The support for local cross-border cooperation in Europe has been built on the premises
of new cross-border institutions (Euroregions) as primarily responding to policy problems
that cannot be dealt with effectively within the national contexts, expressed as ‘filling the gaps’.
One area with significant gains to be made by cooperating across borders is health policy. This
article discusses the extent to which health policy has (not) become an activity in cross-border
practices, and what the potential is for Euroregions to facilitate this. The article first relies on previous
research in combination with a mapping exercise of 53 current structures to demonstrate
that despite well-advertised ‘best practices’, the overall level of health cooperation is relatively
low. It then looks into the motivations for cooperation and policy priorities of participating
local governments. The empirical data consist of interviews with mayors of local governments
in six Euroregions, located at three national borders (Sweden–Norway, Hungary–Slovakia and
Austria–Germany). The analysis points to attitudes related to frustration, a sense of institutional
inappropriateness and cognitive distances playing a role in the low salience of health policy.
The article therefore argues that cooperation in the health area will derive from policy activity
from other actors than Euroregions.
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