Thirty Years On – Calling for a stronger European commitments to its mountains

Thirty years ago, in this very city, representatives from across Europe’s Mountain regions stood together to proclaim that mountains are not Europe’s margins, but a shared heritage requiring protection and collective action.

In 1995, Euromontana committed to protecting the communities, landscapes, and cultures of these territories, to building cooperation across borders, and to demanding respect for the specific challenges and contributions of mountain areas.

On 9 and 10 September 2025, more than 120 stakeholders from all over Europe gathered in Krakow to renew its commitments for sustainable mountains areas. If the political context has changed, some challenges such as rural depopulation and access to services remain as pressing as ever, while other has emerged.

It was an opportunity for the elected representatives of the network to sign the new declaration of intent for the future, but also to look back on the milestones achieved by Euromontana over the last 30 years.

This renewed Declaration includes:

• A statement of the current and future challenges for mountain, renewing the original Krakow Declaration
• A concrete commitment in 10 points demanding for fairness, recognition and action to meet the European union’s environmental, economic and social goals with the full inclusion of mountain areas.