Beyond the national political-territorial borders in Europe, the cross-regional dimension
maintains an experimental democratic character. Entities developed to foster cross-
border cooperation, such as working communities and Euroregions, are conceived as
mechanisms of democratisation through the decentralisation of regional or/and local
governmental bodies. However, scholarly debate suggests that the top-down policy-
making process that is characteristic of cross-border programmes seems to cast doubt on
the fulfilment of a European participatory democracy. In this respect, the cross-border
cooperation process seems to contribute to an added value to the dilemma of the
European democratic deficit. The objective of this paper is to present a regional
contribution to this debate through a study of local experts’ perspectives on the
implementation and impact of cross-border cooperation policies in the southern
Portugal-Spain border region and the possibilities for local and social participation. This
paper utilises data from two related investigations in the southern cross-border area
between Portugal and Spain, including qualitative interviews, focus groups, and content
analysis of secondary data. The results reveal a positive attitude towards the recent
regional top-down initiatives of European integration, although local experts question
the potential for the inclusion of local perspectives in cross-border initiatives.
Additionally, during this period of economic crisis, political contradictions may be
observed, and political initiatives related to the Spanish-Portugal border may hamper
the existing cross-border flows and dynamics of progressive integration. In this sense,
local authorities play an important role as the nexus between transnational institutions
of cross-border cooperation and the inhabitants of border regions.