From 17 to 19 June, more than 150 representatives of European regions gathered in Maribor, Eastern Slovenia, to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Assembly of European Regions (AER). The anniversary was an opportunity to reflect upon the achievements of 40 years of interregional cooperation. It was also a source of inspiration for discussions of the 2025 General Assembly, Spring Bureau meeting and Maribor Innovation Forum.
Insights from the General Assembly 2025
The AER General Assembly on 18 June 2025 represented a key moment for reflection on achievements of the 2024-2025 period, but also it also constituted a democratic deliberation on the AER of the future. Opened by the remarks of the Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica and the keynote speech of Andrew Boff, Vice President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the meeting showcased the political, social and geographical reach of AER activities.
The political wide reach was exemplified by the Report of the Bureau. On this occasion, AER Vice President and Chair of the Task Force on Decarbonisation Johannes Sundelin (Norrbotten, Sweden) presented the advocacy work that led to the AER Position Paper on Decarbonisation.
Similarly, the Chair of the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Development, Harold Zoet (Gelderland, the Netherlands) gave an overview of the economic and social relevance of the AER Position Paper on Agriculture and Rural Development, while Lilijana Madjar, AER Vice President for Public Services, Digitalisation & Cohesion and Chair of the Task Force on Cohesion Policy, illustrated the multi-layered impact of the work done on the Position Paper on Cohesion Policy post 2027.
Read the position papers on Decarbonisation and Agriculture & Rural Development below
The reports from the Presidents of AER Programmes confirmed their intergenerational reach and impact. Through the words of Åshild Øpoyen (Nordland, Norway), representing the Summer Academy Presidency, Esther Estany, Eurodyssey President (Catalonia, Spain), and Norbert Nagy, Youth Regional Network President (Salaj, Romania), their relevance was confirmed by the reports on the lively workshops of the Summer Academy 2024 Bodø (Nordland, Norway), to the efforts of the Eurodyssey community to integrate young people in the job market, and the youth engagement by the Youth Regional Network (YRN) at pan-European level. The Eurodyssey Steering Committee members also gathered in Maribor to prepare the next Eurodyssey Forum, which will take place in Barcelona from 1 to 3 October 2025.
As community of practice, the AER could benefit from the vibrant work of the Working Group on the Bioeconomy, chaired by Nataša Ritonija (Eastern Slovenia), Green Hydrogen, led by President Albert Castellanos (Catalonia, Spain), and Mental Health, chaired by Daniel Schützer (Värmland, Sweden).
2025 was a key year for the European projects implemented by the AER. From the conclusion of the AMIF-funded EU-Belong project to the ambassador role taken up for the MAIA project, to the youth engagement and empowerment of Climbing the Ladder and ETI Labs, the AER demonstrated its capacity to connect Europe and regions through EU-funded projects covering a wide range of topics.
A new political leadership for the AER of the future
The celebration of the 40th Anniversary coincided with the renewal of the AER political leadership: the President, the Executive Board and the Bureau. After years of dedicated service, the General Assembly thanked President Castellanos for his commitment and ambition, congratulated the Bureau members for their political efforts and deliberated on who could take up the network’s mission of connecting regions and inspiring Europe. At the conclusion of a lively and participated General Assembly, Lukas Mandl (Lower Austria) already AER Vice President for European Integration and Wider Europe, was elected President of the Assembly of European Regions for the term 2025-2027.
Alongside the new President, the General Assembly elected a renewed team of Vice Presidents to support the political leadership of the organisation. Christian Debève (Région Grand Est) was elected Vice President – Treasurer, joined by the following Vice Presidents: Agustí Fernández de Losada Passols (Catalonia), Aida Karimli (Västra Götaland), Cornelia Micicoi (Timis), David Batsikadze (Ajara), Gerry Murray (Mayo), Harold Zoet (Gelderland), Johannes Sundelin (Norrbotten), Lilijana Madjar (Western Slovenia), Linda Helén Haukland (Nordland), Mykola Lukashuk (Dnipropetrovsk), and Tetiana Yehorova-Lutsenko (Kharkiv).
The General Assembly also ratified the new composition of the AER Bureau 2025-2027, building momentum for renewed efforts in interregional cooperation.
