EGTC Workshop Brussels, 22 Nov.2017

Continued Cooperation as EGTC Transfer from Interreg project “CODE24” to permanent cooperation: ► “Interregional Alliance for the Rhine- Alpine Corridor EGTC”

THE RHINE-ALPINE CORRIDOR… Connecting the North Sea and Mediterranean Sea 70 million inhabitants in the catchment area (=13% of EU's population) 19% of EU's GDP generated 50 % of the north-south rail freight 1 billion tons of freight per year 1300 km long

Challenges and Motivation for Cooperation in the Corridor: Regional/local level so far not directly involved No joint strategy, no cooperation existing Increase of traffic and transit tasks Urgent conflicts (bottlenecks, capacities) to be tackled incl. sustainability Cross-border issues and technical hurdles New capacities implemented

EGTC Founding: 24 April 2015

The main objective of the Alliance: Jointly strengthen and coordinate the integrated and territorial development along the multimodal Rhine-Alpine Corridor from the regional and local perspective. This includes application of EU funded projects!

21 Members: Havenbedrijf Rotterdam N.V. Provincie Gelderland Provincie Zuid-Holland City of Venlo Port of Antwerp Duisburger Hafen AG City of Mainz Region FrankfurtRheinMain Region Rhein-Neckar City of Mannheim Region Mittlerer Oberrhein TechnologyRegionKarlsruhe City of Karlsruhe Port Autonome de Strasbourg City of Lahr Region Südlicher Oberrhein Kanton Basel-Stadt Region Piemonte Region Liguria Region Lombardia Uniontrasporti, Milano Nachdem wir im letzten Jahr mit elf Mitgliedern begonnen hatten, sind wir nun bereits bei 20 Mitgliedern angekommen. Es sind im Wesentlichen Städte und Regionen beziehungsweise Provinzen entlang des Korridors, sowie Häfen in öffentlicher Hand, wie zum Beispiel Duisburg und Rotterdam.

Organisation As you can see, we have decided to work as a lean and slim organisation with a clear structure. The Advisory Board is a very important part of this structure. And we, the EGTC members, are very happy to have the opportunity to exchange ideas and to discuss with you in this board!

Projects: … Approvd : Name Funding Program Funding Rate Role EGTC RAISE-IT CEF 50% Coordinator European Rail Freight Line System Observer VitalNodes Horizon 2020 100% Project Partner Under preparation: Corridor Capacity Platform Interreg 60% Lead Partner Listen to the Corridor LIFE ~50% … One major part of our concrete activities concerns the projects which we are preparing and implementing. So far, the EGTC is involved in three approved projects. You will learn to know about the content and first results of these projects later on today at agenda number 7. Of course, we will prepare more projects for EU funding, helping us to achieve the set goals of the Joint Strategy step by step.

Difficulties in accessing EU funding: No knowledge of EGTC at DG‘s/Agencies („What is that?...“) Eligiblity questioned (minimum 3 project partners from 3 countries) Financial implementation (no proper EGTC staff, but beneficiary) Administrative hurdles/ application form (category „other international organisations“)

Improvement / simplification possibilities Inform all DG‘s & agencies about existence and role of EGTC‘s Make sure that EGTC‘s are mentioned explicitely as eligible project partners and beneficiaries of all funding programmes Prepare programmes, manuals and application forms accordingly Provide trainings and information workshops for both programme managers and EGTC‘s as project/lead partners

Thank you very much for your attention! Contact: Interregional Alliance for the Rhine-Alpine Corridor EGTC Jörg Saalbach, Director c/o Verband Region Rhein-Neckar M1, 4-5 68161 Mannheim Germany Phone +49 (0)- 621 10708-235 Fax +49 (0)- 621 10708-255 E-Mail joerg.saalbach@egtc-rhine-alpine.eu Web egtc-rhine-alpine.eu