Borderlands of Governance – Multilevel Cross-border Governance and Trajectories of Local Cross-border Ties in the Franco-German Moselle-Saarland Region

ABSTRACTIn recent years, cross-border cooperation within the European Union – in particular between France and Germany – has experienced renewed “top-down” and “bottom-up” impulses towards a new multiscalarity. Focussing on the Moselle-Saarland region, we outline the relevance of local cross-border networks – conceptualized as “borderlands of governance” – for border-regional cooperation, which became particularly evident throughout the management of the Covid-19-pandemic. Making use of windows of opportunity offered by traditional “top-down” governance, borderlands of governance offer and perpetuate notions of alternative (cross-border) spatialities as relevant spaces of political action, both through practical spearheading of cross-border projects and through the representation of border interests within structures of multilevel governance.KEYWORDS: Multilevel cross-border governanceborderlands of governancegreater regionregional cross-border strategiesintermunicipal cooperationAachen treaty Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 In 2016, the French territorial reform merged the three former régions into one larger région Grand Est. The départements of the former région Lorraine have been pursuing a devolution of border-relevant competencies – while the département Alsace has been granted competencies pertaining to language education, tourism, and marketing under the label of a “Collectivitée Européenne d‘Alsace”, the département Moselle has been pursuing a similar devolution of competencies under the label of a “Eurodépartement Moselle” (Département de la Moselle Citation2019).2 “Angepasste Rechts- und Verwaltungsvorschriften einschließlich Ausnahmeregelungen”3 Our research interest lies specifically with the experiences and bottom-up perspectives of mayors as local, on the ground decisions-makers. The French intermunicipal associations (EPCI) exert competencies relevant to cross-border governance (such as economic development), but directly represent the interests of their constituent municipalities rather than constituting a distinct political-administrative level within territorial governance structures. They were therefore not included in our qualitative or quantitative research.4 Our empirical focus lies on French and German municipalities, however, interviews with mayors from Luxembourg allowed to explore similarities or differences between the three “core members” (“SaarLorLux”) of the Greater Region.5 Of the municipalities taking part in the survey, 14 were border municipalities, and 29 non-border municipalities. The remaining seven municipalities could not be identified and were not included in comparative analyses distinguishing between border and non-border municipalities.6 To ensure readability, all interview quotes were translated into English.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by Staatskanzlei des Saarlandes.