Today we are celebrating Carpathian Day. As the new European Commission is in the making, we would draw the attention of the Brussels’ politicians and bureaucrats that mountains are not merely support for ski slopes, but a home for vibrant yet ignored communities.

We, civil society on a European stage, are aiming at informing about the forms and relevance of mountain policies and at bringing attention to the fact that the interests of mountains would be better protected if there existed an organized representation of mountain areas in Brussels. We got “remote areas”, “maritime shoreline communities”, but no “mountain communities” in the European ‘taxonomy’.

Although there is no comprehensive and integrated policy for mountain areas at EU level, nor there exists a specific service dealing with mountains within the EU Commission, this does not mean that the EU is not active in fields which, directly or indirectly, in reality or potentially, affect the concerns of such areas.

Therefore, the results of EU initiatives for mountain areas are often the result of a complex decision-making processes, which it would be important, yet difficult, to participate therein.

The new instrument of EU macro-regional strategies is finally touched upon, with particular reference to the one for the Alpine regions (EUSALP), developed since 2015 notwithstanding the existence of the Alpine Convention, already an international strategy aimed at dealing with common concerns and assets in the Alpine regions. It is the same scenario with the Carpathian macroregion (in the making) and the Carpathian Convention – the international treaty.

Whether the interest of mountain areas will benefit from the future macroregional strategies, which concerns a greater area than just the alpine arc, will also depend on how these interests will be represented.

We, civil society, are an essential player in this enterprise. There are many challenges and ‘assets’ in relation to European highlands: from the conservation of nature and resources, to climate, to the landscape, to the dependence of the economy on certain key sectors, to demographic dynamics.

The EU is active in areas that can directly or indirectly relate to these problems. If mountain areas enjoyed organized representation, widespread public opinion, NGOs operating throughout the mountain territory, the possibility that EU initiatives would prove to be favorable to the highlands would certainly be greater. The mountains in the EU are not of any lesser interest, it all lies upon us, hence we must organize and help design mountain policies.

To date, the Alpine clubs of almost all European countries, which some even have millions of members, have managed to give themselves a minimum coordination structure within the continent, and overpassed the national vision that prevails in such associations. Today we are organized in alpine clubs and we are looking beyond borders – a good example is Association of European Mountaineers (EUMA) that gathers almost all alpine clubs of Europe – 3 million paying members.

 

Macroregional strategies

In the recent past, the poor participation of civil society did not go unnoticed in the consultation process and it lead to the birth of EUSALP – EU’s alpine macrostrategy. It is the main reason for which we should currently get involved in the ongoing set-up of a Carpathian macrostrategy – an initiative of the Carpathian Polish regions at the Committee of the Regions.

Although it is common ground that mountains do not play a central role in the architecture of EU policies, there are nevertheless many initiatives, legislative acts and individual decisions that potentially have more or less importance for the interests of those who live and work in the mountains. These interests are not, at present, sufficiently represented, and this translates into a poor consideration of the mountains in the policy world of the EU.

 

Our request

The fact that there is no organic, comprehensive and intersectoral EU policy in favor of the mountains is not surprising. The EU institutions are quite ‘far’ from the mountains. There is no service within the EU Commission dedicated to the mountains, unlike what happens in the national or regional administrations of some member states. But this does not mean that the EU has not dealt with or does not deal with the mountains through its sectoral policies and specific decisions, and above all that it could not deal with them more intensely in the future.

The question is anything but theoretical and has already been the subject of discussions at political level. In the initiative report approved on 19 June 2008 “For a green paper on a European Union mountain policy”, the Committee of the Regions, which is just a consultative body that has a certain political importance especially in matters concerning the territory, invited the European Parliament and the Council to assign specifically, in the preliminary hearings to the appointment of the European commissioners, the competences relating to the mountains to a single commissioner, who, in addition to exercising his other competences, would coordinate the actions of the college in this territorial area of ​​a transversal/horizontal nature and in addition, to present proposals in the framework of a Green Paper on the future of European policies in favor of mountain ranges.

This would be the premise of an integrated European strategy and partnership of mountain ranges conducted by the Commission, Member States and regional and local authorities, supported by socio-economic and environmental actors, including the involvement of national and European associations representing mountain territorial bodies. Civil society is essential.