AG4 - 6th Action Group Meeting

On 24 October 2017 the 6th Action Group 4 Meeting took place in Bolzano. The Councilor of mobility of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano Mr Florian Mussner welcomed the members of the AG4 and underlined the importance of the work of the Action Group and thus the growing responsibility of the AG4 as a platform to coordinate and harmonise activities in the Alpine Region.

The first important topic on the meeting agenda was the presentation and following discussion on the governance study of AG4, conducted by the ICER – Innsbruck Center for European Research in the frame of the Interreg Alpine Space project AlpGov. The study will be finalized and published by the end of 2017. Franziska Sielker, Newton International Fellow of the University of Cambridge provided a contribution to the discussion on governance by presenting her doctoral thesis on macro-regional integration with the focus on the Priority Area 1a of the EUSDR (Danube Region Strategy) on inland waterways/waterway infrastructure, encouraging the exchange between the already existing MRS.

Furthermore, findings of the study on external costs (activity A1) were presented by Daniel Sutter (INFRAS) to the Action Group members and put up for discussion. With this study, the AG4 provides an updated scientific basis for the calculation of external costs in the Alpine Region and the so-called mountain factor. The study will be finalised and published by the end of 2017.

After a brief lunch break the Action Group members discussed in small groups the potentials of pull measures in combined transport (CT). The workshop was organized in collaboration with the AlpInnoCT project und contributes to the AG4 activity A3 on public acceptance. The feedback of the AG4 members on conflicts in their regions will be presented in form of an interactive conflict map at the EUSALP Annual Forum on 23 and 24 November in Munich.

The last discussion point on the agenda focused on activities C1 – C2 – D1: methodology for a systematic assessment of individual projects. Presentations by the region of Veneto and the AGL provided input for further discussions on the development of the joint project assessment scheme. The members agreed on holding a dedicated workshop on this activity at the next AG4 meeting.