Grand Est

Grand Est demonstrates how European border position creates economic opportunity that purely domestic geography would not provide. The 2016 merger combined Alsace, Lorraine, and Champagne-Ardenne into a region where German, Luxembourg, and Belgian labor markets extend French employment options. Cross-border commuting—particularly toward Luxembourg's financial sector—provides income that local employers cannot match.

Strasbourg hosts European institutions (Parliament, Council of Europe, European Court of Human Rights), creating a unique political economy where international organization employment supplements regional markets. The city's Franco-German character—Alsatian dialect, Germanic architecture, French administration—reflects centuries of contested sovereignty that European integration partially resolved.

Champagne production provides globally recognized luxury exports. The strictly delimited production zone, controlled yields, and required aging create scarcity that enables pricing power unmatched by other French wines. Lorraine's industrial history—coal, steel, glass—has largely ended, leaving urban areas that struggle with post-industrial transition. Whether Grand Est can leverage its European position for development—or whether the benefits concentrate in cross-border zones while interior areas decline—shapes regional inequality.