Insights of the Spring Bureau: AER Political Priorities 2025-2030, the future of Cohesion Policy and COP30
The primary political voice of the Assembly of European Regions, the AER Bureau had set ambitious goals ahead of its Spring meeting. Every five years, the Bureau sets the political voice underpinning the AER’s priorities as a pan-European and independent network. The Task Force on Political Priorities, whose work started in November 2024, gathered the efforts of Aida Karimli (Västra Götaland, Sweden), Daniel Schützer (Värmland, Sweden), Harold Zoet (Gelderland, the Netherlands), Jan Klopman (Flevoland, the Netherlands) and Johannes Sundelin (Norrbotten, Sweden).
Their commitment and efforts culminated in the approval of the AER Political Priorities 2025-2030. These are structured in three pillars, each of them developing in detail relevant areas of action for the upcoming five years. The first one, Our Democratic Regions, details the importance about promoting citizens’ participation and European values in a wider Europe. The second, Our Prosperous Regions, reaffirms the role of the regions in fostering innovation, sustainability and competitiveness. The third, Our Inclusive Regions, explores the potential of the regions to be drivers of social cohesion and guarantors of equal opportunities.
Building upon the newly approved Political Priorities, the AER Bureau discussed and approved the establishment of a new Task Force on the Accessibility of Services. Co-chaired by AER Vice Presidents Lilijana Madjar (Western Slovenia) and Gerry Murray (Mayo, Ireland), the Task Force aims to lead a coordinated effort for addressing regional inequalities and disparities in accessing key services such as affordable housing, quality education, sustainable employment, digital connectivity and healthcare. In doing so, it has the goal of releasing the cross-cutting potential of enablers such as digital innovation, climate resilience and social inclusion.
The focus then shifted to defining the Bureau’s positioning on the future of Cohesion Policy post-2027 and the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). A discussion on the matter was fundamental because of the upcoming Commission’s proposal on the next MFF which will be launched in mid-July 2025. To ensure the AER engagement and impact on the matter, members of the Executive Board and the Bureau voted in favour of nominating Jan Klopman, regional minister from the Province of Flevoland, as rapporteur on the MFF negotiations.
Before wrapping up the discussions of the Spring Bureau meeting, the Bureau members stated the vital importance for regional representatives to be present and engaged at the 30th UN Climate Conference (COP30), which will take place in Belém, Brazil, between 10 and 21 November 2025. Applications to represent the AER at COP30 are open until 30 July 2025 and it possible to apply by filling this form.
The Ukraine Focus Group: good practices enabling Ukraine’s recovery
The Ukraine Focus Group meeting, chaired by honorary President, Albert Castellanos gathered together representatives from Dnipropetrovsk and Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, Kharkiv, Rivne, Poltava and Transcarpathia to discuss the future plans for AER’s work on Ukraine.
Sergii Miliutin, Deputy Mayor of Kryvyi Rih, provided the welcoming keynote, and led a discussion on the need for closer collaboration of Ukrainian regions within AER, which was echoed in contributions from Vice Presidents Mikola Lukashuk and Tetiana Yehorova-Lutsenko. Vice-President-Treasurer, Christian Debève praised the Ukrainian members for their resilience in facing Russian aggression, and underlined that the AER will continue to strongly support their interests at European level.
The AER also heard from Peter Polajnar, Deputy Head of Unit of the European Commission’s Ukraine Division. Mr Polajnar provided an overview of supports available to Ukrainian regions through EU programmes like Interreg and U-LEAD with Europe, and expressed an openness to finding new ways to bolster partnerships between EU and Ukrainian regions.
Finally, local best practices were presented, with Head of the Zasavje Just Transition Center at RDA Zasavje, Martin Šikovc, and Oleg Rogoza, Project Manager at the Centre for European Perspectives showcasing partnerships based on projects between East Slovenia and Ukrainian municipalities.
Place-based, sustainable, and international: perspectives on innovation at the Maribor Innovation Forum
The discussions at the Maribor Innovation Forum built upon the fact that the social and economic fabric of European regions is undergoing a structural transformation, driven by the parallel challenges of climate adaptation, energy transition and demographic change. The threat of inequality between European regions, but also the value of their expertise and capacity to support European integration, were the red thread of the Opening of the Forum, enriched by the contributions by Aleksander Saša Arsenovič, President of the Development Council of Eastern Slovenia and Mayor of Maribor, Albert Castellanos, President of the Assembly of European Regions, and Srečko Đurov, State Secretary for Regional Development from Slovenia’s Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development.
