Our Goals
The Automotive Regions Alliance aims at ensuring that the sustainable transformation of road transport and the automotive sector in the EU leaves no region behind.
The Alliance calls for action from the EU to achieve the following:
- Urgently establish a European mechanism supporting a just, fair and successful transition for the European automotive and supply industry regions, including by streamlining dedicated additional budget headings in the various European funds and programmes.
- Undertake a detailed territorial impact assessment (at regional level) of the consequences of the transformation in the automotive sector as a starting point for the just transition framework, including granular mapping of the impact on regional growth and jobs.
- Address common challenges and opportunities for regions and SMEs in respect of the automotive supply chain industry, which will be particularly affected by the drive-train transition.
- Support reskilling and upskilling the (regional) workforce in order to avoid job losses in our regions. We need to monitor the supply and demand of relevant skills and anticipate future demands in close cooperation with the EU-wide framework of the Pact for Skills, and especially with the Automotive Skills Alliance.
- Further develop a strong research framework for industrial transformation and innovation in the European automotive industry, increasing the resilience of the supply chain for strategic and critical raw materials.
- Provide for flexibility in State aid guidelines (including the block exemption regulation) to enable automotive regions to guide and manage this transformation and avoid its negative effects. Supporting measures for local and regional authorities to accelerate the uptake of innovative technologies through public procurement should also be provided for.
- Support regions to deploy publicly accessible refuelling and recharging stations to promote the uptake of electric vehicles and vehicles that use zero- and low-carbon alternative fuels. It is imperative for territorial and social cohesion that these stations be available in all regions and interoperable across borders.
- Concentrate available public and private investment funds on the various technological solutions (e.g. electrification, hydrogen technologies and synthetic fuels) to ensure the European automotive industry's competitiveness and innovation.
- Establish a multi-level governance and partnership approach to this transition for appropriate and effective policy planning, budgetary action, and dialogue with all stakeholders and public authorities at all levels, including the European Commission, Council and European Parliament.
- Support this alliance as the main open platform for coordination of the automotive and supply regions, so that they can work together at regional, national and European level, and in close cooperation with existing initiatives in order to make the transition a success.
Regions participating in the Alliance
The participating regions of the Automotive Regions Alliance are the following 20:
- Germany: Lower Saxony, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony, North
Rhine-Westphalia
- Spain: Valencia, Navarra, Galicia, Catalonia, Castile and León, Andalucía
- France: Bretagne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Grand-Est
- Italy: Abruzzo, Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont,
- Austria: Styria
- Slovakia: Trnava, Bratislava region
- The Netherlands: Limburg
Regions that want to join the Alliance can contact the email address at the bottom of this webpage.