Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)

2. Session /Séance. Regional (trans-border) Cooperation / Coopération régionale (transfrontaliere) - Brejon de Lavergnée, Marie-Edith: New economic Zones and their Archives / Nouvelles zones économiques et leurs archives (english 77 - français 100)

2. Session/Séance: Brejon de Lavergnée, New economic Zones and their Archives

If the institution which gives shelter to the archives is not on neutral ground, the problem of transfer can be crucial. Thus the headquarters of the euroregion Midi Pyrénées, Languedoc-Roussillon, Catalonia being at Perpignan in a building belonging to the municipal authority, there is a risk of a tricky situation for the municipal staff, who handle the files if they refuse to hand them to the mayor if he asks to consult them.

The problems mentioned call into question the search legitimacy, the retention, withdrawal or relinquishment of powers and as a result affect legislation as well as the juxtaposition of terms of reference.

These trans-border areas often suffer at the same time from a surfeit of poorly co- ordinaded initiatives and of several kinds of partners (different countries, differences of scale, different centres or premises, co-habitation between the public and private sectors).

The weaknesses of organs of public administration set up often as a result of the reluctance of the central authorities to take action and the legal difficulties encountered in drawing up agreements for cooperation are just as valid in the case of the organisation of archives which are the product of something that is obvious.

If an outburst of Jacobinism i.e. a splitting up of sovereignty endangers the preservation of archives, it is, however, hardly possible to conceive of an archive service, which could ignore the new forms of cooperative relationships and could yet still remain within a rigid framework.

It is perhaps necessary to join in with a policy of negotation pending European legislation. Indeed, it might be that this will be a long time coming since it could take some considerable time to reach agreement on the renunciation of some powers, as the Luxembourg Minister of Labour put it in 1985, when the EDZ was being established , in an effort to moderate Mr. Delors’ enthusiasm, when touching on questions of international law. According to him, there is a real and serious difficulty in smoothing out the admitted disparities between countries within the community on social issues, where the most advanced countries would not be able to accept any poling of harmonisation, which lowered standards.

It ended by saying, „From now on what niddle way can be envisaged?“ This question asked within the context of social benefits applies equally to archives. Perhaps it is simply a matter of being practical and dealing with problems one by one without multiplying the preliminaries. At present, the juxtaposition of legislation is the rule. In this respect, the opening of the European College of Technology which is, strictly speaking, the only truly European organisation within the EDZ, is symbolic: at ground level, there are three offices, one for the French director, one for the Belgian director and a third for the Luxembourg director. Without a doubt, those in charge of work on shemes for more comprehensive cooperation, such as the transfrontier urban area, are well aware of this antiquated situation. But, it will take time for mayors and burgomasters to renounce any part of their powers.

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