Martin Güdelhöfer Appointed Regional Manager of Upper Moselle Valley Development Concept

Luxembourg's Ministry of Energy and Spatial Planning has announced that cross-border cooperation along the Upper Moselle Valley between Germany and Luxembourg is gaining new momentum.

Martin Güdelhöfer will take on the newly created position as regional manager and will take care of the implementation of the Upper Moselle Valley development concept (German: Entwicklungskonzept Oberes Moseltal, EOM).

The Moselle valley is one of the great river landscapes in Western Europe with an unmistakable natural and cultural heritage. The valley section in the triangle between France, Luxembourg and Germany represents the diversity of the Greater Region. For several years now, the Upper Moselle Valley has faced the challenge of reconciling current development dynamics with the preservation of ita cultural landscape.

In order to master this challenge and to strengthen the cross-border, functional links between Luxembourg and the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, the responsible state planning ministries have drawn up the Upper Moselle Valley development concept in cooperation with regional actors. The concept has a cross-cutting approach and covers the following topics:

- Spatial planning, settlement and commercial development and services of general interest
- Cultural landscape, nature conservation and safeguarding open spaces
- Mobility

To implement the concept and use synergy effects, the regional management ties in with the Local LEADER Action Groups (LAG) which have been working successfully in the region for years, in particular the cross-border cooperation between the LAG Miselerland (Luxembourg) and Moselfranken (Rhineland-Palatinate). The post of regional manager is based at the LAG LEADER Miselerland office in Grevenmacher, in eastern Luxembourg.

After studies in the areas of geography, spatial planning, tourism and regional development and initial experience in international project work on these cross-cutting issues, Martin Güdelhöfer is looking forward to working with local actors in order to breathe life into the Upper Moselle Valley concept jointly and across borders through the implementation of specific projects 

Regional management is organised by five partner institutions: Luxembourg's Ministry of Energy and Spatial Planning, Department of Spatial Planning and LAG Miselerland, Rhineland-Palatinate's Ministry of the Interior and of Sport and LAG Moselfranken and Saarland's Ministry of the Interior, Building and Sport.

Another seven partners are involved in the implementation of the Upper Moselle Valley concept: Luxembourg's Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development and LAG LEADER Regioun Mëllerdall, Rhineland-Palatinate's Ministry of Economics, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture, Structural and Approval Directorate North and Trier Regional Planning Association and Saarland's Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection and LAG Land zum Leben Merzig-Wadern e.V.