Summary and translation of the statement into English:

We are currently confronting a significant challenge —a turning point, as I would describe it. It has to do with the fact that the pandemic, the flood disaster last summer and the war that has arrived in Europe are presenting us with completely different questions and tasks. This turning point is also reflected in the whole issue of spatial development and even in a turning point in construction and planning. What we have to do at the moment is to respond constructively to these challenges. We are doing this with our spatial strategy in the Rhine region and with the spatial strategy and the spatial vision in South Limburg, i.e. with ZL'EU.

What does that mean in concrete terms? It means that we are intensively addressing issues of attractiveness, multidisciplinary spatial development, mobility and also the future energy supply and developing concepts that solve problems on all sides of the German-Dutch-Belgian border. In other words, it is about a vision of where we want to develop this cross-border region, about positive images - because only with these positive images can we reach the best possible state in the long term. For us, this means that we must intensively link economic development, i.e. the issue of jobs, with the attractiveness of the region as a whole.

The future of the city is the region, and I believe that this region can demonstrate this in a special way and also test it with ZL'EU and the projects associated with it. That means: cooperation at eye level, developing visions for the future together at one table, but also thinking, developing and profiling the projects that show that the vision can also become reality.