Claude Turmes, Minister for Spatial Planning, accompanied by (2nd row, L-R) Anouk Boever-Thill, PRO-SUD President, Dan Biancalana, Mayor of Dudelange and Georges Mischo, Mayor of Esch-sur-Alzette;
Credit: MEA / DATer
On Thursday 25 February 2021, Luxembourg's Minister for Spatial Planning, Claude Turmes, and members of the PROSUD inter-municipal union, President Anouk Boever-Thill and Vice-President Georges Mischo, along with Dan Biancalana and Francis Schwachtgen, signed the new territorial agreement between the state and PRO-SUD for a coordinated and integrative inter-municipal development of the southern region.
Minister Claude Turmes welcomed the signing of this new agreement which "specifies the objectives and missions, the modalities of cooperation and the financial and administrative management of the development strategy for the municipalities of the south region to be carried out jointly between the state and the PRO-SUD inter-municipal union”. In particular, the agreement strengthens the southern region through joint projects in the fields of urban development, biodiversity and citizen participation.
The new agreement also emphasises the importance of implementing the objectives of the "Minett Unesco Biosphere", which makes it possible to make greater use of the unique alliance between industrial culture and housing to promote sustainable development for the benefit of the public.
Minister Claude Turmes recalled: "In line with the overall objective of the PDAT [Programme Directeur d'Aménagement du Territoire], this project will be a valuable tool in further facilitating policy coordination at the supranational, national, regional and local levels. PRO-SUD, in its role of observatory of the development of this territory, will be an essential partner for the follow-up of the implementation of the development strategy developed from the regional, national and cross-border context of land use planning and municipal-specific policy options".
Anouk Boever-Thill, President of PRO-SUD, added: “The eleven communes of PRO-SUD are committed to working for a biosphere reserve with a regional vocation. Our projects related to regional development are initiated as part of an inter-municipal collaboration and developed with local partners. Our challenge comes from our great wealth; to protect our cultural, natural and social heritage but also to promote this heritage in a sustainable way to a growing population and its future visitors”.
