Representatives of 14 Local and Regional Authorities from Germany, the Netherlands and Italy gathered in Mannheim, Germany, to launch the EGTC 'Interregional Alliance for the Rhine-Alpine Corridor'.

The creation of this EGTC was one of the objectives of the project 'Code-24' co-funded by the programme INTERREG IVB North West Europe. This is the first EGTC based in Germany, in the Land of Baden-Württemberg.

During the General Assembly, the members adopted and signed the convention and the statutes. Bärbel Schäfer, President of the Government of the Freiburg, delivered the certification of approval of the EGTC on behalf of the Land of Baden-Württemberg. "This procedure has involved the European Commission, five Ministries in German Länder and five Ministries from other countries. There is no doubt that it must be legal now", said Ms Schäfer, who concluded that "now we are able to act jointly in the long term" for other EGTCs to come.

The Assembly elected Conny Bieze, Deputy on Transport of the Province of Gelderland (NL), as Chair of the Managing Committee, and Birgit Simon, Deputy Director of the Regionalverband FrankfurtRheinMain (DE), as Vice Chair. The Assembly also appointed Jörg Saalbach, from the Verband Region Rhein-Neckar, as Director of the EGTC.

The EGTC is open to more members and some of them just need more time to formalise their participation: several Italian regional authorities await the green light from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the region Köln-Bonn awaits the approval of the Assembly. "Since 2008, eighteen partners have cooperated in the project Code-24" recalled Mr Saalbach. "This corridor is not just a transport axis but a kind of macro-regino with other fields of cooperation going from education to innovation and technology", he added. "The EGTC can expand to Belgium, Switzerland and France, mainly focusing on big cities".

The Committee of the Regions was represented in the event.