According to the Institute for Eastern Studies, cross-border cooperation can improve the quality of social, economic and cultural activity in local government.
In a panel debate aiming to discover how to increase the number of joint initiatives between border regions in Kraków today, Arnoldas Abramavičius underlined that the Schengen Agreement is indispensably linked to the Single market and hence essential to the European economy. Within this context, he explained that the refugee crisis has had a strong impact on cross-border cooperation citing European Commission projections that increased border controls in the Schengen area would cost the 1.7 million cross-border workers, or the firms that employ them, between €2.5 and €4.5 billion in terms of lost time alone.
"Today, cross-border cooperation is increasingly important. We need to involve our citizens and raise the profile of our collective achievements" he stressed.
Concluding his intervention, Arnoldas Abramavičius acknowledged that the European Union is currently looking for ways to reduce the impact of the refugee crisis on territorial cooperation.
"It is of utmost importance that local government is involved in these discussions and the implementation of any measures to boost cross-border initiatives."
This debate took place as part of the Second European Congress of Local Governments, which gathered almost 1,200 people – regional elites, government officials, business executives, NGOs, journalists – from all over Europe to discuss ways of increasing efficiency in using EU structural funds. Several Polish EPP/CoR Members took part in the Congress debates, including: Olgierd Geblewicz, Marek Woźniak, Sławomir Sosnowski, Witold Stępień and Ludwik Węgrzyn.