Klaus Klipp, Secretary General of the Assembly of European Regions, delivered this morning a letter on behalf of AER President Riccardo Illy (President of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy) to the President of the Republic of Italy Giorgio Napolitano, who’s in Strasbourg for a solemn visit to the European Parliament.

In the document the more than 250 regions represented by AER issue an appeal to the Italian President for a rapid ratification of the European Constitution: ‘the EU Constitutional Treaty has got numerous elements which we consider vital for the future of the regional dimension in Europe’, writes Riccardo Illy in the letter.

Mr. Illy, on behalf of the AER regions, invites the Italian president to go on advocating for the ratification of the Treaty with the EU partners, and asks him to support the proposal of inserting an explicit reference to regional and local self-government in the next ‘Berlin Declaration’, to be signed in March by EU leaders.

The AER Presidum is due to meet on the 22nd February in Berlin, to further discuss proposals and initiatives on the Treaty ratification. The aim is also to boost those Constitutional provisions which make an explicit reference to regional powers.

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