EU Regionaal Forum

EF MAASTRICHT: DOES A PROGRESSIVE EUREGIONALISM EXIST?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REPORT OF THE EF IN MAASTRICHT!!!

Wednesday 21 November 2007, 13:00 - 17:00
Centre Céramique (Avenue Céramique 50, Maastricht)

The upcoming Euregional Forum in Maastricht takes up the issue of a progressive Euregionalism. Does it actually exist? What is the form it takes or could take? Are you interested in the following issues:

What are the strategies the Euregion Meuse-Rhine can use to survive as a city-region in the periphery of the nascent Europe of regions?
How should the Euregion Meuse-Rhine deal with the continuous ongoing competitiveness within and beyond its borders?
How can cross-border co-operation enance the quality of living of the inhabitants and users of the Euregion Meuse-Rhine? Currently, only a few companies or municipalities seem to benefit from competitive advantages?
How can the Euregion Meuse-Rhine's relatively peripheral position be the basis for a collective experiment in transnational governance?
In short, the question whether an other form of Euregionalization is possible?

We warmly invite you to take part in the Euregional Forum in Maastricht and consider and discuss these and other hot Euregional issues.

Speakers:

The Euregionaal Forum is proud to introduce three internationally renowned experts who will make statements at the Forum concerning a progressive Euregionalism:

Menno Hurenkamp: sociologist at the University of Amsterdam and co-author of Kiezen voor de kudde. Lichte gemeenschappen en de nieuwe meerderheid
Olivier Kramsch: Euregional scholar and member of the Nijmegen Centre for Border Research
Riccardo Petrella: professor emeritus at the Université Catholique de Louvain, founding member of the Lisbon Group and co-author of Limits to Competition

Programme:

13.00 Welcome and introduction
14.30 Statement Riccardo Petrella + discussion
15.30 Break
15.45 Statement Olivier Kramsch + discussion
16.30 Statement Menno Hurenkamp + discussion
17.15 Round-table discussion
17.45 Closing comments

Content:

The blitz of globalization makes many experts speculate on a coming world order in which city regions rather than nation-states will reign supreme. The G8 would soon make place for the CR30, the alliance of the world's thirty most powerful regions. Such an organisationwill have serious consequences on the level of competition for regions all over the globe. City-regions at the lower end of the hierarchy will increasingly yield to processes that are fundamentally determined on a global scene.

The Euregion Meuse-Rhine ranks ow in the hierarchy of powerfulcity-regions. This is not merely due to its marginal position vis-à-vis its different national power-centres. The Euregion Meuse-Rijn is a 'paper tiger' in that it is an incoherent amalgamation of different provincial towns and villages that, individually, use the Euregion as a way to boost their existence. The wave of spectacular ‘flag ship’ railway station projects are a case in point. Also the Euregional institutions are mere derivatives of their bigger, national counterparts, lacking an independent Euregional mandate.

If there is an overarching strategy of the Euregion Meuse-Rhine, it is driven by a market logic. That is to say, by growing internal competition the Euregional actors are forced to turn their key assets into points of excellence, in order to compete on a higher, European or global level. The question of whether this strategy can offer a solid base for a joint Euregional politics serves as a key issue at the Euregional Forum in Maastricht. Such a competition strategy often feeds internal rivalry within the Euregion, rather than strenthens the sense of unity, which should us cautious. It further causes the Euregional political agenda to be increasingly determined by the more powerful actors in the Euregion – individuals, companies or cities. The burning question is thus whether there are also other, more progressive strategies available for the Euregion to assert itself in the coming world order of city-regions.

This invitation adresses everyone who takes an interest or has invested in any which way in the Euregion Meuse-Rhine: experts or non-experts, institutions and citizens, inhabitants as well as users of the Euregion.

Language: English

Participation is free!

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