PRIME MINISTER LAMBERTZ REFLECTS
[EDIT: Eupen, September 25] Speaking in Bavaria, he noted that you couldn’t help seeing Bavaria in Brussels, particularly since they put op their new building there. But, he went on to say that he belonged to a .78% minority of German-speaking Belgians and came from a region where the experience of borders had been a decidedly mixed one. ‘My region’, he said, ‘has changed nationality three times’. It was taken over by Nazi Germany and Mr Lambertz’ father was forced to fight on the Eastern Front. Mr Lambertz owed his existence to the fact that his father had been able to escape on the last flight but one. His region is a border region, an old inner-border region; and, despite the fact of his comparative youth, he could remember a time when smuggling was the way to make money. Now, of course, the incident is subject to a statute of limitations; but, he could remember how he smuggled his first stereo in from Aachen, sticking it in the trunk of the car. Karl-Heinz Lambertz also remembered how, at a later date, after the appointment of Gorbachev in Moscow, a Russian Professor, finding himself in Aachen, wanted to cross the border but had no visa. The fact that Mr Lambertz was able to drive him over the Border into Belgium, and even into the Netherlands, filled the man with amazement. Border regions are full of excitement, and there are a lot of them. And the working group on European border regions has done a lot to set up contacts and networks among these regions. Living in the German speaking part of Belgium means the cross-border situation is an everyday affair. Without this cooperation, many political solutions would be completely impossible, which is why Mr Lambertz was pleased to be able to report officially on this topic. Now, as he recalls, he is traveling around the border regions and his visit to Bavaria is the last-but-one before he moves out to the German-Polish border area in Brandenburg. He has been in Austria too; in regions where the names are redolent of wine. There were other complex areas too; but, before embarking on a debate on this subject, there are four things that have to be said. First, the landscape of the European border regions is extremely complex and diverse. They can be border regions on the great European seas, from the Caspian to the Baltic. They can also be regions with natural barriers, in the form of rivers or mountain ranges, or as in my home, the barriers may be scarcely visible. There are the old regions and the new; and regions where there is relatively little mobility because there are too few options. A bridge can work wonders in such situations. And then there are places where people are moving backwards and forward all the time. There are places, too, where one doesn’t see the borders but where structural differences do not disappear; and, however many obstacles are removed, ever more problems arise. In the old Meuse-Rhine region which recently celebrated its 30th birthday there are as many problems now as there were 30 years ago. But, and this is the important issue, they are different problems. Then, in this multiplicity of European border regions, there is something else that is important, and something that I’ve specialized in. These are border regions which have a relatively simple structure, with clubs and groups and places where the same language is spoken on either side of the border. But then, there are regions that are much more complex, where different languages and cultures meet, where more than two states work together and where the nature of the cooperation is of a very different kind. These regions are actually a sort of laboratory because there are so many problems and difficulties, which give the observer ‘something to chew on’ and one can learn from that. It must be said however that working in the lab, however honorable it may be, also means assuming the status of a guinea pig and this is a status that is not always so popular. It is always easier to leave the difficult tasks to someone else. Well you know, European networks can do something about this, they have got the scope. What all these regions share is a simple-minded question, but it is extremely important. One thing that they have, of course, is the border and that itself is a concept that deserves serious study. Borders also have their own dynamic. They produce exceptions and you really have to understand these to be able to work with them. What are the conditions for satisfactory progress? These are as complex as the task is difficult. Cross-border cooperation is not easy, it doesn’t come easy, it requires laborious effort and the effort is required, if enthusiasm is not to be reduced to dreadful frustration. First of all you have to know your neighbors’ situation extremely well and that is not easy. To take an example from the region that I come from, the majority of the population does not understand that a chamber of commerce in Germany is a very different sort of animal from a chamber of commerce in Belgium; even if they do have the same name, which is easy to translate into French and Dutch. If you want to do your cross-border business successfully, you have to know the structures and limiting conditions of your partner extremely well. And that’s real work, but it can be done. What are the requirements for successful cross-border cooperation? Well, you have got to have the tools to do the job; and, legions of lawyers have toiled for decades, beginning with the Madrid agreement and produced the 3rd additional protocol. This Madrid Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between territorial communities or authorities was actually big news when I was still a teaching assistant in university; and now, that is a quarter of a century ago. However, the EVTZ, The European Association for Territorial Cooperation, provided the EU last year with a very important instrument. But just like its twin-brother or twin-sister of the European Council, this instrument is not a solution in itself. It would be illusory to believe that all problems could be solved with a legal document, however perfect it might be. When you look at the more than 200 border regions in Europe, you can see that a great many of them work extremely well together without in fact having a legal basis. An example of this is the grand Saar-Lor-Lux