(Adopted by the AER General Assembly 14 October 2022)
Article 1 – Drafting, adoption and modification of the Procedures
1.1 Drafting, adoption and modifications of the Rules of Procedure are specified in the Statute.
1.2 The English version of the AER Statute is the reference.
Article 2 – Observers
2.1 The status of observer according to the present Statute is granted for a determined and non-renewable period: One year from the month following the Executive Boards decision to accept the request, the entity having been granted observer status shall inform AER of its wish to become a member or not.
2.2 The status of observer cannot be granted to regions that were full or associate members of AER during the last three years.
Article 3 – Fees
3.1 The annual membership fee is due for the current year and must be paid in full.
3.1.1 For new members, the fee is due the month following the Executive Board’s decision to approve membership and is calculated as the remaining twelfths of the annual fee.
3.1.2 For existing members, the full annual fee is due within two months following the call for membership fees, sent out by the Executive Board.
3.2 The membership fee is calculated and decided by the Executive Board. For 2016 and until otherwise decided, the Basic fee is € 3 250.
3.2.1 Full membership fee = {Basic fee + Population x (relative GDP) 2/200} x 1.027year-2016
The upper limit (cap) is € 30 000.
For members with a total revenue below € 2 000 000, the cap is 0.15 % of the region’s total revenue.
The fee model will be implemented during a two-year period, starting 2016.
3.2.2 Associate membership fees for geographical entities:{Basic fee + Population x (relative GDP)2/200} x 1.027year-2016. Associate membership fees for non-geographical entities: Basic fee x 3.
Founding associate members and equivalents pay no fee.
3.3 The fee for participation in additional activities and programmes is decided by the Executive Board.
3.3.1 Eurodyssey fee: 0.
Regions participating in the programme will continue to cover all costs related to the involvement of their young people in the programme, as is the case today.
3.3.2 Summer academy fee: For member participating in the Summer Academy Organising Committee, € 5 000.
Other kind of agreements for AER Business partners may be established, duly justified and approved by the Vice-President Treasurer.
3.4 No membership fee discount will be applied, except in exceptional circumstances, duly justified for a non-renewable period and approved by the Vice-President Treasurer.
3.5 Members not having paid their fee will have their membership rights suspended and the representatives of the region will no longer be eligible, without prejudice to the recovery of unpaid fees.
3.6 The Executive Board is charged to take legal action to obtain recovery of all membership fees.
3.7 All fees are annual, unless otherwise noted.
Article 4 – The General Assembly
4.1 Invitations and draft agendas should be sent to members at least four weeks and working documents at least two weeks before the meetings.
4.2 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.
4.3 The Executive Board will give its opinion on the proposals to the General Assembly.
Article 5 – The Bureau
5.1 Being in charge of policy-making, each bureau member must be able to rely on an officer to draft speeches and policy documents in liaison with the secretariat.
5.2 The Bureau meetings are chaired by the AER President.
5.3 The Bureau meetings are prepared by the Executive Board and may, in addition to the pre-defined debate on a specific topic, also have an open part to give individual Bureau members the opportunity to raise issues or topics that are relevant for their region/country or to another body of the organisation.
The Executive Board and the Working Groups will inform the Bureau on their implementation of the political priorities through their work programmes.
5.4 As the Bureau members have been selected to represent all the AER member regions from their country, at the physical meetings, the delegations will be seated per country.
5.5 The Bureau will vote by show of hands (voting cards) at physical meetings or by online voting at virtual meetings. Each country will be granted two votes.
5.5.1 At the physical meetings, if substitute members are present, they will be seated in their delegation, without the right to vote.
5.5.2 Representatives of the regions where AER has an office will each have one vote.
5.6 Invitations and draft agendas should be sent to members at least four weeks and working documents at least two weeks before the meetings.
5.7 The Bureau may establish Task Forces. These are not permanent structures. The Bureau shall establish regulations concerning the work of the Task Forces (Terms of Reference).
Article 6 – The Executive Board
Invitations and draft agendas should be sent to members at least two weeks and working documents at least one week before the meetings.
Article 7 – The President
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.
7.2 At the discretion of the Executive Board, the AER Honorary President is a distinction that can be conferred on the person who served a prior term as President. The Honorary President serves as an ex officio member of the Executive Board to provide such advice as from time to time is requested by the President or the Executive Board.
