The Assembly of European Regions (AER) will hold a Presidium meeting on Friday 8th September in the bureau of the Land of Niederösterreich (A) in Brussels. The meeting will focus on establishing positions for the Regions of Europe concerning the institutional reform of the Union in the context of the Intergovernmental Conference, the draft Charter of fundamental rights for the European Union, the White paper of the European Commission on new forms of European governance in view of enlargement and the European Charter of regional SelfGovernment of the Council of Europe.

Presidium members will also discuss the state of preparations for the main AER meetings over the last three months of 2000:
– the First European Conference of Regional Ministers for Culture will be held in Nyon, Switzerland, on 25th and 26th October 2000 and aims to allow regional decision-makers to debate a “Catalogue of competences”, the concept of “European cultural policies” and possible change in voting procedures in the field of culture at European level. This Conference will be followed by the AER political Bureau meeting on 27th October 2000;
– “new forms of governance” will be the main theme for the General Assembly (Seinäjoki-Finland, 7th and 8th December 2000).

This General Assembly, a special meeting point for all of the around 280 AER member Regions, will also include elections for the Presidium, Vice-President, Vice-President Treasurer and AER Bureau members for the coming two years.

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