As the next Executive Board (EB) meeting is around the corner, here is a short recap of the main outcome of the last one.
The second executive meeting for the new board took place in the beautiful city of Nancy, Grand-Est. Many things are happening for AER, and the new board could easily fill in the three hours dedicated to the meeting. Here are some of the highlights:
- Two new regions have applied for membership. Adanna (Turkey) has asked to become full member. Udaras na Gaeltachta (Ireland) has asked to become associate member. The EB was happy to welcome them.
- The AER Vice Presidents were handed new portfolios. The portfolios have been suggested after bilateral discussions with the president. The portfolios are distributed as follows:
- Nina Björby – VP for democracy
- Albert Castellanos – VP for interregional cooperation and Mediterranean affairs
- Andrew Gibson – VP for equal opportunities
- Anna Magyar – VP for EU enlargement
- Lukas Mandl – VP for institutional affairs
- Damir Zobenica – VP for interregional diplomacy
- Mr Rijsberman has in quality of AER rapporteur on cohesion policy drafted an advocacy plan together with the secretariat. The plan will be launched during the European week of regions and cities. Mr Rijsberman encourages AER-members to lobby their national representatives and MEPs using the AER position. In order to present a united front, AER has joined forces with the other largest networks of cities/regions and the CoR in an Alliance for a strong cohesion policy which will also be launched at the European week of regions and cities on Wednesday 11 October 2017.
