What are the principal issues and objectives of the Alps-Mediterranean Euroregion?
Looking beyond common development issues, the Liguria, Piedmont and Aosta Valley regions in Italy and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Rhône-Alpes regions in France have formed strong historical, economic and cultural links.
Nowadays the problems common to the five regions are bringing them closer and leading to the development of cooperation actions on topics related to the living conditions of their inhabitants, such as transport, environment, employment, training and economic development. Cross-border cooperation has thus been established between the regions of the Alps-Mediterranean Euroregion, which benefits from the developments accomplished within the framework of the various generations of European programmes.
This experience has resulted in the opening of a joint office in Brussels and established a culture of cooperation which the new 2007-2013 programming will be able to amplify.
The main objective of the Alps-Mediterranean Euroregion is to raise the profile of the five regions as seen by European institutions and thus affirm the role of the regions in the European area. The Euroregion is defending the central position and the specific characteristics of the Alpine and Mediterranean territory in the context of an expanded European Union. It is building interregional and transnational cooperation spaces, giving the regions greater influence over the major policies of the states and the European Union and enabling them to better defend their interests.
Why have you chosen the form of an EGTC to structure the framework of your cooperation?
The formation of an EGTC will confer legal existence on the Alps-Mediterranean Euroregion, providing it with an indispensable basis for its development. By enabling different levels of government (national, regional, local) to work together in a cross-border context while accepting the division of competences, this instrument will allow us to manage a Community programme financed by the structural funds, but also to conduct cross-border, interregional and transnational cooperation projects outside the Community programmes, including with the Principality of Monaco.
Source: Cross-border news, No.48, March 2009
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