Monique Jung, Chairman of the Euro-Institut and Vice-Chairman of the Alsace Regional Council, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Minister-President of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, Birte Wassenberg from the University of Strasbourg and Joachim Beck, Director of the Euro-Institute, set out the aims of the colloquium on ‘Building bridges: towards territorial cohesion in Europe?’.

In the first part of the first workshop at the colloquium ‘Building bridges: towards territorial cohesion in Europe?’, chaired by Eric Jakob (Regio Basiliensis), Violaine Tironi (Espace franco-italien Alcotra), Catherine Romanens (Centre hospitalier de Menton), Xavier Bertrand Sans (Communauté de travail des Pyrénées), Frank Heuberger (Staatskanzlei Rheinland-Pfalz), Hans Martin Tschudi (Basler Pilotprojekt Grenzüberschreitendes Gesundheitswesen) and Dietmar Eisenhammer (Deutsch-französisches Pamina-Netzwerk für Senioren) give some specific examples of cross-border cooperation in Europe.

In the second part of the first workshop at the colloquium ‘Building bridges: towards territorial cohesion in Europe?’ chaired by Laurence Badel from the University of Strasbourg, Sabine Dullin from the University of Paris 1 describes neighbourhood practices and agreements in Eastern Europe in the 1920s. Elzbieta Opilowska from the Willy Brandt Centre and the University of Wroclaw then discusses the quest for a common European identity in the towns of Görlitz and Zgorzelec. Tibor Tõkés and Istvan Süili-Zakar from the University of Debrecen look at the links between cross-border cooperation and the mobility of workers at the European Union’s eastern border. Finally, Rosé Marie Quintana from the University of Perpignan Via Domitia analyses the legal aspects of cross-border cooperation with respect to worker mobility.

In the first part of the second workshop at the colloquium ‘Building bridges: towards territorial cohesion in Europe?’ on the contribution of cross-border areas to regional cooperation and European integration, chaired by Birte Wassenberg from the University of Strasbourg, Steffen Rubach from Euregio presents a case study of interactions between the region of Salzburg, the Land of Berchtesgaden and the town of Traunstein. Hartmut Kowalke from the University of Dresden, Christian Preusscher (Euroregion Elbe/Labe) and Milan Jeøábek from the University of Ústi describe the example of the border zone between Saxony and Bohemia. Jörg Scheffer from the University of Passau looks at the case of the cross-border region shared by Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. Norbert Weixlbaumer from the University of Vienna then considers the possibilities for cross-border cooperation in the south-eastern Alps, describing the experience of an inter-university trip from Vienna to Trieste. Finally, Rob Belemans (FARO, Flämisches Kulturzentrum, Brüssel) discusses cross-border language policy, using the example of Limburgish, which is spoken in Belgium and the Netherlands.

In the second part of the second workshop at the colloquium ‘Building bridges: towards territorial cohesion in Europe?’ on the contribution of cross-border areas to regional cooperation and European integration, chaired by Andy Pollak from the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh, Gert Battrup from the University of Southern Denmark describes police cooperation between Germany and Denmark in the Schleswig/Southern Jutland region. Martin Klatt from the University of Southern Denmark looks at national minorities as a model of cross-border integration. Finally Dorte Anderson from the University of Southern Denmark talks about the development of a specific identity in the border region between Croatia and Slovenia.

To start the second day of the colloquium ‘Building bridges: towards territorial cohesion in Europe?’ Antonela Cagnolati from the Council of Europe sets out the framework of the work carried out by the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Minister-President of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, chairman of the working group on cross-border cooperation at the Congress and President of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), then presents the results of this working group.

On the second day of the colloquium ‘Building bridges: towards territorial cohesion in Europe?’, during a round table on the value of interdisciplinary research into cross-border cooperation chaired by Joachim Beck, Director of the Euro-Institut, and Birte Wassenberg from the University of Strasbourg, Joachim Beck starts by describing the contributions that the science of administration can make to cross-border cooperation. Philippe Hammann from the University of Strasbourg then looks at the sociological aspects of cross-border cooperation. Simon Lang (DHV Speyer) explains the viewpoint of political science, Martial Libera from the University of Strasbourg takes a historian’s viewpoint, and Bernard Reitel from the University of Haute-Alsace considers the geographical aspects. Finally, Alexander Bartling from the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities sheds light on the cultural aspects of cross-border cooperation.

In the first part of the third workshop at the colloquium ‘Building bridges: towards territorial cohesion in Europe?’ on governance and networking of cross-border areas, chaired by Jean-Christophe Romer from the University of Strasbourg, Martin Heintel from the University of Vienna discusses cooperation between the bordering countries Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Anaïs Marin from the University of Helsinki focuses on Euroregions with eastern borders, particularly looking at the question of cross-border water management. Julia Scharting from the University of Innsbruck continues the workshop by examining regional governance at the external borders of the European Union, taking the Alpine Rhine Valley as an example. Finally, Mariska van der Giessen from Radboud University Nijmegen presents her research on cross-border cooperation between Germany and the Netherlands.

In the second part of the third workshop at the colloquium ‘Building bridges: towards territorial cohesion in Europe?’ on governance and networking of cross-border areas, chaired by Michel Catala from the University of Nantes, Estelle Evrard from the University of Luxembourg gives a presentation on the workings of cross-border polycentric metropolitan regions. Jordi Gomez from the University of Paris 2 focuses on the establishment, aims and projects of the ‘Catalan Cross-Border Area’ Eurodistrict.

In the fourth workshop at the colloquium ‘Building bridges: towards territorial cohesion in Europe?’ on cross-border areas as models for territorial cohesion, chaired by Marie-Thérèse Bitsch from the University of Strasbourg, Jean Peyrony from the European Commission’s DG Regio gives an introduction on the concept of territorial cohesion. Martin Kurt Weber from the University of Basel looks at the prospects for territorial cohesion in the trinational metropolitan region of Basel. Marco Trienes from RWTH Aachen University examines the possibilities for innovation in life sciences within the Meuse-Rhine Euregion. Olivier Thomas Kramsch from Radboud University Nijmegen analyses the extent to which cross-border cooperation can serve as a model for European integration in general. Frédéric Durand and Antoine Decoville from the GEODE Department at CEPS/INSTEAD in Luxembourg shed light on the concept of cross-border metropolitan integration in Europe. Finally, the presentation by Raymond Woessner from the University of Strasbourg focuses on the role of bridges over the Rhine in the Upper Rhine Conference.

The concluding round table by the ‘Pyrenees–Mediterranean’ scientific group at the colloquium ‘Building bridges: towards territorial cohesion in Europe?’ on prospects, concepts and tools for cross-border cooperation in Europe is moderated by Sylvain Schirmann from the University of Strasbourg and Olivier Martin from the Alsace Region. Martine Camiade from the University of Perpignan Via Domitia, Michel Casteigts from the University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour and Robert Botteghi from the University of Nice give an account of their experience of cross-border cooperation.