Experience you can verify, carried by identified people

Setting up and structuring European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) and local cross-border cooperation groupings (GLCT)

Jonathan Boudry · 2013 – 2016 · project officer and head of legal expertise, Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT), the French network and resource centre for cross-border cooperation

• GLCT of the Doubs urban agglomeration (AUD), eastern France: support in drafting the statutes and setting up the grouping.
• Technical and legal support for the creation and governance of several EGTCs across varied territories: mountain areas, rural areas, urban areas and maritime spaces.
• Varied tasks entrusted to these groupings: environmental protection, tourism development, cooperation in health and in transport.
• Selection, then implementation, of the legal structure best suited to each project, according to its nature, its partners and its legal framework.
• Contribution to choosing the governance model of a facility run by two municipalities on either side of a border, as close as possible to local needs.

Statutory design skills for public cooperation bodies, transferable to other structures (local public companies, public interest groupings, joint authorities).

Technical support to the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Jonathan Boudry · 2015 · MOT, for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, in the context of European territorial cohesion

• Study of the legal obstacles to cross-border cooperation, leading to recommendations to improve the European legal framework and make cross-border projects easier to carry out.
• Contribution to the first outline of a European regulation intended to overcome obstacles to cross-border cooperation.
• Participation in the meeting of the Network of Territorial Cohesion Contact Points (NTCCP).
• Contribution to the presentation made at the meeting of Directors-General in charge of territorial cohesion (DG meeting).

Assignment for a Member State holding the Presidency of the Council, in liaison with the European institutions.

Cross-border rail link between two regions, one French and one Italian, and a third State

Jonathan Boudry · 2014 · MOT, for a French region, in a project co-funded by the ALCOTRA programme (INTERREG France–Italy)

• Analysis of the legal framework of the link (organising authorities, operators and infrastructure managers of three territories) and comparison of possible cooperation arrangements: agreements between operators, intergovernmental agreements, EGTC.
• Legal structuring of the cooperation to create a continuous link without break of gauge or of load; recommendation to create an EGTC bringing together two regions and two States, and advice on the agreement, the statutes and the creation procedure.
• Coordination of the design offices involved in the choice of ticketing, signage and rolling stock.

International ferry across a border river: choosing the legal operating model

Jonathan Boudry · 2014 – 2016 · MOT, project management assistance for an overseas local authority

• Technical and legal support to identify the best cross-border arrangement for operating and maintaining a new ferry between France and a neighbouring State outside the European Union, and to put it in place.
• Analysis of the legal framework (French law, European Union law, international law) and of the public authorities able to take on the operation: local authority, State, EGTC.
• Comparison of operating modes, in-house or through an external contractor, in light of public procurement rules and the law applicable to ferry crews.
• Decision-support report comparing three arrangements (contract based on an international agreement, in-house operation run by an EGTC, in-house operation by the local authority), with their advantages and limits, and a recommendation for phased implementation.
• Assistance in negotiating the agreements between France and the neighbouring State, and in drafting and awarding the operating contract.

Cross-border cooperation programme in West Africa (LOBI)

Jonathan Boudry · 2013 – 2015 · MOT, for the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)

• Design of a governance model and of a framework for delivering and financing cross-border projects, in liaison with WAEMU (UEMOA) and ECOWAS (CEDEAO).
• Legal and technical assistance to strengthen cross-border governance and project financing.
• Pilot projects launched in the Sahel area (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger).

European territorial cooperation programmes (INTERREG)

Jonathan Boudry · 2012 – 2016 · MOT, for MOT members and partners

• Contribution to the definition of cross-border cooperation programmes (strand A).
• Contribution to the definition of cooperation programmes and operational programmes under the other strands.
• Contribution to the evaluation of these programmes.
• Design, implementation and monitoring of individual projects supported by these programmes.

Territorial strategy and foresight

Jonathan Boudry · 2013 – 2016 · project officer and head of legal expertise, MOT

• Development strategy for the Franco-Swiss Jura Arc, for State services in the Franche-Comté region and the association arcjurassien.ch (cantons of Bern, Jura, Neuchâtel and Vaud).
• Structuring of cross-border cooperation with a neighbouring State, for an overseas inter-municipal authority (2016).
• Support in defining a maritime transport policy between two islands, one French and one Italian: winter freight and passenger links (2016).
• Guide “Cross-border economic development” (MOT, 2015; original title in French: “Le développement économique transfrontalier”), co-authored.

Clients: members and partners of the MOT, including State field services, authorities of all sizes, foreign States and international institutions.

