Euromontana has its origins in an FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) sponsored seminar on mountain agriculture in 1953, which generated subsequent mountain conferences at two yearly intervals. In 1974, the Confederation of European Agriculture (CEA) set up a permanent working group for "socio-economic issues in mountain regions". Called "Euromontana", the group comprised agricultural representatives from the countries of the Alps and Pyrenees and perpetuated this sequence of biannual conferences.
In 1994, Euromontana decided to establish new relations with the Central and Eastern European countries and to include representatives of sectors other than agriculture, such as rural development and the environment.
In 1995, Poland hosted a Euromontana conference in Krakow that was so successful that it was agreed to establish Euromontana as an independent legal entity. The representatives of 14 European nations (Albania, Bulgaria, Scotland, Spanish Basque Country, France, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Czech Republic) convening in Rome on 4 March 1996 declared themselves the founding members of the association.
Euromontana today represents 72 organizations of all kinds in 18 European countries.