The Catalan Cross-border Eurodistrict. An emerging space without an administrative framework

Abstract

In July 2007 began the process for the establishment of the Catalan transborder Eurodistrict. Its territorial scope comprises North Catalonia (France) and the Girona region and Cerdanya (Spain).The article aims to verify that, in the evolution of the definition of the Eurodistrict, converge several processes such as the consciousness of the complementarities of the area due to the construction of great infrastructures, the consolidation of action groups and stakeholders in specific local projects, the functionality of the space or the confluence of the local scale with the European scale through funding programs such as Interreg. The great amount of actions and agents involved in those processes in the same time and space, make clear the need for a political entity that give legal coverage and capacity for joint territorial action.

Key words: Eurodistrict, transborder space, functional area, local stakeholders, Interreg, territorial development