AbstractIs there a ethical dimension in cross‐border cooperation? Although EU border scholars and practitioners highlight how important is to consider the normative dimension of cross‐border cooperation for its successful management, the ethical dimension has been instead so far neglected and understudied because of the lack of an appropriate methodological and theoretical background. Thus, I aim to fill this scholarly and policy‐making gap by addressing this main question and by proposing an alternative ethical‐humanist approach to cross‐border cooperation. It is argued that the cross‐border governance ethical code elaborated here is the necessary lynchpin to promote and strengthen integration and cohesion through cross‐border cooperation within the EU. The outcome of this analysis is an alternative modern cross‐border cooperation roadmap that promotes social conditions through which human beings as well as their natural environment can harmoniously develop through the fulfilment of specific ethical values.