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Founded in Geneva in 1996 under the auspices of the Council of Europe, FEDRE has always focused on cross-border regions. In 2023, it formed a partnership with Crédit Agricole next bank to study the border effect along Switzerland’s periphery in various fields, some of which go unnoticed by the general public. Following the first issue, which addressed food aid, the Founded in Geneva in 1996 under the auspices of the Council of Europe, FEDRE has always focused on cross-border regions. In 2023, it formed a partnership with Crédit Agricole next bank to study the border effect along Switzerland’s periphery in various fields, some of which escape the attention of the general public. Following Issue 1, which addressed food aid; Issue 2, which tackled challenges in the healthcare sector; Issue 3, which presented a vital topic for our regions—water; Issue 4, focused on culture; and Issue 5, addressing the sensitive issue of who compensates unemployed cross-border workers, Issue 6 focused on the idea of creating a cross-border resident card, and the following issue addressed sustainable mobility in cross-border urban areas; this issue is dedicated to the European aspects of cross-border cooperation.
The philosopher and essayist Denis de Rougemont (1906–1985) viewed cross-border cooperation as a kind of workshop that would gradually build Europe from the ground up. Today, however, the European dimension plays a very different role in Basel and Geneva. Let’s take a closer look…
A "European spirit" that is felt to varying degrees
What sets cross-border cooperation in Basel and Geneva apart? You’ll be told that one is binational and monolingual, while the other is trinational and bilingual. But there is more: while in Basel, Alsace, and Baden, there is a strong emphasis on the European dimension of these initiatives, this emphasis is so subtle between Geneva, Haute-Savoie, and Ain that it often goes unnoticed. The actors involved in these two cooperative initiatives do not, therefore, seem to be driven, at a deeper level, by the same motivations. Thus, the cross-border metropolitan area of Basel is calledthe “TrinationalEurodistrict of Basel / Trinationaler Eurodistrict Basel ,” whereas that of Geneva has been named, quite simply… “Greater Geneva.”
The presence or absence of Swiss investments in neighboring countries
Let us now set aside these symbolic aspects, which are important because they reflect a certain mindset. The federal government and the respective cantons are investing heavily in both metropolitan areas. The difference, however, lies with the private sector. In Basel, Swiss companies—such as the chemical giants—are happy to relocate to neighboring France and Germany, thereby creating many jobs there and seeing it as a gateway to the EU’s internal market. It is an understatement to say that such a phenomenon is not observed in Greater Geneva, despite the existence of the Archamps technology park. Admittedly, the weakness of the secondary sector in Geneva provides part of the explanation. Nevertheless, this prevents us from moving beyond the original framework of the 1973 agreements: broadly speaking, Geneva provides the jobs, and neighboring France supplies the labor force that Geneva cannot accommodate. However, with the number of cross-border workers having tripled over the past 20 years, it is now essential that this pattern evolve. It is, in fact, responsible for increasingly unsustainable imbalances and a breakdown of the social fabric in neighboring France, not to mention a negative perception of cross-border workers among a significant number of Genevans. In this regard, a recent study by two Lausanne-based academics, Oscar Mazzoleni and Andrea Pilotti, published in *National Populism and Borders* in 2023, indicated that the Basel model of cross-border relations was “cooperative,” whereas Geneva’s model was closer to a type described as “conflictual,” which, according to them, characterizes the situation in Ticino.
The Intertwining of Solidarities
When we attended the60th anniversary of the Regio Basiliensis in October 2023, we were struck by how much the cantons of northwestern Switzerland were redoubling their efforts toward their French and German neighbors, trying to maintain good relations with the European Union despite the Confederation’s decision in 2022 to break off negotiations on a draft framework agreement with Brussels. Basel, cut off from the Swiss Plateau to the south by the Jura Mountains, has for centuries looked toward its neighbors to the north and east, situated along the Rhine. In contrast, the fear in Protestant Geneva of falling under the influence of its Catholic neighbors has long fostered the opposite attitude.
Today, Swiss investments are funding transportation infrastructure in the Saint-Louis metropolitan area on the French border, according to Mayor Pascale Schmidiger. Basel’s tram line 8 had already been extended to Weil am Rhein in Germany in 2014. And in 2017, tram line 3 was extended by the Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB) to the Saint-Louis train station, thereby becoming a cross-border service to France. In this area, the major focus in the coming years will be rail service (a 6-km connection) to the Basel-Mulhouse Airport, the world’s only binational airport, which is also known asEuroAirport, reflecting its German partnership. The Swiss are pushing for this: they are prepared to finance a significant portion of the estimated €450 million needed to bring the line into service by 2035.
Services must be provided in both directions
Here too, the Basel Eurodistrict offers some useful insights. We have seen that the Swiss side, which provides jobs for cross-border workers, is investing heavily in rail and airport infrastructure, as well as in river transport infrastructure—specifically in the development of ports along the Rhine—to ensure that freight traffic can travel upstream to Basel under optimal conditions.
But this is not a one-way street; the goal is to foster solidarity. For example, Alsace is committed to supporting the people of Basel in their relations with the EU. This applies, among other things, to the academic and research sectors, which have been subject to EU “sanctions” following the failure of negotiations on a bilateral framework agreement. Regional solidarity is also being exercised to maintain the current regime for navigation on the Rhine, an issue governed by international law and regulated by the 1868 Mannheim Convention, but over which the European Union would like to regain control, which would weaken the Swiss side, which is not a member.
One last anecdote—a more isolated incident, but one that’s sure to make an impression: Alsace has decided to write to the organizers of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland to express its support for Basel’s bid.