Not a goal in itself!

The countries and regions bordering the Southern North Sea have many historical, cultural en economic links. This has been recognised decades ago and there has always been a healthy cooperation and also competition between the regions. Nothing new, everybody knows this already!
However the situation is changing rapidly. New communication techniques, new transport systems etc. are bringing the countries and regions more closer to each other. The negative effects of borders on regional economic development are decreasing. The situation in regions separated by seas is very particular and many aspects of the cooperation between the regions can be improved if the awareness of the opportunities improves. The society (public sector, NGO’s and private sector) should be much better informed and prepared to use these opportunities. A regional politician once said during a conference regarding the Finesse project (improvement of rail/ferry links between the UK and the continent): “our eyes are open but our windows are still shut!”

A project like Time 2C is crucial to define the development opportunities for the region, to create a basis for a sound cooperation, to prepare the society but also, and this is the most important goal of Time 2C, to define concrete actions and projects and prepare a basis for funding and implementation of these actions.
Cooperation is perfect but it should not remain a goal in itself and it should lead to tangible actions in the interest of the future of the Southern North Sea region and a sustainable development of this region.

The only way to achieve this is a specific cross border maritime programme for the Southern North Sea. Why a specific cross border programme for the Southern North Sea? There are many reasons but one of the most relevant is that the problems and development opportunities for this part of the North Sea are very different from those in the regions bordering the northern part of North Sea. The Southern North Sea borders the metropolitan heart of Western Europe and can be seen as the back yard of this metropolitan region. This creates very specific development opportunities but also specific economic, environmental and social problems, which influence the daily living environment of it’s inhabitants. Many problems are shared and tailor made solutions are necessary and important from a synergy and efficiency point of view. This justifies the need for a specific maritime cross border programme and the Time 2C project plus the SWOT analysis carried out as one of the actions of this project, is aimed to give a boost to this cooperation and to specify the actions needed.