Arge Alp
| Working group Alpine countries (Arge Alp) |
|
|---|---|
| purpose | cross-border cooperation in the Alpine region |
| Chair: | Conference of Heads of Government |
| Establishment date: | 1972 |
| Number of members: | 10 administrative units |
| Seat : | innsbruck |
| Website: | www.argealp.org |
The Alpine countries working group (Arge Alp, Italian Comunità di Lavoro delle Regioni Alpine ) deals with common problems and concerns of the Alpine region in cross-border cooperation , especially in ecological, cultural, social and economic areas. It aims to promote mutual understanding between the peoples in the Alpine region and strengthens the awareness of shared responsibility for the Alpine environment.
Members
Ten countries, provinces, regions and cantons of Austria , Germany , Italy and Switzerland with 16 million people on around 118,504 km² belong to the Arge Alp . Members are Bavaria , Graubünden , Lombardy , Salzburg , St. Gallen , South Tyrol , Ticino , Tyrol , Trentino and Vorarlberg .
organization
The highest body of the Arge Alp is the conference of heads of government. The chair changes annually between the individual member countries. A steering committee, consisting of senior officials from the various countries, prepares the meetings of the heads of government and implements their decisions. For the actual implementation of the work program, project groups with specialists from the individual member countries are set up. The office is located in Innsbruck .
aims
The main concerns of the Arge Alp are:
- the safeguarding and development of the alpine region as a high-quality living and recreation area and thus the protection of the environment;
- the coordination of spatial planning methods and planning objectives;
- the coordination of planning and construction measures in cross-alpine rail and road traffic;
- the intensification of economic cooperation;
- safeguarding the rich cultural heritage while at the same time promoting contemporary creativity;
- protecting health and promoting the family;
- promoting European integration.
history
On October 12, 1972, the founding meeting of the Alpine countries working group took place in Mösern in Tyrol at the invitation of Governor Eduard Wallnöfer . For the 25th anniversary, the Peace Bell of the Alpine Region was donated in Mösern .
The Arge Alp was the first comparable amalgamation of state and autonomous units in Europe at the level below the national and federal states.
The "common model for the development and safeguarding of the Alpine region" of the Arge Alp was the most comprehensive and specific catalog of objectives in the entire Alpine region until the Alpine Convention and its protocols were drawn up, and its principles and technical objectives are still widely valid today.
The political and social upheavals in the last decade, the ongoing integration process in Europe and the consequences of the Maastricht Treaty as well as the formation of further working groups based on the Arge Alp model (1978 Alpen-Adria, 1982 COTRAO in the Western Alps) make the Tasks of the Arge Alp necessary: it should selectively perform those tasks that only it can undertake on the basis of its decades of experience or that it can carry out better than other cross-border cooperation institutions. It should also be active where it can contribute effective reinforcement effects to activities operated by other bodies or ongoing at other levels.