Introduced by a video address by Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for Cohesion and Reforms, which focused on the importance of a flexible cohesion policy which changes together with the world, the Roundtable on Regions Boosting Europe’s Competitiveness explored regions’ achievements and challenges in implementing innovation policies and initiatives in their territories.
MEP Vladimir Prebilič (Renew Europe), stressed the importance of raising public and political awareness on how and which percentage of cohesion funds are spent, recalling the upcoming mid-term report and the inclusion of housing as one of priorities for cohesion policy. Andrew Boff, Vice President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (Council of Europe) highlighted the role that regional autonomy can play in addressing bottlenecks, supporting the delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also outside affluent urban areas. During the roundtable, Maja Schussler, Political Reporter at the Representation of the European Commission to Slovenia, stressed how the regional and EU dimensions must and cannot be isolated from each other, and explained how the bottom-up approach of the Regional Innovation Valleys (RIVs) provides a venue for regions to learn how to harness local strengths and capacities. The success stories from the Košice Self-Governing Region (Slovakia), illustrated by Chairman Rastislav Trnka, were a further confirmation of the capacity of European regions to drive the green transition through both environmental and energy initiatives. The Restoration Programme of Landscape Recovery, for example, has the goal to secure long-term water supply across the region, while the Regional Hydrogen Strategy, the first of its kind in Slovakia, has the potential to put Košice among the European champions of innovation.
The panels on technological and business drivers shifted the attention on the interaction between regional public authorities and national, EU and private funding programmes. During the Panel on Drivers of Technological Innovation, Lilijana Madjar, AER Vice President for Public Services, Digitalisation & Cohesion, highlighted how failure is a necessary and healthy step of the innovation process, especially at regional level, but pinpointed how the current EU funding schemes do not leave space for it. Demographic change, brain drain and depopulation of rural areas were common challenges hampering innovation, as shared by Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak, member of Podkarpackie Regional Board, (Poland), Dr. Robert Drobnič, Director-General, Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development (Slovenia), Tamara Zajec Balažič, Acting Director at SPIRIT Slovenia Business Development Agency (Slovenia). In Podkarpackie’s regional capital, Rzeszów, the negative trend of depopulation stopped and actually reverted thanks to long-term institutional support and financial incentives for young professionals.
The panel on International Practices for Business Excellence featured the point of view of key industry players in Slovenia and Western and Central Europe. For example, Mr. Marián Šefčovič, Director of Radenska (mineral water and beverages), shared about the challenge of upholding excellence and uniqueness in the food industry, while Dr. Zvone Simončič, Director of Pharmaceutical Research and Development at Krka, and Mr. Avgust Šibila, Assistant Chief Executive for Talum, a wold-leading aluminium and steel company, shared their experience in ensuring effective knowledge transfer between different branches of multinationals.
Sustainable Innovation for Resilient Societies: Mental Health, Bioeconomy and Sustainable Tourism
The event was also an opportunity to exchange good practices in the fields of mental health, bioeconomy and sustainable tourism. Daniel Schützer, Chair of the AER Working Group on Mental Health, and Nataša Ritonija, Chair of the AER Working Group on the Bioeconomy seized the opportunity to strengthen the community of practice around their respective areas of interest, gathering inspiring inputs from several regions, including Odesa (Ukraine) and Fribourg (Switzerland). Fribourg also participated in the Panel on Sustainable Tourism Practices, which explored how national and regional strategies can operate in synergy to release the maximum potential and benefits of sustainable tourism. Baran Güneş, Deputy Mayor of Mudanya (Bursa, Türkiye) shared the experience of Bursa in promoting sustainable coastal and gastronomic tourism.
Joint Declaration: Regions for a Competitive and Resilient Europe
The AER 40th Anniversary and Maribor Innovation Forum culminated in the joint signature of the Joint Declaration on Regions for a Competitive and Resilient Europe by the Assembly of Europea Regions (AER) and the Development Council of the Cohesion Region of Eastern Slovenia. The Declaration reaffirms the commitment to implementing place-based innovation as a driver of social innovation, cross-border and interregional cooperation, and regional development, and identified regional expertise as an essential component to ensure the success of these processes.
Joint-Declaration-on-Innovation_v1906-1
Event pictures
