Per AER Statute and Procedures, elections for the Executive Board and the Election Committee and ratification of the members of the Bureau will occur at the General Assembly in St. Pölten (AT) on 31 May-2 June 2017. Elections for Committee Presidents will occur at the Committee’s Plenary meeting in London (UK) on 21-23 March 2017.

Elections at the General Assembly

Members of the Executive Board

According to AER Statute 4.6, The General Assembly elects separately, for a mandate of two years, the members of the Executive Board:

* As per the Procedures, Article 8, the current portfolios of the Vice-Presidents are: Institutional affairs, Equal opportunities, integration and migration and Interregional diplomacy.

The members of the Executive Board may be re-elected for a second consecutive mandate. Only two consecutive mandates are possible.

Presidents of the Thematic Committees

The Presidents of the Thematic Committees are also elected as members of the Executive Board:

Adjunct members of the Executive Board

In addition to the positions above, the Executive Board consists of:

*For the attention of Eurodyssey members

The position of President of the Eurodyssey programme is open for nominations. As per the Eurodyssey Founding Texts, article II.1.3. “The President (is) elected by the AER General Assembly on the basis of his/her application”.

The programme is undergoing changes in its structure and processes. The Executive Board will submit a new proposal of Statute to be adopted by the General Assembly in June. Should these changes be approved by the AER General Assembly, the President of the Programme will:

• no longer be linked with the secretariat of the programme
• be adjunct of the AER Executive Board, acting as a rapporteur on Eurodyssey
• be a member of the AER Committee for Culture, Education and Youth’s Presidium
• represent Eurodyssey in all external relations

The Monitoring and Evaluation Group

Per AER Statute 4.8, the General Assembly elects, for a mandate of three years, three members, not involved in other governing structures of AER, to form a Monitoring and Evaluation Group. One of the politicians will have a coordinating role.

The current members are:

• Thomas Hartman (Västerbotten-SE) (chair),
• Ana Verushi (Korça-AL)
• Medzait Ljatifi (Nordjylland-DK)

They were elected in 2016, and are subsequently not up for election.

The Election Committee

Per AER Procedures 4.2, The General Assembly elects separately, for a mandate of one year, three to five (3-5) members of the Election Committee. The current members (for elections at the General Assembly 2017) are:

• Brian Greenslade (Chair)
• Katalin Arany
• Mattias Karlsson
• Marian Oprisan

Elections at the Committee Plenaries

Per AER Statute 9.3, The Committees may prepare, decide and implement initiatives in the framework of their assignments, including assigning ad hoc Working Groups and Task Forces to assist in their activities. Each Committee is chaired by a President, elected by the General Assembly on proposal by the committee itself and with a term of 2 years, renewable once.

At the Committee Spring Plenaries 2017 the following positions are up for elections:

Call for nominations

Per AER Statute and Procedures, the following is applicable to nominations to the General Assembly and the Committee Presidents:

In general

Statute 1.5: The bodies of AER are:

1. a) The governing bodies: The General Assembly and the Executive Board;
2. b) The Bureau for political discussion, debate and decision making as basis for lobbying and advocacy;
3. c) The Thematic Committees for exchange and dissemination of best practise and running of programmes and projects.

The composition of all AER bodies should respect a geographical and gender balance.

Statute 1.7: The working language of AER is English.

Statute 1.8: Delegates in all bodies of AER must hold a regional political mandate. They may give due written authorization for a representative. In case of absence or should a delegate’s regional mandate be lost, the Executive Board is, after a period of a maximum of six months, charged to assign a substitute until the next General Assembly.

Statute 1.9: All votes in all AER bodies are by simple majority, defined as more than 50% of those present and voting, unless otherwise specified in the present statute. All elections are carried out by secret ballot, unless a unanimous decision to the contrary is made by the body in question. Other decisions are taken through a vote by show of hands, unless a member requests otherwise. In the event of a tied vote, on issues other than elections, the President of the body in question has the casting vote.

Statute 1.10: Common practice of political assemblies shall be applied to all AER meetings. Decisions are, in principle and whenever possible, adopted by consensus of opinion. The consensus should be understood as being the absence of any objection formulated and submitted by a member which may constitute an obstacle to the decision in question.

The General Assembly

Statute 4.3: Each Full member of AER, after paying the membership dues, has one vote at the General Assembly. The vote will be expressed

1. a) Directly by one of the representatives of the member region present;
2. b) By proxy from one absent region to one region present.

Procedures 4.1: Proposals to be presented at the General Assembly, can be submitted up to the evening before the start of the Executive Board meeting preceding the General Assembly.

4.1.1 The Executive Board will give its opinion on the proposals to the General Assembly.

The AER President

Statute 7.1: The President prepares the work and all the decisions of the Executive Board. The President represents the organization in all external relations. Notwithstanding the Vice President Treasurer’s financial responsibility, the President remains fully responsible overall.

Statute 7.2: The President

1. a) Chairs the meetings of the AER governing bodies and has the power to make all necessary decisions concerning the implementation of the decisions of the said bodies;
2. b) Chairs the Bureau;
3. c) Has the right to take legal action in the association’s name and on its behalf. The President may delegate such right to a representative, through a duly signed and dated written authorisation form.

Procedures 7.1: The AER President is charged to appoint a seconded officer who will work towards all tasks linked to the President’s duties – speech writing, drafting answers to letters, drafting the President’s contributions to communications, preparing the logistics of trips etc – in collaboration with the secretariat.

The Vice-Presidents

Statute 8.1: The Vice-Presidents

1. a) May represent the President;
2. b) Have assignments as decided by the Executive Board.

Statute 9.5: Each Committee is chaired by a President, elected by the General Assembly on proposal by the committee itself and with a term of 2 years, renewable once. The President is responsible for the committee’s smooth running.

Procedures 11.2: Each Committee President’s region is charged to appoint a seconded officer to act as committee secretariat in liaison with the secretariat and, ideally, at the AER office in Brussels. The seconded officer is responsible for:

• Co-organise events and projects in collaboration with the secretariat;
• Manage the content of the meetings;
• Draft speeches and policy contributions

The Vice-President Treasurer

Statute 10.1: The Vice-President Treasurer is responsible for the administration of finances, in particular the management of assets and the supervision of income and expenditure, and shall report to the Executive Board and the General Assembly.

Timetable

Procedures 14.1: The member regions shall be informed four months in advance of the elections taking place at the General Assembly or the Committees.

Procedures 14.2: The candidates are invited to send an application letter at least two months before the election.

Procedures 14.3: The portfolio of the candidates will be distributed to all members at least two weeks before the election.

Procedures 14.4: The election will be presided over by the oldest representative of a member region, assisted by the youngest representative of a member region. In case of a second round of voting, only the two candidates in the lead can stand.

Contact person

The Election Committee is in charge of the organisation of the election process. Mr Brian Greenslade, President of the Election Committee has appointed Mr Kurt Ake Hammarstedt as the contact person. Therefore, all applications and questions relating to the elections should be addressed to:

Kurt Ake Hammarstedt
+46 70 527 83 50

The AER secretariat will not be in a position to answer questions relating to the election process.