The Assembly of European Regions (AER) is glad to present its annual Activity Report for 2025. This year’s theme is the celebration of AER’s 40th anniversary, established in 1985 to assert the role of regions at the core of the European project.
As AER Secretary General Vania Freitas highlights in her introduction to this year’s Activity Report, 2025 has been a year of political renewal and strategic repositioning for AER. At the same time as the election of MEP Lukas Mandl as the new President, and the nomination of the Executive Board and Political Bureau, the network approved the Political Priorities for the period 2025-2030. Structured around three pillars – Our Democratic Regions, Our Prosperous Regions, and Our Inclusive Regions – these priorities provide a strategic framework that reaffirms the central role of regions in building a more democratic, resilient, sustainable, and cohesive Europe.
Throughout 2025, the work of AER regions demonstrated the vitality of the network’s legacy, from the place-based innovation at the core of the Maribor Innovation Forum, co-hosted by Eastern Slovenia in June, to the commitment to high-quality traineeships that drove the Eurodyssey Forum in Catalonia in October.
