Abstract

The Interreg programme has been providing support for cross border cooperation in the European Union for the past 30 years. All this time, it has triggered new forms of cooperation, leading to increased interactions across the EU internal borders and, thus, it has enhanced development of cross border regions. Nevertheless, the more such interactions develop, the more the lack of data on different types of cross border phenomena becomes problematic. Without data with a cross border perspective it is not possible to shape local and regional policies to the actual needs of society. A previous pilot study, Border Region Data Collection, clearly pointed to administrative data as one of the most feasible sources to establish an EU-wide system that facilitates comparable, continued and sustainable provision of data on cross border commuting in Europe. That project covered only 8 EU countries. The next step is to cover all Member States.
The project Study on Cross Border Data Collection commissioned by DG REGIO with the support of Eurostat, is a pioneering initiative aimed at providing data on cross border workers across the EU Union. The work is being carried out by a consortium led by ÖIR, in partnership with Statistics Netherlands and with the support of the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) and Statistics Denmark. The project started in October 2024 and over the course of 21 months, the project team approached national statistical authorities to identify the available administrative data sources, assess their properties, and develop a comprehensive method for the production of comparable data on cross border workers in the future. Variations in data collection methodologies, access, and comparability across countries make cross border data collection complex. The project seeks to overcome these barriers through a refined methodology building on existing sources. The project will deliver an exemplary dataset to demonstrate the applicability to the approach.
It is important to guide and assist the statistical institutes so that the maximum result can be achieved with limited resources. To facilitate the process, comprehensive supporting materials were prepared, including:
1. A recommendation letter from DG REGIO and Eurostat to highlight the relevance of the study
2. a template for the dataset to be transmitted accompanied by a set of code lists
3. a meta data form
4. a methods and definition document.
To help the institutes that have no experience in processing this administrative data two hybrid workshops were organised. In these workshops countries that were able to provide the requested data shared their experiences. In addition the countries for which this was new their specific situations were discussed. One of the outcomes of the workshops was that a second message from the EC to the appropriate authorities explaining the importance of the data was helpful in order to start the data production process.
Findings and experiences of this unique project will be presented at the conference.