The 23rd edition of the Beyond Borders: Breakfast Debates, organised by the Border Focal Point Network, was successfully held on the morning of June 12th, 2025. The debate focused on the long-awaited and newly-voted BRIDGEforEU regulation, a landmark development in addressing legal and administrative barriers across EU border regions.

Our esteemed host, Karen Clements, Deputy CEO at Low Associates, moderated the discussion, welcoming the five speakers and providing information on the topic and structure of the debate.

The first speaker, Jean-Pierre Halkin (Head of Unit, Interreg, Cross-Border Cooperation, Internal Borders, DG REGIO), set the scene by contextualising the BRIDGE for EU Regulation within the European Commission's broader territorial cohesion strategy. He stressed that despite 35 years of Interreg program success, more needs to be done to remove legal and administrative obstacles that hinder the ability of 150 million citizens living near borders to live, work, and access services across borders. He called the development of the regulation a “10-year epic battle,” but noted that its adoption is not the finish line but the start of a more accelerated phase of cooperation.

Following Mr Halkin, a video by Alessia Setti, Former Youth for Cooperation Ambassador, was shared. In this video, Alessia shared her lived experiences in multiple border regions (Italy-Austria, Netherlands-Belgium, Switzerland-France) and her academic insights on integration in cross-border areas. She distinguished between obstacles that slow cooperation (e.g. language barriers) and those that prevent it (e.g. incompatible laws) and praised the regulation for incentivising national authorities to act and valued the Commission’s coordinating role and best practice sharing across regions.

Then, it was the turn of Ricardo Ferreira, Planning & Programming Officer, Border Focal Point, DG REGIO to offer a detailed explanation of the BRIDGEforEU Regulation. He distinguished it from other tools like Interreg (funding) and EGTCs (governance), emphasising that the new regulation provides a legal procedure to identify, assess and potentially resolve legal obstacles. He explained that the mechanism consists of initiators (local actors) who submit obstacles to newly created cross-border coordination points, which in turn assess and coordinate with competent authorities to explore legal solutions. The success now hinges on Member States establishing these coordination points.

Sandro Gozi, MEP and Rapporteur of the BRIDGEforEU regulation in the European Parliament reflected on his role in unblocking the regulation, which had been stalled in the Council, by using Article 225 of the EU Treaty to launch a parliamentary initiative, securing cross-party support, and credited teamwork across Parliament, Commission and Council presidencies. He framed the regulation as a “solution machine” enhancing the functioning of the Single Market and supporting Interreg projects and bilateral treaties (e.g., Franco-German, Franco-Italian). He underlined the need for continued political commitment, especially at national level, and noted the €4 million pilot project aiding the setup of coordination points.

Jean Peyrony, Director General, Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT) expressed strong support, noting MOT's long involvement in advocating for the regulation. He underlined how real integration in border areas reveals systemic legal and administrative challenges. Using the example of a Franco-Spanish hospital, he illustrated the need for all three EU tools: Interreg for infrastructure, EGTC for governance, and now BRIDGEforEU for legal solutions. He stressed the importance of setting up a network of coordination points tailored to each country's context. He also emphasised the EU’s role in sharing solutions, creating a database of obstacles, and ensuring accountability to initiators.

Finally, Arola Urdangarin, Director of the Euroregion Nouvelle-Aquitaine–Euskadi–Navarre, described how her EGTC had already developed a methodology to identify, classify and resolve cross-border challenges, which included prioritisation, working group formation, resolution implementation, monitoring and closure. She welcomed the BRIDGEforEU regulation as essential support and validation of their work and sees it not as a magic fix but as a critical framework to formalise their already existing efforts. She advocated for EGTCs to be recognised as coordination points and reiterated the importance of collaboration with national authorities.

The ensuing discussion focused on questions from the audience, including the availability of financial sources for the implementation of the regulation and the consideration for coordination points between member states and third countries. Both these questions were answered by the speakers to the extent that it has been possible to address the relevant issues.

The two poll questions that were featured on the debate were:

1. What is the most important success factor for the effective use of BRIDGEforEU? Here, the audience of the debate clearly indicated that it considers political commitment as the biggest success factor followed by national and or regional coordination.

2. What kind of support is most needed to ensure the successful implementation of the BRIDGEforEU Regulation? In this poll question, the audience selected financial support as the most needed type of support, followed by political support at national level.

You can watch the replay of the Debate here!

Download all the presentations below!