Development of the region

Development of the region
In many respects, the Luxembourg Treaty governing the integration of Saarland into the Federal Republic also set the course for the European future of the region. A number of plans and projects were developed on the basis of a new partnership between France, Luxembourg and Germany, making ‘SaarLorLux’ an economic and cultural and ultimately also a political reality. The development of the Moselle into a major waterway was an example of how the spirit of European unity could grow out of the solution to a past national problem. The increase in trade and cultural activities such a French Week, the Franco-German garden exhibition and a network of town twinnings brought people together across borders and broadened outlooks in the region. A new awareness of common problems in the old coal and steel triangle developed in the 1960s. Not only was that the origin of the name for what later became the SaarLorLux Euro-Region, but in that context visionary ideas such as the Franco-German free trade centre, CECOFA, and the SaarLor integrated economy were promoted and made a reality.