Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)
2. Session /Séance. Regional (trans-border) Cooperation / Coopération régionale (transfrontaliere) - Cova, Ugo: The Case of the Adriatic-Alps Zone / Le cas de la zone Alpes-Adriatique (english 145 - français 153)
UGO COVA Perspectives for trans-border regional Cooperation: The case of the Adriatic-Alps Zone As a sort of reaction to the international political and economic crisis the 1970s were characterized by a rapprochement and by closer forms of cooperation between regions belonging to different states. Considerable progress was also made in the political relations between border areas, for example with the definition of administrative autonomy of Alto Adige with the signing of the Osimo treaty whereby the border between Italy and Yugoslavia acquired a permanent status1. This friendly atmosphere, mainly involving some Alpine regions, was matched by a spontaneous movement based on friendly relations and the willingness to meet the needs and requirements of the Alpine populations, which shared similar living conditions and had long-standing solidarity and cooperation ties in spite of their ethnic and linguistic differences dating back of the early Middle Ages. Several meetings were held and projects were drawn up in the 1970s with a view to promoting trans-border cooperation, also in the framework of the Council of Europe. The first concrete result of the activity materialized in 1972 with the setting up of the Alpine working community ARGE Alp1 2 3. On 20 November 1978 in Venice, a Protocol was signed for the setting up of the working community of the Länder and regions of Eastern Alps - the working community ALPE Adria. The founding members were as follows: Salzburg, Upper Austria, Styria and Carinthia (Austrian Länder), Bavaria (German free state), Slovenia and Croatia (Yugoslavian socialist republics), Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Italien regions). On account of their ARGE Alp membership, Bavaria and Salzburg were not full members, but active observers. The new working community thus included areas belonging to countries characterized by different forms of government and different foreign policies’. A short historical overview is now in order to explain the reasons why the aforementioned regions decided to set up an organization of their own in spite of their belonging to four different states. With the exception of Bavaria, until 1918 all the regions concerned had belonged to the Hapsburg Monarchy (Veneto and Friuli 1 Regione Autonoma Friuli-Venezia Giulia, ALPE Adria. Un esemplare modello di collaborazione. Relazione del Présidente della Giunta regionale Adriano Biasutti al Consiglio regionale sull’attività della Comunità di lavoro delle Regioni, Repubbliche e Länder delle Alpi Orientali-ALPE Adria (Trieste, 1 febbraio 1985). Trieste 1985, p. III-IV. 2 Ibidem (note 1) p. IV; besides ARGE Alp and ALPE Adria, there is also the West Alpine Working Community (CONTRAO): See ALPE Adria (Motovun 1986), p. 5. 3 ALPE Adria. Un esemplare modello (see note 1), p. III. 145