Financial and organisational recovery of a municipality and an inter-municipal authority (French Caribbean)

Jonathan Boudry · 2020 – April 2026 · shared chief of staff (directeur de cabinet) of the inter-municipal authority and of the municipality, with no director general of services (chief administrative officer) in either body

• Structural financial recovery of the inter-municipal authority, including the closure of a loss-making industrial and commercial public service.
• Financial recovery of the municipality and organisational redeployment to absorb 70 unreplaced retirements.
• Budget follow-up with the regional audit chamber (Chambre régionale des comptes) to apply a recovery trajectory while improving the efficiency of services delivered to the public.
• Overseas recovery contract (COROM) agreed with the State.
• Improved social dialogue and successful implementation of national reforms on civil-servant pay structure and working time (RIFSEEP, 1,607 hours).
• Management of all the services of a municipality and an inter-municipal authority and of relations with funders; organisation of support functions shared between the inter-municipal authority and its member municipalities.
• Strategic reflection with elected members; interface with the State and institutional partners.

Starting point: two bodies each carrying more than €5m of accumulated deficits. Departure in April 2026 after a new organisation was put in place and a director general of services was recruited in each body.

Revitalisation of a town centre awarded the national EcoQuartier label (French Caribbean)

Jonathan Boudry · October 2017 – January 2020 · head of projects of the municipality

• €26m, six-year programme: redesign of the urban plan, roads, renovation of public buildings, shopfronts, housing improvement, redevelopment of a commercial port.
• Interim head of the urban planning, development and sustainability department (7 staff); steering of the local urban plan and of the local advertising regulations.
• Adaptation of the municipal emergency plan and planning solutions against coastal erosion; accessibility programme.
• Land regularisation for occupants without title, including an operation to eradicate unfit housing; development of European-funded projects.

Structuring a transport and logistics sector in the Caribbean

Jonathan Boudry · January – August 2017 · managing director (délégué général) of a cluster of transport and logistics companies, Fort-de-France

• Management of the association and representation of a network of 40 companies (€120m combined turnover, 300 employees).
• Project to structure the transport and logistics sector and to develop trade between the French Caribbean and the wider Caribbean.
• Development of a network of carriers and logistics providers; creation of a multimodal freight exchange.
• Public-policy advice to local authorities and the State.

Related publications: article in Caribbean Maritime (2017) and paper at the SALISES conference (Trinidad and Tobago, 2017).

Splitting the workforce between two authorities created by a territorial reform (metropolis law)

Aurélie Peyrat-Viola · 2013 – 2015 · project manager and HR coordination officer, large French département

• Co-design of the rules for splitting the workforce (6,000 staff at the outset) between the two new authorities: method for sharing the payroll, indicators, data processing, preparation of the splits for validation by the commission assessing transferred costs (CLECT).
• Design of the mobility scheme for the staff concerned and support for managers and staff.
• Co-design of the target organisations of the recomposed département (more than 2,000 staff): target organisation charts.
• Participation in social dialogue bodies.

Managed workforce reduction plan for a municipality (French Caribbean)

Aurélie Peyrat-Viola · 2020 – 2024 · independent consultant for the French Development Agency (AFD)

• Organisational and financial diagnosis of the municipality.
• Managed reduction of staff from 172 to 123 and multi-year payroll recovery trajectory.
• Coordination of the municipality’s services in the absence of a director general of services.

Result: the municipality came out of monitoring by the regional audit chamber in 2024.

Shared-services scheme between an inter-municipal authority and three municipalities

Aurélie Peyrat-Viola · 2020 – 2024 · independent consultant for the French Development Agency (AFD)

• Design of a scheme sharing support functions (HR, finance, legal, prevention) and a joint purchasing group between an inter-municipal authority and three municipalities.
• Design of, and support for, the operational set-up of a shared HR department, a shared prevention service and a shared IT service across all or part of the territory: organisation charts, job descriptions, selection of staff through internal mobility and participation in the recruitment of managers (head of IT, HR director, head of prevention).
• Support for HR professionals in developing their skills and taking up their posts in the shared department.

Securing and rebuilding the HR function of an overseas authority

Aurélie Peyrat-Viola · 2019 – 2020 · consultant for the French Development Agency (AFD), reporting to the President of the authority

• Payroll steering, securing of pay and careers, introduction of the new pay structure for civil servants (RIFSEEP).
• Bringing working time back into compliance and support for the recruitment of senior managers (director general of services, deputy directors general).
• Transfer of skills to the teams in place.