Resolution of the Conference of the Heads of Government of Arge Alp

Resolution of the Conference of the Heads of Government of Arge Alp

addressed to the European Commission and the European Council

on the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP)

Lugano, 26 June 2015

The Heads of Government of Arge Alp

-welcome and support the development of the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) and its action plan and note that, unlike previous macro-regional strategies, it has been created in a promising bottom-up process taking account of the needs and capacities of the federal states, provinces, cantons and regions;

-recall that the political process leading to EUSALP was launched with the resolution unanimously adopted by the Heads of Government of Arge Alp in June 2011, that 26 Alpine Regions thereupon approved a comprehensive initiative paper formulating the main content of the Strategy at a meeting held in Bad Ragaz in June 2012, that the initiative of the Alpine Regions was raised to the national and European levels at a meeting held in Innsbruck in October 2012, and that the Alpine Regions and States defined the cornerstones of the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region at a meeting held in Grenoble in October 2013;

-are pleased to note that the initiative launched under the aegis of Arge Alp by the Alpine Regions of the EU member states and the Swiss Confederation for the development of EUSALP was taken up by the European Council in December 2013, which mandated the European Commission to draft the Strategy in collaboration with the Alpine States and Regions;

-emphasise that Arge Alp as the core of EUSALP is pursuing the goals of addressing common Alpine questions and plans on the basis of cross-border cooperation, especially in the fields of the environment, culture, society and the economy, promoting mutual understanding and strengthening a shared sense of responsibility for the Alps as a living space;

-stress the fact that, in the preparation of the Strategy for the Alpine Region within the EUSALP Steering Committee, which was established pursuant to the conclusions drawn by the European Council in December 2013, the regional level has played a major contributory role in keeping with the bottom-up approach;

-point out that five of the seven regional members of the EUSALP Steering Committee are member states of Arge Alp, which continually underscores the key contributory role played by Arge Alp in the preparation and implementation of the Strategy for the Alpine Region;

-welcome the fact that the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) established an Interregional Group for EUSALP in June 2014, making it possible to coordinate the positions and goals of the Alpine Regions within CoR and draft political initiatives with a focus on the Alps. They also welcome the fact that the opinion on “An Alpine macro-regional strategy for the European Union” unanimously approved by CoR in December 2014 underscores the bottom-up approach of EUSALP and, in keeping with the principle of multi-level governance, supports the argument that, within its areas of responsibility, the regional level should be involved on an equal footing with the national level;

-point out that suitable governance models for the implementation of EUSALP were drafted by the Alpine Regions and States and the European Commission in Innsbruck in September 2014 and in Milan in December 2014;

-emphasise that, within the terms of the CoR Charter, which is being increasingly applied on a mandatory basis in European decision-making procedures, the principle of multi-level governance requires that the Länder, regions, provinces and cantons concerned be involved in the implementation of EUSALP on an equal footing with the Alpine States and the European Commission;

-are pleased to note that the European Commission acknowledges the bottom-up approach of EUSALP and the principle of multi-level governance and is taking account, for the political aspects of the Strategy, of the above mentioned resolutions and the results of the work of the Steering Committee;

-but also express their concern that individual proposals put forward by the European Commission, especially on the subject of governance, fail to adequately implement the bottom-up approach of EUSALP and the principle of multi-level governance and to do full justice to the results of the work of the Steering Committee and the common positions formulated in the Milan Declaration of the Alpine States and Regions of 1 December 2014;

-therefore request recognition of the position of the Regions as decision makers at all levels of EUSALP governance;

-are of the opinion that the proposed appointment of coordinators for each of the three thematic policy areas would create a fourth level of governance and, in the interest of lean governance for EUSALP, propose the elimination of the function of said coordinators;

-request the members of the EUSALP Steering Committee, when considering the governance of EUSALP, to discuss the establishment of a EUSALP Strategy Point in Brussels, possibly making use of the existing national offices of Arge Alp members in Brussels as support structures;

-are in favour of explicitly emphasising in the introduction to the Action Plan that EUSALP has been initiated by the Alpine Regions and the establishment of the Strategy has been moved forward as the result of a bottom-up effort by the Länder, regions, cantons and provinces involved, and accordingly of making reference to the political initiatives leading to the resolution of the Alpine States and Regions adopted in Grenoble – such as approval of the strategy paper by the Presidents of 26 Alpine Regions meeting in Bad Ragaz on 29 June 2012 – and emphasising that the resolution is based on an initiative put forward by Arge Alp;

-are aware of their responsibility for the successful implementation of EUSALP on the basis of specific projects generating tangible results for citizens and reiterate their willingness to make a significant contribution to such implementation in a spirit of cooperation and partnership with the Alpine Convention, the Alpine Space Programme and civil society;

-mandate the Regions represented on the EUSALP Steering Committee to continue to play an active role in developing and implementing the Strategy, including the aspect of suitable forms of inter-institutional coordination between the Alpine Regions.