On October 17, 2019, the presidents of the DACH and BEFIPS nations (Austria - ITA Austria, Belgium - ABTUS, France - AFTES, Germany - DAUB, Italy - SIG, Portugal - CPT, Spain - AETOS, Switzerland - STS) met for their second joint meeting in Lisbon. After the first meeting during the Swiss Tunnel Congress 2019 in Lucerne, the discussions regarding a closer cooperation of the Central European countries could be continued very purposefully and with an extremely positive result.

As a result, the representatives of the countries have decided to join forces in the "European Underground & Tunnel Forum (EUTF)". This forum will represent the interests of the European Tunnel Community within the ITA and in tunneling / underground space in general. Another strategic goal is to position and exert influence within the European standards and guidelines commissions. Other topics will certainly be added in the future. The representatives of the countries have unanimously elected Stefan Maurhofer as the first EUTF Chair with a term of two years.

A year ago, the first ideas within the European country representatives regarding closer cooperation emerged. Within the last 12 months, a dynamic has developed between the countries that is not always common in association work. The merger puts European tunneling in general in a good starting position and opens up great opportunities for Swiss underground construction in particular to position itself internationally.