Parliamentary functions in cross-border co-operation: The case of the Upper Rhine Council

Cross-border cooperation in the Upper Rhine region is characterised by a level-specific differentiation in which there are institutional as well as task-structural and functional approaches for a vertical division of labour between the international (intergovernmental commission), supra-regional (Upper Rhine Conference, Upper Rhine Council) and sub-regional levels (Eurodistricts). In this study, we want to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the Upper Rhine Council, focussing on the parliamentary dimension of cross-border cooperation in the Upper Rhine region. The research question guiding the study is: What kind of activities does the Upper Rhine Council deploy related to the functions they take up and how can we explain varying patterns regarding policy fields, addressees of resolutions and policy goals? The thematic analysis was chosen as the methodology. Compared to the more structured qualitative content analysis, this allows for an in-depth and comprehensive examination of the data. The focus of our study is a qualitative analysis of the resolutions of the Upper Rhine Council. The resolutions reflect the substantive parliamentary work of the Upper Rhine Council and are therefore particularly suitable as data for the research questions raised. With 69 resolutions, our data set includes all resolutions from the years 2016 to 2022. In the council’s representative function, the council exercises its articulation function not only vis-à-vis the Upper Rhine Conference, which it ‘accompanies’ according to its founding agreement, but also vis-à-vis multiple institutions at various political levels of the three states bordering the Upper Rhine and the EU. It is aimed at executive rather than legislative institutions, especially at higher levels, region/state/canton, national and supranational EU level. The articulation function is therefore exercised multilaterally, across borders and levels. The Upper Rhine Council also makes ex-ante and ex-post demands, which we have categorised between the articulation and control functions. In particular, the fact that the Upper Rhine Council explicitly expects responses from the addressees and partly relates its ex-post demands to the statements of the actors addressed ex ante deserves to be further analysed from the perspective of a cross-level and cross-border parliamentary control function. The articulation of demands to many addressees at different levels, as is already happening, can be interpreted as the start of the development of a cross-border parliamentary dimension. The Upper Rhine Council is advocating primarily for legal regulations and procedural changes. The council's policy objectives encompass areas including improving mobility, healthcare, environmental sustainability, economic development, and energy. Notably, topics such as security, social policy, housing, family policy, and media policy are less emphasised. The council appears to go beyond being a mere advocate for cross-border cooperation, actively formulating own policy goals and holding relevant institutions accountable for their implementation. In the council’s ex-ante scrutiny activities, the council's work involves demands for analysis, monitoring, evaluation, mutual recognition and standardization, infrastructure development, and alignment with EU and UN strategies. In the ex-post dimension, the council demands changes in governance arrangements and the implementation of policies with a cross-border dimension.