and AEBR seek to improve the future of cross-border cooperation by assisting in the solutions of real obstacles hampering collaboration across national borders. Each application is a further step towards in this direction.

b-solutions is an initiative promoted by DG REGIO and managed by AEBR