Article 8 – The Vice-Presidents
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Article 9 – The Treasurer
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Article 10 – The Secretary General
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Article 11 – Working Groups
11.1 Each Working Group decides on its own working structure.
11.2 Each Working Group Chair’s region is charged to appoint a seconded officer to act as working group secretariat in liaison with the AER secretariat. The seconded officer is responsible for:
Co-organising events and projects in collaboration with the secretariat;
Manage the content of the meetings;
Draft speeches and policy contributions.
11.3 The Chair will take the responsibility for the planning of the Working Group’s activities.
11.4 Invitations and draft agendas to Working Groups’ meetings should be sent to members at least four weeks and working documents at least two weeks before the meetings.
Article 12 – The Programmes
12.1 Regions taking the presidency of programmes are charged to appoint a seconded officer to act as programme secretariat in accordance with Article of the Procedures.
Article 13 – Financial commitments
13.1 The annual budget for the AER makes a distinction between the ordinary expenditure of the governing bodies, the Political Bureau and the Working Groups on the one hand, and the expenditure of other AER activities that are necessary in order to achieve stated objectives, on the other.
13.2 The former should in full be covered by the expected membership fees. The latter should in full be covered by fees, submitted by the concerned parties.
Article 14 – Procedure on votes
All votes in all AER bodies are by simple majority, defined as more than 50% of those present and voting physically or online, unless otherwise specified in the present procedures.
All votes are carried out by show of hands, unless a member requests otherwise, or by online voting in case of virtual meetings.
In the event of a tied vote, the President of the body in question has the casting vote.
Article 15 – Procedure on elections
15.1 All procedures on elections are overseen by the Election committee (please refer to art. 10 of the statutes).
15.2 Delegates in all bodies of AER must hold a regional political mandate. 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.
15.3 In order to maintain the term of office, all elections between the mandatory periods will be by-elections.
15.4 The member regions shall be informed six weeks in advance of the elections taking place at the General Assembly (i.e. election of members of the Executive Board, Bureau, Monitoring and Evaluation Group, Election Group).
15.5 The candidates are invited to send an application letter and a CV at least four weeks before the elections.
15.6 The portfolio of the candidates will be distributed to all members at least two weeks before the election.
15.7 The election will be presided over by two talliers (i.e. two AER members who will have volunteered on the spot to preside over the election and count the votes) In case of a second round of voting, only the two candidates with the most number of votes can stand.
15.8 All elections in all AER bodies are by simple majority, defined as more than 50% of those present and voting, unless otherwise specified in the present procedures.
15.9 All elections are carried out by secret ballot, unless a unanimous decision to the contrary is made by the body in question.
15.10 In case of delays in the convention of a General Assembly, the mandates of members of the AER bodies remain valid until the next relevant elections, unless otherwise explicitly provided for in the Statutes and Procedures.
Art 15 A – Election of the Executive Board
The General Assembly elects separately, for a mandate of two years, the members of the Executive Board:
a) The President;
b) The Treasurer;
c) 7-12 Vice Presidents, with assignments defined by the Board;
The members of the Executive Board may be re-elected three times.
Art. 15 B – Election of the Bureau
The General Assembly ratifies, for a mandate of two years and on the suggestion by the Regions of the different states represented in AER, the members of the Bureau and their substitutes.
The Bureau consists of the members of the Executive Board and two representatives per State represented within the AER.
The members of the Bureau may be re-elected twice.
Between assemblies, the Executive Board decides to accept new nominations for members of the Bureau, for ratification by the following General Assembly.
Article 15 C – Election of the Monitoring and Evaluation Group
The General Assembly elects three members, not involved in other governing structures of AER, for a mandate of three years. The members may be re-elected twice.
If at a General Assembly there are not enough candidates for the necessary number of positions in the Monitoring and Evaluation Group, the General Assembly may delegate the decision on filling these positions to the Executive Board.
Article 15 D – Election of the Election Committee
The General Assembly elects separately, for a mandate of two years, three to five (3-5) members of the AER Election Committee.
Each member must
a) Be nominated by an AER member;
b) Hold a regional political mandate
The members of the Election Committee may be re-elected twice.
If at a General Assembly there are not enough candidates for the necessary number of positions in the Election Committee, the General Assembly may delegate the decision on filling these positions to the Executive Board.
