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Located on the French-Italian border between the Alps and the Medi-terranean, the Alps-Mediterranean Euroregion encompasses the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA), Rhône-Alpes, Piedmont, Aosta Valley and Liguria regions. Inaugurated in January 2008, it covers a vast territory of 110,000 sq. km and 17 million inhabitants.
Following an initial declaration of understanding in July 2006 in Turin, the first step of the Euroregion was taken on 18 July 2007 with the signature of a memorandum of understanding that officially established the Alps-Medi-terranean Euroregion. The aim was to form a cooperation space intended to intensify exchanges and strengthen economic, social and cultural links between the five regions.
The Euroregion functions based on a rotating presidency held in turn for six months by the partner regions. Five working groups have been formed to cover the five priority action areas: Accessibility and transport, Innovation and research, Environment and risk prevention, Culture and tourism and Education and training.
In order to base the Euroregion on sound legal foundations, the five regions have undertaken to prepare a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC). In this context the Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière has provided legal and technical support for the formation of this EGTC, within the framework of a study initiated under the presidency of the PACA region in June 2008.
In late January and early February 2009, respectively, the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional assemblies approved the draft convention and statutes of the EGTC. The location of the registered office, in France, remains to be defined, then the EGTC can be formally established by a decree of the prefect of the region concerned.
The new structure will then be able to implement its development strategy for the Euroregion territory. To help the partners manage this, in autumn 2008 the MOT also conducted a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis covering the whole territory. This analysis resulted in an inventory of the territory and provided the regions with a better understanding of each others’ strengths, weaknesses, competencies and opportunities to work together.
Viewpoint: Joël Giraud, Vice-president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) region, MOT Vice-President
Source: Cross-border news, No.48, March 2009
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