Press Release: The EGTC Rhine-Alpine Presents Its New Strategy ”The Heartbeat of a Vital Network“

Paolo Palamiti and Pawel Wojciechowski, Picture by Erwin van der Linden

The Interregional Alliance for the Rhine-Alpine Corridor (EGTC Rhine-Alpine) is a European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) founded in April 2015 with a head office in Mannheim, Germany. The alliance comprises 26 members, including regions, cities, and ports from five countries: the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy. The EGTC Rhine-Alpine reflects a bottom-up approach in interregional transport corridor development.

Featuring its 10 years anniversary on 1st April in Palais du Rhin in Strasbourg with the conference

THE VOICE OF THE CORRIDOR

The EGTC Rhine-Alpine is presenting its new strategy

THE HEARTBEAT OF A VITAL NETWORK

The Interregional Alliance for the Rhine-Alpine Corridor EGTC celebrates its 10^th anniversary, and introduces the new Strategy 2025-2030 titled ”The Heartbeat of a Vital Network”. This event highlights achievements of the past decade and their relevance for shaping multi-level governance in the newly merged European Core Network Corridor North Sea-Rhine-Mediterranean.

The vision of the EGTC Rhine-Alpine Strategy to contribute to the bottom-up development of the newly merged North Sea-Rhine-Mediterranean (NSRM) Corridor, shaping it into a connected, resilient, sustainable, and cohesive transport network for both passenger and freight transport. The NSRM Corridor spans eight European countries and is a crucial economic artery within the Trans-European Network Transport (TEN-T). The strategy aims to guide the Corridor’s development through a collaborative, bottom-up approach that promotes a social and economic cohesion through cross-border collaboration in the field of sustainable mobility and infrastructure.

Paolo Palamiti, Chair of the EGTC Rhine-Alpine formulates its mission as “The next 5 years will be crucial for the European Union as a whole, due to the severe challenges we are facing at our internal and external level, and infrastructures will play a primary role in affirming the European integration. The message I want to launch today that Interregional Alliance for the Rhine-Alpine Corridor celebrates 10 years of activity by presenting the 2025-30 Strategic Plan, is that to complete our internal market we need to improve and complete all the relevant infrastructure within the European Union starting from our corridors. To facilitate this integration process, one of the most symbolic and effective actions would be sharing the same rules and legislations all over our territories to maximize the positive effects of our transport and our mobility.”

Prof. em. Bernd Scholl of ETH Zürich, one of the initiators of the alliance emphasizes “Driving change requires initiative, strong alliances and the courage for experiments.”

While aligning with European policy, the EGTC Rhine-Alpine remains committed to advocating for member interests, ensuring the corridor’s evolution reflects regional priorities in line with EU climate goals and economic growth. Christian Specht, Mayor of Mannheim, underscores the importance of collaboration, saying, ”A strong Europe needs strong and resilient TEN-T corridors. At the same time, the challenges are immense. To tackle this, cities, regions, ports, nation states and the EU must all pull together.”

The regional stakeholders drive decision-making and shape the future of this essential Corridor with its three thematic working groups. These are on:

• Green Corridor
• Connected Corridor
• Coordinated Corridor

Their results enable effective policy advocacy and strategic communication by the alliance’s political representatives.