Seinäjoki, South Ostrobothnia (FIN), 8 December 2000

Mrs Liese Prokop, the new AER President, declared in her opening speech for her mandate that the acceptation of enlargement, the application of subsidiarity at European level aiming at increased involvement of the populations of the Regions in Europe and the development of interregional cooperation will be the three main lines for her activities within the Assembly of European Regions in the coming two years.

The AER member Regions met at their General Assembly in Seinäjoki, at the same moment in time as the European Summit in Nice and debated, with the participation of other institutions and interregional organisations such as the Committee of the Regions (CdR), the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe (CLRAE)…. the new forms of Governance in an enlarged Europe in view of the Regions of Europe’s contribution to the White paper to be redacted by the European Commission.

The AER and its sister interregional organisations decided, on this occasion, to work together to reinforce the involvement of regional actors in European decision making. They approved the guidelines drawn up by the AER and the CPMR which aims at the implementation of a system of Governance in which the competences of all levels – European, national, Regional and local – would be clearly specified and the principle of subsidiarity correctly defined.

“Only by recognising the mediating role of regional authorities with the citizens and also their federal role within the territories which they represent within the European Union can the challenge of good European Governance be met and the social, economic and territorial cohesion of an enlarged Europe be maintained” declared L Prokop, AER President.

Final Resolutions

The last day of the 15th AER General Assembly, many documents have been approved on several important topics as well. Representatives of the European Regions stressed their point of view about the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), trade in women and children, subsidiarity and cooperation in an enlarged Europe.

All this documents are now available here below.

Download the “Resolution on the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union”:

Download the “Resolution on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)”:

Download the “Resolution on the trade in women and children”:

For more information: [email protected]