1-2 December 2015 – Brussels (BE)

AER elections & political discussion on
“Facing the migration and refugee challenges”

Key issue

“The world is facing an unprecedented magnitude of people on the move”. This undeniable fact is not only challenging public leaders and governments of all political levels on how to manage this migration and refugee crisis. More than that it challenges the social cohesion of our societies and puts into question our values and democracies as such.

Given that it is local and regional authorities that are confronted directly with the welcoming, integration and management of this migration flow, AER’s December Bureau meeting focussed on this topic.Regions from various geographic backgrounds of Europe will share their stories, the situations they are in, the difficulties they have faced and the solutions and strategies they came up with in order to cope with the situation. The purpose of this bureau meeting was to engage in a dialogue and exchange between regional decision and policy makers. Given AER’s member regions broad geographic diversity, new insights as well as a political statement were generated.

Download the conclusions from the Bureau meeting

Download the minutes of the General Assembly

Download the speakers’ presentations

 Related articles:

• Hande Özsan Bozatli is re-elected unanimously for her second mandate
• Bureau concludes talks on the refugee crisis
• Newly elected Executive Board will focus on “Revitalising democracy” in 2016
• Report on regionalisation: trends and challenges
• Mathieu Mori is appointed Secretary General

Photos from the Bureau

 Photos from the GA

 Photos from the networking reception

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 Programme of events

General Assembly, 1 December, 13.00-17.30

CoR, Jacques Delors building, rue Belliard 99-101, 1040 Brussels

The GA will be a crucial milestone for AER at the end of this year both for statutory reasons with the elections of the Executive Board and Bureau, the approval of the 2014 accounts but also to confirm our role on monitoring the State of the Regions in Europe. We will present our new report on regionalisation in Europe which is the collaborative product of our dedicated team of experts from across Europe. You will find enclosed the draft agenda of the General Assembly.

Annual Networking Reception, 1 December, 18.00

AER office, 63 rue d’Arlon, 1040 Brussels

The reception will be hosted with the support of our partner BNP Paribas Fortis in our Brussels office in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Laurent of Belgium. We are honoured to count His Royal Highness amongst our closest allies in pursuing more and better policies to preserve our environment against the detrimental impacts of climate change. The annual event is the occasion to gather our privileged partners from the institutions, partner organisations and networks we work with in Brussels and private partners. Please find enclosed the invitation to the receptions.

Bureau, 2 December, 09.00-13.00

CoR, Jacques Delors building, rue Belliard 99-101, 1040 Brussels

The Bureau will be the first to be organised in the new format decided upon last June by members aiming to make the AER Bureau the main political body of the organisation and the cradle for cross-European debate and discussion. No more organisational discussions but a free space for political debate. The topic on the agenda will be “Facing the refugee crisis” and we look forward to getting insight on how regions across Europe tackle the urgency of the migration challenge. Please find enclosed the concept note for the Bureau session. Please note that the event is open to the public so do not hesitate to join us for this debate.

Part of the meeting will be open to political and thematic contributions from Bureau members. If you would like to raise an issue of particular importance to your region or a hot topic for European regions, please contact the secretariat (Céline Dawans, c.dawans@aer.eu) with your proposal.

Hotel reservations:

Please note that preferential rates have been negotiated with our partner ACCOR in two hotels in Brussels. To benefit from these rates, please book your rooms via the booking forms below before 31 October (for Ibis) and 6 November (for Sofitel).

Ibis Brussels off Grand Place***
rue du Marché aux Herbes 100, 1000 Brussels
Booking form for Ibis

Sofitel Brussels Europe*****
Place Jourdan 1, 1040 Bruxelles
Booking form for the Sofitel

For your flights, don’t forget that you can benefit from a 10% reduction via our partner Brussels Airlines.

Documents to download

• Online registration form (deadline 17 Nov.)
• Voting form (deadline 17 Nov.)
• Proxy form (deadline 17 Nov.)
• General programme of events
• Booking form for the Ibis hotel (deadline 31 Oct.)
• Booking form for the Sofitel (deadline 6 Nov.)
• Invitation letter to the General Assembly and Bureau
• Invitation to the Annual Networking reception
• Draft agenda for the General Assembly
• Draft agenda for the Bureau meeting & concept note on the refugee crisis