Message from the President, Dr. Hande Özsan Bozatli

Citizens of Europe are in doubt. Doubt about the state and future of Europe, doubt about the capacity of Europe to make their lives better and protect them, doubt about the strength of Europe in the world. Each European organisation must, at its level, take this reality into account.

At the regional level, the Assembly of European Regions has, for 30 years, promoted a Europe closer to the citizens, an everyday life Europe. We believe that a multi-ethnic, mutli-cultural and multi-lingual Europe is in the DNA of the European values, values we share and promote at AER.

By organising its work above political parties, AER shows its capacity at working on pragmatic issues with an eye on result rather than an eye on party line.

By working on common issues for citizens across Europe, AER shows that working on what matters is possible at the regional level even when national governments don’t cooperate.

Every day, regional leaders use our platform to learn about what works and what does not work in other regions on topics such as SMEs development, regional airports, green growth, energy, health improvement, cultural heritage, youth participation, youth mobility, school drop out, culture. By sharing best practices between regions, AER shows that solidarity and trust in a pragmatic integration works.

Regional politicians also use our platform to access the European Commission in order to explain to them the potential but also difficulties of our territories to try to make European legislation is fairer to our citizens.

In this Europe day, AER takes the engagement to continue representing the interests of its citizens and to work pragmatically to better their lives. AER also calls the regions and the citizens to continue the fight for a better, stronger and fairer Europe.