The The Swiss–French Border Closure During COVID-19: A Cross-border Worker’s View

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Swiss–French border in the Geneva region. This cross-border metropolitan area, which is structured by many cross-border flows, transcends the boundary line. The paper presents testimony of Clément Montcharmont, who works in Geneva and lives in France and was much impacted by the closing of the border

Post-COVID symptoms in EU cross-border cooperation

“…The most striking phenomenon was the physical and administrative sealing of borders: Member States strongly limited border crossing in order to prevent the spread of the virus, sometimes by placing physical barriers on the roads (Peyrony et al, 2021). Even borders that had been permanently open since the end of World War II, like the French-Swiss one, were closed (Beylier 2020;Peyrony et al 2021). In many cases, cross-border public transport services were suspended.…”

The list of phone numbers and the paradox of representation : Reflections on resilience in a cross-border context

“…What was even worse, the member states introduced their provisions without coordinating them with their neighbours, nor the European Commission (Albers et al 2021;EC 2021;ECA 2022). This unilateralism (Böhm 2020;Carrera and Luk 2020;Coatleven et al 2020;Giacometti and Meijer 2021;Hennig 2021;Weber 2022), the "state-centric, inward-looking responses" (Giacometti and Meijer 2021, 12) not only facilitated the "renationalization of the border regions" (Coatleven et al 2020, 17) but, in a certain way, they also brought back the past, as several border citizens mentioned (Beylier 2020;Böhm 2020;Buko 2020;CESCI 2021;Giacometti and Meijer 2021;Peyrony et al 2021).…”