CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE PYRENEES. THE CASE OF CERDANYA

Abstract

This paper examines how cross-border regions can generate, under certain preconditions and
with EU support, territorial cooperation based on local endogenous development, reducing the
effect of mental and physical borders as a potential new centrality. The tools made available
by the Communitarian legislature (as European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation or
INTERREG programme) therefore should not be perceived as an aim but rather as a means to
support this process.
The research is divided into three parts. The first reviews the evolution of cross-border
cooperation in Europe. The second part analyzes the Pyrennees as a region involved in the last
INTERREG IV-A (POCTEFA) programme, focusing on some elements supporting the
practice. The last section analyzes the case of the Cerdanya valley, underscoring the
homogeneity of the territory, the historical and current cooperation, the limits and some
advice to improve it.