Title : COVID 19 in the inner EU border regions challenges and lessons learned
Abstract:
In Europe around 37% of the citizens live in a border region. The population living in the border regions encountered tremendous challenges during the pandemic as their life was regulated by different national policies at different sides of the borders, whereas they might live and work at different sides of the border. This means that besides the general impact COVID-19 had on the lives of the citizens in these border regions, it would also be interesting and probably necessary to find out if living in these border regions had an extra health-related effect. That was the reason for several joint research projects to be initiated. These projects analysed and compared the impacts of COVID-19 on the population in some border regions within the European Union: the border region between The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. The main research questions raised in this paper are therefore: what is the health-related impact of COVID-19 on a border region? This takes into account the different national policies. Has for example closing a border an effect on the distribution of COVID-19, both domestically and cross-borderly? Both qualitative and quantitive approaches are employed in the pursuit of answers. In addition, the perspective the citizens from different border regions has been examined and will be presented, as it provides a deep insight in understanding the impacts of a pandemic like COVID-19.
The existing problems and challenges encountered in these border regions may present common features with many other border regions not only in Europe, but also worldwide. Thus the lessons learned here can hopefully be of use for many other parts of the world as well. One of the major lessons we have learned is to promote structured and systematic cross-border cooperation, especially when confronted with a virus that knows no border when transmitting. Therefore, our paper will provide good illustrations on how to realize a cross-border cooperation in a sustainable way and exactly in which way we can complement each other cross-borderly to scale up the health care capacity.
