Shaping Cross-Border Cooperation Policies in the European Parliament (1970-1982)

With the establishment of funding programmes since the 1990s, cross-border cooperation policies have gained increasing significance in the process of European integration. We contend that the European Parliament has been discussing and debating cross-border cooperation as a regional policy matter since the 1970s through reports, resolutions and debates on regional policy, transport and economic matters. We show how Members of the European Parliament were able to propose a European cross-border policy based on their experiences with and knowledge about the different political and administrative levels required for decision-making on cross-border policy. We also observe a shift in how disparities were understood: first as disparities within regions of the Member States of the European Economic Community and later as disparities across different sides of state borders. Moreover, we have uncovered how MEPs from border regions advocated for this shift during the 1970s.