Four engines for Europe

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Logo "Four Motors for Europe"
The "four engines" within the European Union

The term Vier Motoren für Europa stands for a transnational, interregional working group between the German state of Baden-Württemberg , the autonomous Spanish community of Catalonia , the Italian region of Lombardy and the French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes .

The partnership agreement between the four regions was signed in 1988. Other associated regions also occasionally take part in the Four Motors' activities. The cooperation community has no independent institutional structures. The focus is on strengthening the regional economy and finding joint solutions in the network of regions with a similar profile. On this basis, the network acts as an interest group, particularly within the European Union . Since the network was founded, the Four Motors have been campaigning for the regional dimension within the European Union, also known as the Europe of the Regions.

Form of cooperation

The four motors embody an interregional cooperation between sub-state regional authorities across the borders of nation states. The four regions each belong to different EU member states and do not have a common borderline. In their nation states, the regions are among the economic front runners and are strongly knowledge-based locations. However, their economic performance varies in an interregional comparison. Since it was founded, forms of trans-sectoral cooperation between actors from the regions have developed alongside transnational cooperation between regional governments.

Foundation of the working group

The establishment of the working group was preceded by the establishment of bilateral cooperation agreements between the four regions. On June 17, 1986, the regions of Baden-Württemberg and Rhône-Alpes decided (after an administrative reform since January 1, 2016 "Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes") in a joint declaration that the already existing cooperation in the fields of research and technology policy, to intensify economic cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises, training and further education as well as youth and cultural exchange. Baden-Württemberg concluded identical cooperation agreements on May 30, 1988 with Lombardy and on November 3, 1988 with Catalonia. In addition, the Baden-Württemberg partner regions concluded bilateral cooperation agreements with each other: Rhône-Alpes and Lombardy on April 9, 1987, Catalonia and Lombardy on March 1, 1988, and Catalonia and Rhône-Alpes on March 24, 1988. As a supplement to the bilateral cooperation The multilateral working group Four Motors was founded between the four regions on September 9, 1988 .

In the memorandum for the establishment of the working group, the following cooperation goals are named:

  • Improvement of the infrastructure (particularly telecommunications and transport infrastructure)
  • deepened cooperation in research and technology policy
  • Development cooperation with economically weaker regions
  • increased cooperation in the field of art and culture
  • mutual representation of interests in economic and scientific activities outside Europe
  • joint presentation of the exhibition Four Motors for Europe

The initiative to establish a network of bilateral cooperation relationships and the establishment of the Four Motors for Europe came from the then Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Lothar Späth .

Organizational structures

The working group has no independent institutional structures. Organizational tasks are essentially carried out by the region, which holds the chairmanship, the presidency and the four motors . The presidency changes on a rotating basis. The programmatic decisions of the working group are made by the presidents of the four partner regions and the responsible ministers. The decisions of the presidents are passed in the form of memoranda. Working groups have been set up to create and implement cooperation projects, some of which are subdivided into sub-working groups. Each working group is headed by one region. The groups include officials posted by the regional administrations and, depending on the thematic focus, representatives from business and science, for example. The working groups meet at least once a year.

  • Economic working group (lead Catalonia)
  • Sub-working group Cluster Dialog (no formal lead established)
  • Subgroup Industry 4.0 (Lead Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)
  • Sub-working group for electromobility (lead Baden-Württemberg)
  • Environment working group (lead Lombardy)
  • Research and Universities Working Group (lead by Baden-Württemberg)
  • Working group on vocational training and skilled worker mobility (lead Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)
  • Working group of network coordinators (lead by the current presidency)

In addition, there are less strongly institutionalized or more ad-hoc and event-related networks, for example between the representations of the regions in Brussels or on the topics of agriculture, education (school), culture, sport, citizen participation and the macro-regional strategies of the EU, such as the Danube Region Strategy .

Expansion of the working group

The Four Motors Working Group has had cooperative relationships with the regions of Ontario and Wales since 1990 :

  • On June 25, 1990, the Canadian province of Ontario was accepted as an associate member of the working group. The European regions hope that this cooperation will give them access to the North American market. In October 2014, Quebec signed a partnership agreement and became an associate partner . Quebec participates in the Four Motors Economy Working Group and the Dialog Cluster .
  • With the signing of a bilateral cooperation agreement between Baden-Württemberg and Wales on June 27, 1990, this British region takes part in selected projects of the working group. Wales is part of the Four Motors and Associates Network as an associate partner and is mainly involved in the business group and the dialogue cluster.

The attempts by the Baden-Württemberg state government to expand the cooperation network to include the Belgian region of Flanders in 1988 initially failed because of the veto of the French partner and, in the case of the Portuguese central region ( proposed by Catalonia in 1990), because of the objection of the central government in Spain .

  • The veto for Flanders has now been lifted and the community hopes that Spain will also lift its blocking against the Portuguese central region. Flanders has been an associated partner of Four Engines for Europe for many years and is actively involved in the Four Motors Economy Group for Europe.
  • Later, the Polish region of Lesser Poland ( Małopolska in Polish ) joined the consortium and worked with the Four Motors in the field of vocational training and apprenticeship training.

literature

  • Gerhard Becher, Gabriel Colletis: Technology development, European integration and interregional cooperation. The "Four Motors of Europe": Case study for an attempt at regional cooperation in the field of R&D . In: Werner Suss, Gerhard Becher (Hrsg.): Politics and technology development in Europe, analyzes of economic-technical and political mediations in the process of European integration . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1993, pp. 261-294, ISBN 3-428-07865-9
  • Michèle Knodt: Four engines for Europe, symbolic glossy politics or promising regional strategy of the state of Baden-Württemberg? In: Yearbook of Federalism 2000: Federalism, Subsidiarity and Regions in Europe . Vol. 1. European Center for Research on Federalism Tübingen, Nomos, Baden-Baden 2000, pp. 405-416, ISBN 3-7890-6621-4
  • Michèle Knodt: The working group's ability to develop within the framework of a "Europe of the Regions" In: Thomas Fischer, Siegfried Frech (Ed.): Baden-Württemberg and its partner regions . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2001, pp. 239-255, ISBN 3-17-016559-3
  • Silvia Raich: Cross-border and interregional cooperation in a "Europe of Regions", presented using the case studies of the Greater Saar-Lor-Lux region, EUREGIO and "Four Motors for Europe". Nomos, Baden-Baden 1995, pp. 164-183, ISBN 3-7890-3657-9
  • Petra Zimmermann-Steinhart: The origin of the “Four Motors for Europe” initiative. In: Thomas Fischer, Siegfried Frech (Ed.): Baden-Württemberg and its partner regions. Stuttgart 2001, pp. 48-61, ISBN 3-17-016559-3
  • Petra Zimmermann-Steinhart: Europe's successful regions. Scope for action in innovative competition . Nomos, Baden-Baden 2003, pp. 165-178, ISBN 3-8329-0367-4

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d Associated Regions , 4motors.eu, accessed on May 14, 2019.