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The Euregio Meuse-Rhine
At Europe’s heart, Meuse-Rhine is a Euroregion, which best captures the essence of the European ideal. With its three languages, spoken in five regions, themselves extending into three member states, it has a great deal to offer. Its rich and diverse cultural heritage (going back to Charlemagne’s days and before); its great economic potential and future-oriented economic structures are impressive, as is the natural environment of forest, hill and dale. However, perhaps most important of all is the real-life, real-time experience of living and working together with neighbours across borders.
 Meuse-Rhine takes in the Belgian provinces of Limburg, Liège and Belgium’s German-speaking community, Dutch South Limburg, the German districts of Aachen, Düren, Euskirchen and Heinsberg, and the cities of Aachen, Liège and Maastricht. It is an area of 10,400km2, which, with its population of 3.7 million and general business presence of 250,000 companies, approaches state-like dimensions in both demographic and economic terms.
© Peter Winandy
Europe’s hub
Meuse-Rhine is European integration in a microcosm. Here, languages change every ten minutes. You can go shopping in the Netherlands, live in Belgium but go to the doctor's in Germany. The advantages of open borders and the single currency are only too obvious. This Euroregion has always seen itself as a natural setting for cross-border contact, cultural and economic exchange.
 A population of 55 million - one quarter of the EU’s total purchasing power - can be reached within four hours. Wedged in between Brussels and Cologne, Meuse-Rhine really is at the heart of Europe, with key air hub logistics/distribution centres at Brussels, Liège and Cologne airports. It is also at the nexus of high-speed TGV/ICE train links (Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt) and of the major European north-south and east-west highways. The area has water-borne logistical access at Liège and Born too, handling both bulk and container cargoes and providing intermodal functionality.
© DB-Archiv
The Port of Liege, linked with Antwerp and Rotterdam, is Europe’s second inland port, in terms of tonnage handled (30 million tonnes annually), following Duisburg and pushing Paris into third place. Maastricht also has an airport.
A Region on the move
Cross-border commuter traffic flows reveal that national employment markets are closely meshed in Meuse-Rhine. Every day more than 30,000 people cross the border to go to work. The highways and the logistical framework outlined assure optimal mobility.
High-speed (TGV/ICE) nodes in the European rail network now require rapid and convenient connections with regional transport networks. The planned Circle Line rail link, to provide continuous and fast cross-border connections to Meuse-Rhine’ major cities will be a milestone in Euroregional and intraregional network development.
 High-quality R&D services play a very important role in this. The many universities and research institutions (with a student population of 100,000) are producing a new, highly qualified and internationally oriented generation with a focus on science and technology. This outstanding technological potential has been a decisive factor in Meuse Rhine’s revival. The online edition of the Euroregional Infrastructure Atlas on this web site shows you just how attractive and diverse this rather special region can be.
© RWTH-Aachen
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