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Pool of experts on regionalisation

AER relies on the expertise of academics and experts throughout Europe to ensure a proper understanding of the development of regionalisation in the different parts of the continent. These experts follow and monitor the key developments in their day-to-day activities and have agreed to share their insight with AER in view of gathering a truly cross-cutting picture of where regions are heading and how they are evolving.

We are proud to showcase their work and analyses and to share their views with our members and readers and we thank them for their trust and dedication to assist us in defending and promoting the interests of regions in Europe!

See the report on the state of regionalisation in Europe

 

General experts

Anne AZAM-PRADEILLES

Ms Azam-Pradeilles, French ENA graduate, international expert with an extensive experience in international cooperation, EU matters and Institutional Building, notably in the fields of public administration reform, governance, regional policy and capacity strengthening, in particular with the EU Twinning instrument, has graduated of the ENS of Cachan and Paris Sorbonne. She started her career as senior lecturer and research fellow in English at Paris V-René Descartes University. Since 1994, she has specialised in EU enlargement, then in European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) countries and more widely Africa, Asia and South America. She worked for public services and administration reforms in several countries: France, Latvia, Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Niger, Morocco… Since 1996 she is a lecturer at ENA, notably in CISAP. Her present projects focus on public administration reform and regional policy, both East (ENP) and South (FED) – economic, social and territorial cohesion and the balance of powers between administrative levels being true challenges everywhere.

Amélie BARBIER-GAUCHARD

Amélie BARBIER-GAUCHARD ([email protected]) is Assistant Professor in Economics with the higher degree “Accreditation to Supervise Research » at the Faculty of Economics and Management at the University of Strasbourg. She conducts research in the BETA Research Unit (Bureau of Theoretical and Applied Economics). As expert in the multi-level governance of public finance within the EU, her research topics are economic policy, fiscal policy tools and European integration.

Nicolas BOUZOU

Nicolas Bouzou is a French economist born in 1976. He founded Asterès, a consultancy firm, in 2006. He is Director of Studies in the MBA Law & Management program at the University of Paris II Assas. He is a television columnist of the “Matinale” broadcast on the I-Télé channel. He often writes articles for the French press (Le Figaro, Les Echos, Le Monde) as well as for the foreign press (Financial Times, Le Temps). He sits on the Conseil d’Analyse de la Société to the Prime Minister (2010-2012). He is also part of the keyser Söze group directed by Jacques Attali which counts the 26 best French economists. He wrote numerous books, such as Le Chagrin des Classes Moyennes (JC Lattès, 2011), La Politique de la Jeunesse (avec Luc Ferry, Odile Jacob, 2012) and On Entend l’Arbre Tomber mais pas la Forêt Pousser (JC Lattès, 2013). He will publish on January 2015 by Jean-Claude Lattès the story of a travel around Europe called “Le Progrès c’est ici, Voyage chez les Européens qui aiment l’Avenir”. His area of work are economic policies, territorial organisation, health and the philosophy of progress.

Murat DAOUDOV

Murat Daoudov is university lecturer, senior international consultant and entrepreneur. He is skilled in leadership and communication in multi-cultural context, government relations, alternative diplomacy & negotiations, and international cooperation. He is founder and president of the Middle East Development Network (MDN), an international company specialized in public policy and development consulting, and lecturer at Marmara University.

Gratian MIHAILESCU

Gratian Mihailescu graduated in communication and public relations. He specialized in European Affairs, International Relations and Development receiving scholarships from different countries. He was Erasmus student at Eberhard Karl University of Tuebingen and Erasmus Mundus at Trento University, Italy and Corvinus University of Budapest. Between the two masters, he worked and studied in Brussels, doing a postgraduate course in project management and community advisor. Since 2012, Gratian Mihailescu is back to Romania and is a consultant and columnist, cooperating with various think tanks on public policy issues, or with consulting companies. His main area of focus are EU policies, EU funds, Regional Development, Democracy & Good-Governance, Regionalisation and Subsidiarity principle. In 2013, he established an NGO, Local Development Institute aiming to support activities and initiatives that contribute to local and regional development in West part of Romania. In 2016, he launches a new platform called UrbanizeHub, supported by the Assembly of European Regions.

Arjan SCHAKEL

Arjan Schakel is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science of Maastricht University and worked previously for VU University Amsterdam and the University of Edinburgh. His research interests span the topics of multilevel governance, federalism, territorial politics, regional government, European and regional elections, and regionalist parties. Arjan has published numerous articles in top political science journals and his books have been published by Oxford University Press, Palgrave Macmillan, and Routledge. He is a member of the management team of the Standing Group of Regionalism and Federalism’ of the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR), he is special book series editor on the Palgrave Macmillan series on Comparative Territorial Politics, and he is a member of the editorial board of ‘Multi Level Governance watch’. Arjan’s publications, papers and datasets can be retrieved from his personal website.

