Fading EU phoria at the D utch‐ G erman Border? The Case of A vantis

The paper deals with the failure of the A vantis cross‐border business estate. The inception of this hitherto largely undeveloped site took place in the early 1990s, a period which we suggest characterising with the notion of EU phoria, that is, a widely held belief in the future of a borderless E urope. EU phoria is seen as the key to bringing together otherwise separate discourses under one shared ambition of constructing a cross‐border business estate. With the fading of EU phoria, however, A vantis resurfaces as a shared problem and appears to have been built on expectations and promises held within a discourse of E uropean integration rather than among private investors. In retrospect, Avantis as a product of EU phoria remains a EU topia, albeit with very few believers.