Mr Luc Van den Brande, President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) since December 1996, received the Emperor Maximilian Prize 2000 for his work in favour of the development of the Europe of the Regions. Luc Van den Brande, current member of the Flemish Parliament and President of the Flemish Parliamentary Commission for Foreign Affairs, was Minister-President of Vlaanderen (B) between 1992 and 1999.

An international jury met in June and decided to reward the consistant work of Minister-President Van den Brande in the field of the promotion of regionalism, interregional cooperation and the respect of democracy. The prize will be awarded to Mr Van den Brande on 7th July 2000 in Innsbruck (A) in the presence of Mr Bartoszevski (Former Polish Minister), Mr Weingartner (Landeshauptmann of Tirol), Mr Van Staa (Mayor of Innsbruck) and many other European VIPs.

The Emperor Maximilian Prize, which represents 10 000 Euro, was created in 1997 by the Land of Tirol and the town of Innsbruck. Each year it rewards one person having worked particularly hard for the reinforcement of the role of the Regions and the communes at European level. Special attention is paid to efforts made in order to consolidate the principle of subsidiarity and the content of the Charters of Regional and Local Self-Government of the Council of Europe.

This prize was awarded to Jordi Pujol, President of the Generalitat of Catalunya (E), in 1998 and to Josef Hofmann, Former President of the Chamber of local authorities of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe (CLRAE), in 1999.

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