(ANSA) - UDINE, JAN 13 - FemECoPLUS, a European project that will involve 100 women entrepreneurs and freelancers from the mountain areas of Friuli Venezia Giulia and Carinthia to build a stable network of cross-border cooperation for women, has started. The initiative presented today is co-financed by the Interreg Italy-Austria Program 2021-2027 and is led by Cramars, with Verein für Bildung und Lernen and the Interregional Trade Union Council Fvg-Carinthia. The project stems from a starting condition common to Alpine border territories: depopulation, an aging population, economic fragmentation and difficulty in accessing services. "In these territories," explained Stefania Marcoccio, president of Cramars, "women hold together work, community and social relations, but often in an invisible and isolated way. FemECoPLUS serves to transform this diffuse energy into a true economic community." After an initial pilot experience involving 58 women entrepreneurs from Italy and Austria, the new phase aims to double the network through traveling workshops, exchange meetings and a bilingual digital platform. "The goal," Marcoccio added, "is to connect what is already physically close but not yet connected, transforming the border from a barrier to a space of possibility. The project is also based on sociological research on women's work in Carnia, Gemona, Canal del Ferro and Val Canale, and in the municipalities belonging to the Hermagor District, which shows a strong imbalance between those who will exit and those who will enter the labor market in the next 15 years. "We need to act now," stressed Mariateresa Bazzaro, president of CSI Fvg-Carinzia, "on welfare, reconciliation, quality of employment and professional networks, if we want to keep these territories alive. (ANSA).