Cross Border Cooperation Theme on 21st of March

In the coming year, the GroenLinks Working Group on Europe will pay a number of visits to different Dutch regions to discuss relevant European issues. First stop on this tour will be the city of Nijmegen on the 21st of March (Vlaams Cultureel Kwartier, 20.00 – 22.00 h). Because of Nijmegen’s proximity to Germany, the theme of the evening will be ‘regional cross-border cooperation’. We will try to learn from examples of regional cross-border cooperation in order to streamline our own cross-border contacts.

Speakers (subject to change):
- Wouter Witteveen of GroenLinks Nijmegen will present a number of examples of successful and unsuccessful cross-border cooperation. What went right/wrong and what can we learn from these examples?
- Florian Gödderz of GroenLinks Groesbeek will discuss the set-up of international policies for a border municipality. Which kind of cooperation works best? And how do we create enthusiasm for cross-border cooperation?
- The case of Vliegveld Twente, a disused military airport in the Netherlands, close to the border with Germany, is planned to be reopened for civilian aviation. The Dutch authorities seem to have ignored the wishes of their German neighbours. Grassroots campaigners (against the airport), seem to be able to cooperate more effectively than the authorities.

Afterwards, there will be ample room for discussion and exchange of experiences.

To register (desirable but not necessary) and for questions about the evening, please sent an email to: witteveenwouter@gmail.com

A description of the route to the Vlaams Cultureel Kwartier can be found here: http://www.vcknijmegen.nl/vck_route.html. This description is only available in Dutch. For directions in another language, please send an email.