In Europe, the question of borders is a central issue. According to the European Parliament, border regions cover around 40% of the European Union (EU) territory, concentrate 30% of its population and produce nearly a third of its gross domestic product.
These areas, long regarded as marginal, are now recognized as strategic, both for their economic importance and for the social, cultural, and political issues they raise. Once perceived as a strictly local or regional reality, life on the border is becoming a real subject of European policy. While situations vary from one border to another, they often highlight the structural challenges of integration: recognition of professional qualifications, cross-border access to social rights, and management of multilingualism.
It is from this perspective that the article addresses the border issue, focusing as much on concrete realities as on the imaginaries that traverse them. It first looks back at the gradual erasure of the materiality of internal borders, once lines of separation between states and symbols of sovereignty, which have been progressively reconfigured as spaces for cooperation within the European project. Driven by the ideal of unity, this process has transformed borders from obstacles into places of exchange and movement – at least in pro-European discourse. However, this symbol of integration is being undermined by a trend toward isolationism. While some borders are fading, others are being reinforced: external borders are becoming increasingly important. In contrast, internal borders remain benchmarks in the management of public policy and the structuring of national democracies.
Claire Demesmay is an expert in Franco-German cooperation and Director of the Institut français in Bonn.