A eurodistrict is a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an administrative entity that contains

urban agglomeration An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

s which lie across the border between two or more states. A eurodistrict offers a program for cooperation and integration of the towns or

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

which it comprises: for example, improving transport links for people who live and work on different sides of the border. Furthermore, it confers a trans-national regional identity and represents European integration. The first Eurodistricts created or currently undergoing creation are: *

Strasbourg-Ortenau The Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau is a Franco-German eurodistrict, a cross-border administrative entity (''European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation'') sharing common institutions, established on 17 October 2005 and definitely functional sin ...

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

-Centre et Sud Alsace (i.e.

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means '' Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is t ...

) * Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai (Eurometropolis) *

Saar Saar or SAAR has several meanings: People Given name * Saar Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player * Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist * Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor Surname * Ain Saar (born 1968), E ...

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...

Lörrach Lörrach () is a town in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the capital of the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. It is the home of a number of large employers, including ...

- St. Louis-

Weil am Rhein Weil am Rhein ( High Alemannic: ''Wiil am Rhii'') is a German town and commune. It is on the east bank of the River Rhine, and extends to the point at which the Swiss, French and German borders meet. It is the most southwesterly town in Germany ...

* Greater Copenhagen and SkåneGreater Copenhagen
/ref> They may be established: * by a simple agreement about common projects in the area; * in a more institutionalised manner by a local association for transfrontier or cross-border cooperation (in French: ''groupement local de coopération transfrontalière'' or ''GLCT''), which can draw up plans for transfrontier cooperation between towns or communes; or * with an even greater degree of institutionalisation, perhaps including structures allowing a transfer of power and elected by all district citizens. This has

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

al implications for the individual countries involved, which have to be taken into account when drawing up agreements. Note that transfrontier cooperation methods between regions known as

euroregion In European politics, the term Euroregion usually refers to a transnational co-operation structure between two (or more) contiguous territories located in different European countries. Euroregions represent a specific type of cross-border region. ...

s exist in parallel to eurodistricts, which are generally urban. Furthermore, a eurodistrict can be located within a euroregion and even have certain connections with it. The term ''eurodistrict'' is quite new (text written 2006) and has not been defined by organisations like the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...

or the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

. An important reason to introduce the

Schengen Agreement The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...

is to simplify work commuting within such border crossing built-up areas.

References

{{Reflist

External links

*Council of Europe document o
''Transfrontier Cooperation''
(October 2005)
FC EURODISTRICT e.V.
Eurodistricts

See also

References

External links