From Valais to Europe : a regional pressure group takes up a stance in the European debate on mountains
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2006
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Gilles Rudaz, « From Valais to Europe : a regional pressure group takes up a stance in the European debate on mountains », Revue de Géographie Alpine, ID : 10.3406/rga.2006.2406
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Summary : This article looks at the international opening of a regional pressure group based in Switzerland, the Groupement de la population de montagne du Valais romand (French-speaking Valais mountain population group). Three factors explain how this opening came about in the nineties : debates about Switzerland's membership of the European Economic Area, providing a fertile terrain for cross-border and international cooperation, fear of outsiders taking over the region via the Alpine Convention, which was to become a federating theme, and the organisation of mountain dwellers' interests on a European scale, which acts as a sustainable driving force behind the relations set up. In turn, this international opening was to change the « geography » of the group itself.