Cross-border regions and the Covid-19 pandemic:

Cross-border regions, which stretch across the borders of two or more Member States, embody the success of a borderless internal market within the EU and bring increased economic activity as well as tangible benefits to citizens in the form of increased cooperation and innovation. On a daily basis, the functioning of cross-border regions affects the livelihoods of millions of people and companies across Europe. However, the effective functioning of cross-border regions has repeatedly been hampered in crises relating to terrorism, migration and most prominently in respect of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Crises have brought about by predominantly national crisis response measures, such as border closures and lockdowns. Although national measures are not specific to cross-border regions, it is precisely in these laboratories of free movement and EU integration that their negative impact has been most profound and visible.

Aim of the roundtable seminar:

The aim of this roundtable seminar is to bring together researchers and stakeholders to address the topic of the functioning and management of cross-border regions from a multitude of disciplinary angles. The roundtable seminar shall provide a venue for exploring further possibilities of cross-disciplinary cooperation on the broad topic of cross-border regions and (EU) law as an integrative tool in regional cooperation. The seminar starts with a presentation of the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond-funded project ‘Conceptualising Cross-Border Regions in the European Union's Legal Order: From Covidfencing to Constitutionalisation’, followed by a general discussion on methodological approaches to studying cross-border interactions and their impediments. We welcome participants from any discipline interested in the broad topic of cross-border regions, borders and border closures and/or national and EU-wide crisis measures.

Programme: 

Lunch 12.15-13.30 CET

Roundtable seminar 13.30 – 15.30 CET

Speakers: 

• Marja-Liisa Öberg – Associate Professor of EU Law, Lund University
• Rhiannon Pugh – Senior Lecturer in Innovation Studies, CIRCLE, Lund University
• Jasna Pocek – Post-doctoral Researcher, Blekinge Institute of Technology and Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
• Jacob Öberg – Professor of European Union Law, University of Southern Denmark, and Associate Professor of EU Law, Örebro University

Commentators: 

• Eduardo Medeiros – Professor of Geography at DINAMIA'CET-IUL, University of Lisbon
• Eric Sheppard – Humboldt Chair and Professor of Economic Geography, University of California Los Angeles (via Zoom)
• Niamh Nic Shuibhne – Professor of European Union Law, University of Edinburgh
• Henrik Wenander – Professor of Public Law, Lund University

Registration: 

Please register, including indicating dietary requirements by emailing Marja-Liisa Öberg (marja-liisa [dot] oberg [at] jur [dot] lu [dot] se (marja-liisa[dot]oberg[at]jur[dot]lu[dot]se)) by Friday, 26 May, at the latest. For those unable to attend in person, a Zoom link will be provided upon registration.