Making Hanover Region fit for Europe

Andreas Listing Director Department European Affairs, Region Hannover

Between 60 and 80% of legal rules which a German local administration should apply every day are not adopted in Berlin or Hanover but in Brussels and Strasbourg. Without financial contribution of ERDF, ESF or EAFRD or from other funds like Life+ a lot of projects in the last 10 years would not have been realized. These are good reasons to think about the impact of Europe in your daily professional live. Therefore Region Hanover set up a Strategy for Europe in 2012.

As city region with more than 1,1 Mio. Inhabitants, Hanover region is an innovative new organization, linking the urban area of Lower Saxony Capital Hanover (540.000 inh.) to the suburban and rural surroundings (630.000 inh.) with its 20 cities. Social and youth welfare, hospitals, waste management and disposal, climate and environment protection, territorial planning, public transport and European Affairs are some of the major responsibilities that 3.000 officers in Hanover Region administration are working for with an annual budget of 1.6 Billion EUR.

Our objectives within the European Strategy are: Better information and advice on Europe, its funds and European laws Make Hanover Region more visible in Europe and vice versa

These services are provided to regional and communal administrations, associations and communal companies. The department for economic promotion is taking care of the consulting service for enterprises.

Those who have yet looked for European funds know that it is not that easy to get an overview of all funds available. In Hanover Region we have an internet based database of all funds sorted by topics. Our quarterly newsletter informs about the latest calls and European court decisions or new legislative initiatives with communal impact. In addition every city can order an individual consultation according to their special needs. Together with all actors we managed to collect 96 Mio. € of ERDF funds in the last funding period. A new Yukon Bay Area with its typical animals in our zoo, a culture centre, an enlargement of modern art museum Sprengel and many grants for innovation in companies safeguarding and creating hundreds of jobs are some results of our efforts.

We are organizing in-house workshops on European public procurement rules or state aid law. Every year we offer a workshop for young officers on European issues, English language training and a 4 week internship stay in Brussels for two officers per year to make them fit for Europe.

As unique city region in Germany and lighthouse model to overcome the urban-rural problems, Hanover Region will present itself on European level and especially at Brussels level by taking an active part in public consultations of European Commission or Committee of Regions. Fostering close contacts to European partners in Brussels especially to our privileged partner of Diputació de Barcelona is very important for networking and exchanging of experience. Thus we are very pleased to have Diputació Barcelona this year again as lead partner for a panel discussion at the European Week of Region and Cities dealing with energy poverty.

At a time when some people have doubts on the European integration process and of the European Institutions we try to convince our inhabitants of the need and the advantages of Europe by organizing events on every European presidency and its objectives.