The city of Ystad is the proud host of a Carrefour office. Within the geographic boundaries of the EU, there are approx. 120 Carrefour offices: from Greece in the east to Ireland in the west and Finland in the north, to Spain in the south. The offices, which work closely with the EU Commission's DG X, are primarily concerned with regional and rural development. The work includes the collation and dissemination of information and the encouragement, promotion and development management of related projects. 
The office principal is the Southeast SkAne Committee of Cooperation (SÖSK). SÖSK, which is an alliance of five municipalities working for achieving common goals, runs the office in close collaboration with Region SkAne and the south Sweden organisation, SydSam. 
There are several Carrefour offices in the Baltic Sea Region. Namely, five in Finland, eleven in Sweden, two in Denmark and two on the Baltic coast of northern Germany in Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg Vorpommern. There are no Carrefour offices in the applicant countries yet. In 1996, Carrefour Nyland (Helsinki region) and Carrefour South Sweden made a proposal to the EU Commission in which it was suggested that Carrefour offices should be established in the Baltic States and Poland. It was determined that this would be an effective and efficient method of anchoring and developing the "EU-structure" in the candidate countries. The offices would not only expedite the dissemination of EU related material but also promote crossborder projects. Although a final decision has yet to be made by the EU Commission, Carrefour South Sweden has taken the initiative to establish a satellite office in Lithuania. This action will simplify the first steps in the development of a fully-fledged Carrefour office. 
For the last two years, Carrefour South Sweden / SÖSK has collaborated and advised on various projects in Lithuania. A project of significant importance has been the creation of the LaDruVa Alliance. This is an inter-municipality collaboration comprising the municipalities of Lazdijai, Varena and Druskininkai. Three weeks ago, LaDruVa accepted the responsibility being appointed principal for the 

Carrefour satelite office in South Lithuania. The offices, which are in Druskininkai, were officially opened on Europe Day. Important delegates at the inauguration included representatives of the EU Commission, Lithuanian Foreign Office, local politicians and politicians from South Sweden. The cost of setting up the office has been borne by Region SkAne, Jönköping County Council, the County Administrative Board of Jönköping, SÖSK and the EU Swebaltcop program. The office is manned by two Lithuanian citizens. A Carrefour South Sweden advisor has been assigned to the office for the whole of 1999. 
A number of projects have already been started up. These include Regional Culinary Heritage, for which Carrefour South Sweden is European co-ordinator; Building Conservation and Distance Learning. It is the hope and ambition of the organisers that the European Office for Southern Lithuania will act as a Carrefour office for all of Lithuania. 
Carrefour South Sweden is also planning to open a satellite office in Swinoujscie, northwest Poland in 1999. The municipality of Swinoujscie will be principal for the neighbouring municipalities and the county. Region SkAne and SÖSK will cover the initial costs of the office. The purpose of the office is to foster collaboration between South Sweden and Northwest Poland. It is hoped that this co-operation will be exploited by the Four Corners and Euroregion Pomerania. The work of the office will concentrate on the county of West Pomerania.

Finland's EU Co-ordinators' network is a cooperative network of EU specialists, with the purpose of maintaining close cooperation between people who deal with EU affairs in different areas of the country. 
The EU Co-ordinators' network can also operate as a partner in projects with other EU countries and corresponding networks there and in cooperation with others (including the Baltic states). 
The network has over 40 members from 35 different areas in Finland. Some members also work at the European Union Commission in Brussels. 

The network promotes the use of the best EU practices in Finland as well as promoting local, regional, national and international use of the opportunities offered by the EU and European cooperation at both local and regional level. The key to the activities of the network is the close cooperation of EU professionals in practice, their 
exchange of experiences and information regarding specialist questions. The network meets at least twice a year. The meetings are comprised of educational, informative and international elements. The network is led by a development team, whose chairman is the chairman of the network. The EU Co-ordinators' network has its own website (www.eucan.net) and an internal e-mail system as a means of circulating information. The network is prepared to operate in international team projects and to provide partners for different projects. 
The Chairman of the network is the City of Pori EU Co-ordinator, Mr Kristian Vainio and the secretary is the City of Kuopio EU Co-ordinator, Mrs Raija Kovanen.