SWOT Report I - Central Europe
SWOT Report I - Central Europe
SWOT Report I - Central Europe
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decentralisation and diversification of the overall energy markets might indicate heightened<br />
opportunities for regional initiatives in this sector.<br />
Rehabilitation futures<br />
Another opportunity for the region could be a new interest by policy institutions into the<br />
process of mining site rehabilitation. The region has long argued for state support in order<br />
to tackle the problems stemming from the incomplete rehabilitation process of the former<br />
mining sites. With many of the ongoing rehabilitation processes in other Eastern German<br />
mining regions coming to an end within the next 10 years (lignite and uranium mining), there<br />
is now the possibility – in a second round of rehabilitation – to gain access to state or federal<br />
funds for site remediation. Such rehabilitation projects would bring new economic activities to<br />
the region and remove a considerable financial burden from the affected communities by<br />
reducing the maintenance costs of public infrastructures.<br />
Threats<br />
Financial futures<br />
One of the most important threats to the development options of Zwickau-Lugau-Oelsnitz is<br />
the worsening of the public finances in the coming years. There is a general trend away from<br />
active redistribution policies for weaker regions such as Zwickau-Lugau-Oelsnitz in<br />
Germany, as well as on <strong>Europe</strong>an level. For such regions this could mean a further downturn<br />
in local economies and increase the trend towards outmigration, which would severely<br />
hamper all efforts of such regions to invest/utilise its mining potentials and overall regional<br />
development options.<br />
Future of the economic cluster<br />
A threat for the development of the Zwickau-Lugau-Oelsnitz region is the unstable<br />
development of the automotive industry. The whole region is highly dependable on the<br />
Volkswagen plant and its suppliers and any sizing down of capacities would have an<br />
immediate effect on regional development. As the car industry has proofed in the past as a<br />
very volatile industrial sector, in which overcapacities and outsourcing of production facilities<br />
are common, such a scenario cannot be ruled out.<br />
<strong>SWOT</strong> Zwickau-Lugau-Oelsnitz<br />
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