Euregionaler Kongress 2025

On Thursday 8 May 2025, the EUREGIO Summit took place at the Tivoli in Aachen. During this 2nd EUREGIO Summit, many partners from administration, science and politics from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany once again came together to develop concrete solutions for our region. The central theme was the development of European cohesion policy.  Overarching theme was the European cohesion policy.

The Summit was opened by the president of the AG Charlemagne Grensregio Sibylle Keupen also Mayor of the City of Aachen and the second President Petra Dassen-Housen, mayor of the municipality of Kerkrade and portfolio holder for cross-border cooperation of the City Region Parkstad Limburg.

Keynote speaker Joris Bengevoord, President of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) addressed the importance of a good European cohesion policy and how he sees the future in his introduction The Future of EU Cohesion Policy. For border regions, this cohesion policy is very important and he stressed that AEBR will continue to fight in Brussels for sufficient attention.

The first panel session discussed the challenges facing border regions and how they have responded to crises in recent years that had a major impact on the border region overnight and what lessons have been learned.

Of course, it does not stop at projects from the past: many projects are already underway with which the border region looks positively to the future. A small selection was explained during the second panel session.

The highlight of the Summit was the signing of the memorandum In the Centre of European Integration. Our clear message to the European Commission: border regions need more political and structural support.

The memorandum was presented to representatives of the European Commission on Friday 9 May during the Europe Days at the Drielandenpunt in Vaals.

Sibylle Keupen, Mayor of the city of Aachen

‘Cross-border cooperation is of great importance for our daily work. Our region lives the European principle every day: crossing borders every day and living on both sides opens up enormous opportunities, economically, scientifically and socially. Open borders are a living reality for us and there is no alternative.’

Petra Dassen-Housen, mayor of the municipality of Kerkrade, spoke about our region's pioneering role:

‘We are working with partners from across the Euroregion to develop a cross-border heat network that uses all existing heat sources in the region - regardless of which side of the border they are on. The fact that the EU has included this project in the handbook for cross-border energy cooperation confirms that we are on the right track.’

Roel Wever, mayor of Heerlen and chairman of Parkstad Limburg, also made this clear:

‘We are getting better at breaking down borders and exploiting the opportunities offered by our cross-border agglomeration. Our location on the Randstad-Eindhoven-Parkstad-Aachen-Europe knowledge axis is unique and offers great opportunities.’

A special moment during the summit was the joint signing of the manifesto on the importance of our border region.

On 9 May, Europe Day, this document was handed over to EU Commissioner Hadja Lahbib at the Drielandenpunt in Vaals. MEPs will also receive it, as our voice must be heard.