Luxembourg, Germany Strengthen Cross-Border Nature Park Cooperation

The tourist information centres in the Mullerthal Region recently announced that officials from Luxembourg and Germany signed a contract to strengthen collaboration between the Mëllerdall, Our, and Südeifel nature parks.

As part of the European cross-border cooperation programme "Interreg VI Greater Region (2021-2027)", Andreas Kruppert, District Administrator of Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm and President of the Special purpose association Naturpark Südeifel, together with the Luxembourg nature parks Mëllerdall and Our and the tourism stakeholders of the Greater Region have signed the cooperation contract with the local cross-border group "Internationales Sport-, Kultur- und Freizeitzentrum Ralingen - Rosport-Mompach" (special purpose association international sports, culture and leisure centre Ralingen – Rosport; ISKFZ), represented by Alfred Wirtz, President of the group. The aim of the cooperation programme is to promote cross-border cooperation in the Greater Region.

For many years, there has been intensive cross-border cooperation between the Südeifel Nature Park on the German side and the Luxembourg nature parks Mëllerdall and Our. In addition, numerous local projects have been set up for the protection of nature and landscapes, for the development of sustainable tourism and for various aspects of water management, such as the renaturation of waterways, the tourist information centres noted.

Aiming to achieve the political objective of a Greater Region “closer to its citizens”, the European programme supports the implementation of multi-thematic territorial development strategies for so-called cross-border "functional areas". To be eligible under this programme, a cross-border territory defined as a functional area must have an overall strategy as well as an administrative structure for the implementation of this strategy. The strategy developed by local stakeholders for this purpose has existed since 2023, the Interreg A programme partners of the Grand Duchy and the State of Rhineland-Palatinate have registered a corresponding functional area as "Mëllerdall-Our-Südeifel Nature Park Cooperation" in the cooperation programme.

The local ISKFZ consortium will be responsible for setting up regional management for the organisation and implementation of the Mëllerdall-Our-Südeifel functional area and will oversee day-to-day operations. The financing of the administrative structure including personnel and material costs will be provided 60% through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the Interreg Greater Region 2021 - 2027 programme and 20% through Luxembourg’s Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning and the Ministry of Climate Protection, Environment, Energy and Mobility of Rhineland-Palatinate.