The participants of the Scandria Alliance’s General Assembly agreed to focus on the potentials of cooperation between urban nodes along the ScanMed corridor. Guido Beermann, Chairperson of the General Assembly and Minister of Transport of Brandenburg emphasised their increased importance, especially in European transport policy.
– We want to further consolidate the Scandria Alliance as an active and attractive cooperation platform for cities and regions for climate-friendly and multimodal mobility and transport solutions. Therefore, we are expanding our focus to the urban nodes along the ScanMed corridor.
– Because cities do not end abruptly at their borders but go beyond them as part of a functional urban area. We see this in the example of Berlin and Potsdam, whose functionality radiates out into the peripheral areas and various regional nodes. These so-called ‘urban nodes’ are playing an increasingly important role in European cooperation and especially for cross-border transport policy.
– The European Commission’s proposal for revised guidelines for the development of the trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) also takes this into account. I look forward to further constructive cooperation with the European Commission and the European coordinator for the Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor, Mr Pat Cox, on the concerns of urban nodes along this important European north-south axis, Beermann said.
The General Assembly of the Scandria Alliance was attended by representatives from politics and administration of the member cities and regions as well as the associated members of the network, for example universities, logistics initiatives and cluster organisations.
New vice chairpersons elected
Organisational issues were also on the agenda at the General Assembly. Åsa Ågren Wikström, Member of Västerbotten County Council and Deputy Chair of the Board of Kvarken Council EGTC, Annette Lindahl Raakil, Vice Mayor for Planning, Climate and Enviroment of Viken County, and Ossi Savolainen, Regional Mayor of Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council, were elected as vice chairpersons of the Scandria Alliance.
– Concrete collaborations such as the Scandria Alliance are a strategically important key for us in the Kvarken region, and I look forward to deepening our collaboration. In the world situation we now find ourselves in, good collaborations are perhaps more important than ever before, and we have more that unites us than separates us. In our region, functioning communications are crucial for cooperation and development. It is what lays the foundation and is the prerequisite for people to be able to develop in the best way connected to work, education, and a lot of other things, Ågren Wikström said.
The members decided to replace the rotation principle for the chairmanship with an election of the chairperson every two years. In addition, up to two deputies are to be elected in future. The new rules were already applied at the meeting: Minister Guido Beermann was confirmed in office as Chairperson of the General Assembly of the Scandria Alliance for another two years.
Scandria® Alliance
Scandria Corridor is a geographic corridor which extends from the north of Scandinavia via Oslo, Helsinki, Stockholm, Berlin, and Wien to the northern part of the Adriatic Sea in Italy. Scandria Alliance is a cooperative platform for e.g. cities and regions along the corridor to cooperate on climate-smart multimodal transport solutions to achieve sustainable regional development. The Kvarken Council EGTC was granted a membership in the alliance in 2021.
For Kvarken Council EGTC the membership in Scandria Alliance results in better opportunities to interest monitor the needs and interests of the region on EU-level and offers a natural partnership platform for new projects, for example within CEF or the Interreg Baltic Sea Region. The vice-chairman Åsa Ågren-Wikström is the board’s representative in the steering group for Scandria Alliance.