Foreign Relations

General information

Lower Austrian activities in the realm of regional cooperation, networks and agreements: the province is involved in a great number of political initiatives and European formats, such as the European Forum Wachau.

The International & European Affairs Office serves as contact point for embassies, countries and regions.

 

Cooperation Agreements

Regular contact with the neighbouring regions in Slovakia and the Czech Republic has resulted in a large number of successful projects.

Lower Austria has fostered close neighbourly relationships for many years building on cooperation agreements signed by the governors of the regions.

• Sovakia
  Click here for the cooperation agreement between Lower Austria and the Slovak regions: Link (pdf, German/Slovak)
  Click here for the cooperation agreement with the City of Bratislava: Link (pdf, German/Slovak)
  Click here for the cooperation agreement with the City of Trnava: Link (pdf, German/Slovak) 

• Czech Republic
  Click here for the cooperation agreement with the Czech regions: Link (pdf, Czech/German)
  Cooperation agreement between the ambulance services in Lower Austria and South Bohemia: Link (pdf, Czech/German)
  Cooperation agreement between the ambulance services in Lower Austria and South Moravia: Link (pdf, Czech/German) 

• Joint Declaration – Dialogue between Neighbours 2030
  Click here: Link (pdf, German) 

• Declaration of Český Krumlov
  Click here: Link (pdf, German)
   

Interregional Networks

Lower Austria is a member of a large number of international and interregional networks.
These networks contribute to developing cross-border projects. Collaborating with other regions, Lower Austrian interests are advanced on a European level. 

• AER

The Assembly of European Regions (AER) is the largest independent network of regions throughout Europe. It serves as a forum for interregional cooperation and a political voice for its members.

The AER in figures:

- 33 countries
- 270 regions
- 16 interregional organisations

Click here for the website of the Assembly of European Regions: Link

• ERDV

The European region Danube-Vltava (ERDV) is a trilateral union of Czech, German and Austrian regions.

Click here for the website of the European region Danube-Vltava: Link 

• Centrope Region
  
  Centrope is the name of a European region consisting of the following regions:
  
  - Czech Region of South Moravia
  - Slovak Regions of Bratislava and Trnava
  - West Hungarian Counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron and Vas
  - Austrian Provinces of Burgenland, Lower Austria and Vienna
  
  Click here for the website of the Centrope Region: Link 
  
  
• COR
  
  

  The Committee of the Regions (CoR) is an advisory body of the EU consisting of locally and regionally elected representatives of all 28 member states. It contributes to the development of EU laws by providing opinions on planned legislation.
  
  The European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament must consider the CoR’s opinions, especially on legislation that concerns local and regional municipalities.
  
  Committee members are elected representatives of local or regional authorities. Lower Austria is represented in the Committee of the Regions by Governor Mag.^a Johanna Mikl-Leitner. 
  
  Click here for the website of the Committee of the regions.

European Forum Wachau

The European Forum Wachau is an annual conference on European politics held at Göttweig Abbey. The event was founded in 1995 (the year of Austria’s accession to the EU).

Click here for the website of the European Forum Wachau: Link
 

A Strong Renewed Regional Policy for all Regions post 2020

European regional policy must be maintained for all regions also after the ongoing financial framework has ended after 2020.

The Summit of the Regions on the renewal of EU regional funding post 2020 took place in Brussels on 28 September 2016, where representatives of 338 regions, local authorities and interregional organisations from all over Europe came together to sign a declaration. The declaration was then handed to the representatives of EU institutions at the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union in Brussels on the occasion of a conference at the Committee of the Regions on the topic of “The contribution of Europe’s regions to managing our future”.

Find more detailed information online and for download here:

Political Declaration (docx, 24kb, German)
Map of the regions (jpeg, 1001kb, German)
Press release (pdf, 275kb, German)
Keynote adress (pdf, 130kb)

St. Pöltner Manifesto

St. Pöltner Manifesto on the EU Cohesion Policy 2014-2020

The St. Pöltner Manifesto on the EU Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 was signed on 21 October 2011.
Presidents of interregional associations and municipalities convened for the signing ceremony at the Landhaus, the seat of the Provincial Government of Lower Austria in St. Pölten.
The Manifesto was handed to the representatives of the presidency of the Council of the EU by the President of the Assembly of European Regions and Governor Dr. Erwin Pröll.

Click here for the St. Pöltner Manifesto: Link
Press release of the Lower Austrian news service: Link

Awards

Lower Austria has received the following European awards:

• "Award of Excellence" by the European Commission, presented in Stockholm in 2002 by Swedish Crown Princess Victoria.
• Most Innovative European Region Award, presented in Udine in 2007 by EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
  
• „European Citizen´s Prize" 
  This award for services furthering integration in Europe was presented to the Lower Austrian regional management team for the event series “Europe & We – Dialogue between Generations” by Vice-President of the European Parliament Othmar Karas at the House of the EU in Vienna on 13 September 2013. The award was accepted by five regional managers (Becker, Poindl, Hansy, Weiss, Weitzer).
• Cross Border Award „Sail of Papenburg" (AGEG)  
  This prize of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) was awarded on the occasion of the AEBR Annual Conference held in Liège on 9 November 2013. AEBR President Karl-Heinz Lambertz and Secretary General Martin Ramirez presented the award for the project “BAUM” (a trilateral cooperation project between municipalities in the surroundings of Bratislava including ten Lower Austrian and four municipalities from Burgenland as well as the City of Bratislava). Hermann Hansy, regional manager of the Weinviertel region, accepted the award on behalf of Lower Austria.
• „European Heritage Label"
  This award by the European Commission, which singles out historic and cultural sites and places that are important for integration in Europe, went to the archaeological park of Carnuntum. Dr. Markus Wachter, head of the archaeological park, accepted the award in Brussels on 8 April 2014.
• Lower Austria was named European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) 2017. The award was presented by Markku Markkula, the President of the Committee of the Regions, in Brussels in 2016.
• European Broadband Award 2016 for the Lower Austrian broadband model, awarded in Brussels by Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society Günther Oettinger.

weiterführende Links

• Committee of the Regions
• AER
• European Forum Wachau
• Centrope Region
• ERDV