The Ems Dollart Region (EDR), established in 1977, is a cross-border organisation located in the northern Dutch-German border area. The region is named after the Ems River and the Dollart estuary. Its aim is to establish and improve contacts and levels of interaction between people, companies and organisations within the border region. The organization is based in the Dutch village of Bad Nieuweschans. Here, the office has developed into a Dutch-German center, where cross-border functions and other activities take place. The office also serves as an administration base and launching point for many cross-border projects.[1]
The EDR consists of approximately 100 members including: Municipalities from the Dutch provinces of Groningen, Drenthe and Friesland, as well as from the German regions of East-Frisia, the Emsland and parts of the Cloppenburg region. Additionally, regional associations such as cultural organizations and chambers of commerce and industry are represented.[2]
Goals and Tasks
Since its establishment, the EDR has been active in the areas of spatial planning, infrastructure, culture and developing the regional economy. However, the EDR places special emphasis on its efforts to develop and intensify the contacts between the populations on both sides of the German-Dutch border.
In order to reach these goals, the EDR provides financial assistance for regional cross-border initiatives. The basis for these activities is provided by the contributions of EDR members. In addition, the EDR receives financial support from the Dutch provinces of Groningen, Drenthe and Friesland, as well as project associated contributions from the German federal state of Lower-Saxony. An important contributor to the activities of the EDR is the European Union, which contributes to cross-border activities as a part of its INTERREG-IVA program. This program provides subsidies to projects in the following areas: economy, technology and innovation, sustainable regional development, as well as integration and society.
Over the years, contacts and networks have been established among the people, businesses and organizations on both sides of the Dutch-German border. As a result of this closer interaction, it has become clear to many participants that significant obstacles to full co-operation remain. Differences in legal systems present the most significant obstacle to cross-border cooperation, but also differing customs and cultural expectations can add to the difficulties of cross-border initiatives. The EDR works to overcome these obstacles.[3]
Office of the EDR in Bad Nieuweschans
The EDR Council & Board of Directors
The EDR Council is the highest body of the EDR and consists of two representatives from each member. The EDR Council gathers twice yearly to receive news on important projects and discuss developments at the EDR. Each EDR member has one vote, which is used to elect the EDR Board of Directors.
The EDR Board of Directors is elected in bi-annual terms by the EDR Council. It consists of sixteen members, eight from Germany and eight from the Netherlands. Generally, the board sits monthly and prepares cross-border projects and initiatives. Further, the board represents the interests of the region in regional, national and European conventions. The position of chairman rotates between a German and Dutch representative every two years.[4]
Friesland, historically known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the northern part of the country. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of Flevoland, northeast of North Holland, and south of the Wadden Sea. As of January 2020, the province had a population of 649,944 and a total area of 5,749 km2 (2,220 sq mi).
West Low German, also known as Low Saxon is a group of Low German dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands, northwestern Germany and southern Denmark. It is one of two groups of mutually intelligible dialects, the other being East Low German dialects. A 2005 study found that there were approximately 1.8 million "daily speakers" of Low Saxon in the Netherlands. 53% spoke Low Saxon or Low Saxon and Dutch at home and 71% could speak it. According to another study the percentage of speakers among parents dropped from 34% in 1995 to 15% in 2011. The percentage of speakers among their children dropped from 8% to 2% in the same period.
Groningen is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. It borders on Friesland to the west, Drenthe to the south, the German state of Lower Saxony to the east, and the Wadden Sea to the north. As of November 2019, Groningen had a population of 585,881 and a total area of 2,960 km2 (1,140 sq mi).
Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of November 2019, Drenthe had a population of 493,449 and a total area of 2,680 km2 (1,030 sq mi).
The Ems is a river in northwestern Germany. It runs through the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, and discharges into the Dollart Bay which is part of the Wadden Sea. Its total length is 362.4 kilometres (225.2 mi). The state border between the Lower Saxon area of East Friesland (Germany) and the province of Groningen (Netherlands), whose exact course was the subject of a border dispute between Germany and the Netherlands, runs through the Ems estuary.
Leer is a district (Landkreis) in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the city of Emden, the districts of Aurich, Wittmund, Friesland, Ammerland, Cloppenburg and Emsland, and by the Netherlands.
The Dollart or Dollard is a bay in the Wadden Sea between the northern Netherlands and Germany, on the west side of the estuary of the Ems river. Most of it dries at low tide. Many water birds feed there.
EDR may refer to:
The Rheiderland is a region of Germany and the Netherlands between the River Ems and the Bay of Dollart. The German part of the Rheiderland lies in East Frisia, west of the Ems. The Dutch part lies in the Dutch province of Groningen and is mostly part of Oldambt. The Rheiderland is one of the four historic regions on the mainland in the district of Leer; the others being the Overledingerland, the Moormerland and the Lengenerland.
Interreg is a series of programmes to stimulate cooperation between regions in and out of the European Union (EU), funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The first Interreg started in 1989. Interreg IV covered the period 2007–2013. Interreg V (2014–2020) covers all 27 EU member states, the EFTA countries, six accession countries and 18 neighbouring countries. It has a budget of EUR 10.1 billion, which represents 2.8% of the total of the European Cohesion Policy budget. Since the non EU countries don't pay EU membership fee, they contribute directly to Interreg, not through ERDF.
A cross-border region is a territorial entity that is made of several local or regional authorities that are co-located yet belong to different nation states. Cross-border regions exist to take advantage of geographical conditions to strengthen their competitiveness.
EUREGIO is a cross-border region between the Netherlands and Germany and the first Euroregion. It was founded in 1958 as a German Eingetragener Verein, and has been converted in 2016 into a Public Body based on the 1991 Anholt treaty. Participating communities are in Niedersachsen and Nordrhein-Westfalen (Münsterland) in Germany and parts of the Dutch provinces Gelderland, Overijssel and Drenthe. Participating cities in the region are Münster, Osnabrück, Gronau, Enschede, and Hengelo. The headquarters of the Euregio is located in the city of Gronau, at the Dutch border.
The Meuse–Rhine Euroregion is a Euroregion created in 1976, with judicial status achieved in 1991. It comprises 11.000 km² and has around 3.9 million inhabitants around the city-corridor of Aachen–Maastricht–Hasselt–Liège. The seat of the region has been in Eupen, Belgium since 1 January 2007. Within a wider context, the region is part of what is called the Blue Banana European urbanisation corridor.
Region Sønderjylland–Schleswig is the regional centre for cross-border cooperation between the municipalities of Tønder, Aabenraa, Haderslev and Sønderborg, and regional council of southern Denmark, the districts Schleswig-Flensburg and Nordfriesland, plus the city of Flensburg.
Euroregion Baltic(ERB) is an institutionalised form of cross-border cooperation in the south-east of the Baltic Sea Region, consisting of eight regions of Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Sweden.
Cross-border cooperation is the collaboration between adjacent areas across borders. In the European Union this is one of the forms of territorial cooperation. The European model is very diverse with cooperation between border regions or municipalities, or through specific cooperation structures. These structures are usually composed by public authorities from different countries organized in working communities, euroregions or EGTCs.
The Bourtanger Moor was a bog in eastern parts in the Dutch provinces of Drenthe and Groningen and the bordering German districts of Bentheim and Emsland. A remaining stretch on the border between Drenthe and the districts Emsland and Betheim is now a nature reserve, the Internationaler Naturpark Bourtanger Moor-Bargerveen.
The Germany–Netherlands border consists of a 570-kilometre (350 mi) land border and maritime border across the Dollart through the Frisian Islands into the North Sea.
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