The future of border regions in Europe “Impact on safety, health and energy supply for border residents”

The ITEM annual conference in Groningen will focus on the impact of border regions on security, health and energy supply for the inhabitants of Europe's internal borders. The current social developments in the fields of energy, health and safety still show that in order to tackle barriers, it is important to work together with partners on both sides of the border to arrive at the right casuistry, a joint concrete agenda and a structural approach. The current discussion around energy and the cross-border aspects involved require stronger inter-governmental governance (multilevel governance).

The three Dutch King’s commissioners, CdK Paas, CdK Heidema and CdK Polman, will jointly address strengthening of the intergovernmental organisation (multilevel governance). The discussion will be based on the Donner/Berx reports, the Grenslandagenda, the experiences of the Nordic Council of the Scandinavian countries and will deal with the strengthened coordinating role that the three gentlemen of the government together can play from a Dutch perspective for the benefit of the cross-border cooperation with Belgium and Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony) in this context. The Dutch Ambassador to Germany, Mr. Van Roeden and the German ambassador to the Netherlands, Mr. Nunn will give their reflections on the cooperation with Germany, the necessary governance and relate this to the energy theme.

The conference is in Dutch and English. Interpretation is available in German, Dutch and English. The event is hybrid, and will also be broadcasted via Vimeo.