region. This has a summit with the Prime Minister of Luxemburg, the presidents of Saarland, and the Rhineland Palatinate, together with the prefects and presidents of the French presidents of the region of Lorraine, together with the Prime Minister on the Belgian side. There is however no legal basis for this type of cooperation that we call a summit. On the other hand, we encounter the entirely ludicrous legal construction of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, which is actually nothing more than a foundation under Dutch law whose headquarters are now to be found in the Belgian city of Eupen. You have to find the right instrument for each type of cooperation. I however personally believe that the public law structures that will now become possible as a result of the EVTZ and the framework agreement can be of very great assistance in many situations. Nevertheless, I must remove the illusion, should you believe that problems can be mastered automatically if the right legal instrument is available. Actually cross-border cooperation is about something completely different. What I’ve just told you is what I have to be able to do if I am working across borders. I have to work hard on the preconditions and that is the necessary precondition but it’s still not enough. I will only be able to be successful, when I make every possible effort. The unflinching will, the need to work across borders is what it is really all about. Because, at every attempt, in every construction that I have discussed in old and new regions, in the outer-border regions of the EU, wheresoever you will, there is a plentitude of obstacles and hurdles that have to be surmounted and sometimes it is quite tiring. We’re aware of this everyday on the inner-borders and when I look at cooperative work in Denmark, in the Netherlands and in Germany down to the Upper Rhine, I always have the same impression; that we’ve been working for years and somehow still seem to be marking time. To go on, I need the will and I have to be creative. To remove these obstacles what I need to do is to network, exchange ideas and look around and see what is happening all over the place and how they solve their problems. That is the added value of cooperation among the border regions. But I believe too, and I’d like to close on this, that this cooperation on our borders is incredibly important for the future development of Europe and in particular for the European Union. Just as Europe is important for the border regions, because it is true, the border regions need Europe; not only, but also, to solve their special problems by using special means. This does create high expectations and many difficult situations. I can only confirm what I have said. I am so often in the ministry of Foreign Affairs, trying to make it clear that the point of view adopted by the German Federal Government in the matter of the negotiations on financial perspectives is wrong. This viewpoint was that cooperation in the old border regions should no longer be funded. Of course, the focus has to be on the new states and on the new internal-border regions but it would be a fatal mistake to refuse any support to the old inner-border regions. Because a whole series of problems still exists there. These have developed from the increase in mobility and their solution, their rapid solution, is of great importance for the further development in today’s new internal-border regions. This has been successful and Europe has made an effort. We must be worthy of that effort. Because EU money on the borders can also be used badly; and, at this point, I would ask the Secretary of State to put his fingers in his ears because I’m talking out of school from a Belgian point of view. When there is EU money, it is easier to get it from elsewhere too, that’s a basic issue. If there is a particularly officious civil servant or project boss, who has had all sorts of useless projects in his cupboard for ages, and who gets the idea of linking these with the neighbors. This can get through; and, it is a great pity, if I may say so. But I must confess that I have observed this in my 17 year career as a minister. We must hold on to these special funds that we have received for cross-border cooperation and really use them in sustainable European projects, that have real cross-border added value and we must dismantle the barriers. We must check very carefully and be extremely selective, but one thing is clear and remains so. All border regions continue to need Europe. Let me also say that Europe needs the border regions. It is no secret that, at present, Europe is not floating on a tide of optimism. Enthusiasm for Europe is missing. The enthusiasm isn’t there at the moment. It was damaged by the Nice-reform, where the chance was missed to confront Europe with new challenges and prepare for expansion. I dare to say that if you are looking for motivation, for opportunities and for new enthusiasm in Europe, the place to look is in the border regions, that’s where you will find them. If Europe, as in the border regions themselves, gives this issue a little bit more attention, I think that we, and the border regions, will be ready to make a greater effort too.
In the Summer, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, the Premier of Belgium’s German speaking Region, gave a talk about cross-border areas in Europe and about their importance in a structure of the European Union; but, he also approached the subject in a highly personal way, which perhaps helps the reader to feel his or her way into the situation.
Then there is something else and that is something that is now called intercultural communicative competence. 'What is that? I hear you cry!' It is a science in itself and it is certainly more than a course in a foreign language or etiquette. You know, it is also about approaching a neighbor with feeling, a feeling for ‘the why and how’ he or she thinks, lives, feels, gets upset, is happy; about what the neighbors celebrate, and when they do, and whether you start off with a drink or go through the agenda first. I can tell you this is part of my daily experience. I know when I sit down at the table with my Walloon friends I have to behave quite differently from when I sit down with my Dutch friends.
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