Trinational Eurodistrict of Basel

The TEB acts as coordinator for cross-border projects between the German, French and Swiss cities around Basel and promotes the cultural and linguistic exchange between the people living in the region.These frequent economic and social interactions across borders also made cooperation on an administrative level increasingly necessary.[3] The legal status and its official role in the cross-border cooperation was finally established in the German-French-Swiss treaty of Basel in 2000.[2] The concept contained sectoral goals, which were worked towards by implementing projects in the topics settlement, traffic, economy, nature and environment, infrastructure, and political structure.In 2003, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty, Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder and President of France Jacques Chirac, proposed the creation of the Strasbourg-Ortenau Eurodistrict.To achieve this, a project outline was developed by a trinational steering committee in cooperation with Regio Basiliensis and the TAB association.The foundation agreement of the Trinational Eurodistrict of Basel was finally signed on 26 January 2007 in the French city Saint-Louis.[2] The presidium coordinates the work of the TEB, defines the strategy and monitors the compliance with the articles of the association.[12] The TEB has the following working groups: The advisory board consists of 20 Swiss, 15 French and 15 German members.The IBA supports the realization of cross-border projects with a focus on the topic "landscapes", "urban spaces" and "cohabitation".To realize the project 3Land, partners from Switzerland, France and Germany have joined forces with the goal of coordinating the spatial planning of the cities Huningue, Weil am Rhein and Basel in the area between the bridges ‘Dreirosenbrücke’ and ‘Palmrainbrücke’.[17] The project Vis-à-Vis revolves around the creation and realization of a cross-border park on the opposite banks of the Rhine which belong to the cities Huningue and Weil am Rhein.The goal of the project "Trois pays à Vélo" is to promote cycling tourism in the trinational region.[18] The IBA-project "Parc des Carrières" consists of creating a park on the area between the cities Basel, Allschwil, Hégenheim and Saint Louis.The areas that are not used for this purpose anymore will be transformed into ecological green spaces and connected by footpaths and cycling paths.The purpose of these instruments is to fund civil projects that promote intercultural exchange between the inhabitants of the trinational region.