Adriana SKORUPSKA

Adriana Skorupska is an analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs in the Eastern and South Eastern Europe Programme.
Her interests include the international cooperation of self-government, cross-border cooperation and the decentralization reforms in the Eastern Partnership Countries, especially in Georgia and Ukraine.

Anita SOBJÁK

Anita Sobják is an analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs.
She pursued her studies in Romania, the Netherlands and in Poland.
Her main area of focus is Central Europe and the Republic of Moldova. Within that regional context she deals with European and foreign policies of the individual states, V4 cooperation, energy security, post-1989 political and economic transition processes, as well as minority issues.

Melanie SULLY

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Country specific experts

Maura Adshead – Ireland

Maura Adshead, BA, MA (Limerick), Phd (Liverpool) is Senior Lecturer in Politics and Public Administration, Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Limerick.
She is author of Developing European Regions? Ashgate, 2002, co-author (with Jonathon Tonge) of Politics in Ireland, Palgrave, 2009; and co-editor of Public Administration and Public Policy in Ireland: theory and methods, Routledge 2003; Contesting the State: lessons from the Irish case, MUP, 2008, and FOI@15. An examination of Freedom of Information in Ireland, MUP, 2015.
She has published a variety of articles on aspects of Irish politics and public policy and has carried out commissioned research for Combat Poverty, the Health Service Executive and the National Economic and Social Forum.

Algirdas Astraukas – Lithuania

Algirdas Astrauskas is an associated professor of the Institute of Public administration; Faculty of Politics and Management of Mykolas Romeris University.
Before starting to work at Mykolas Romeris University in 2001 he held several senior advisory and management positions in the state government institutions, including Specialist Advisor to the President of the Republic of Lithuania and vice-minister in the Ministry of Interior. He has over 40 publications to his name on public administration, regional policy, local self-government, public finances, strategic management.

Peter Bussjäger – Austria

Peter Bußjäger studied Law at the University of Innsbruck. Since 1987, he is working as a Civil servant of the Land Vorarlberg. From 2000, he was Associate Professor at the Institute of Public Law, Financial Law and Political Science at the University of Innsbruck. In 2014, he became Professor of Public Law at the University of Innsbruck. Since 2013, he is also Researcher on Law at Liechtenstein-Institute in Bendern/Liechtenstein. His main research subjects are Federalism (European and Austrian), reform of administra-tion and basic legal problems. Since 2001, he is also Director of the Institute of Federalism, Innsbruck. From 2003 to 2012, he was Director of the state parliament (Landtag) of Vorarlberg.

Giancarlo Cotella – Poland

Giancarlo Cotella is Assistant Professor at Politecnico di Torino, where he concluded his doctoral studies in 2009. In recent years, he participated in several international research projects including, including the FP7 MILESECURE-2050, ESPON 2.3.1 ESDP, ESPON 2.3.2 Governance, ESPON FOCI, ESPON INSTED, ESPON TANGO and LisGo. Dr. Cotella’s research focuses on EU territorial governance and spatial planning domestic contexts and, in particular, on the Europeanization of spatial planning in the new EU Member States. He taught and researched in Germany, Poland, Estonia, England, and has been actively involved in the Coordination Unit of the Association of European Schools of Planning since 2005.

Iain Deas – United Kingdom

Iain Deas is an advisor to the Assembly of European Regions. He is a senior lecturer in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Manchester. He is co-director of the university’s cross-disciplinary Centre for Urban Policy Studies.
He has published widely on the politics of urban regeneration and the governance of territorial policy, including recent articles on the development of city-regions (in Urban Studies, 2014), policy actor networks and sub-national economic development agencies in England (Local Economy, 2013), and agglomeration economics and regional policy (Environment and Planning A, 2014).

Annika Jaansoo – Estonia

Annika Jaansoo is lecturer, researcher and PhD student (“Providing public services across borders – why is it so rare among subnational governments within Europe?”) at the University of Tartu, Estonia.
In her lecturing courses, Ms Jaansoo focus on Public finance. Annika Jaansoo has been working in the public sector in the audit and planning and management field in Estonia from September 2010 to July 2014.
Through her work experience as Auditor (2012-2014), Development Manager (2010-2012) and Partner/Senior Consultant (2001-2002), Ms Jaansoo has expertise in compliance audit, project planning, budgeting for projects, preparation and managing EU structural Funds’ projects.

Martin Klatt – Denmark

After completing a M.A. in History, Political Science and Nordic Philology at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel in 1995, Martin Klatt became project associate at the Schleswig-Holstein Institute for Peace Research (Kiel, DE) in 1996 and research associate at the Studieafdelingen ved Dansk Centralbibliotek for Sydslesvig later on, from 1997 to 2000. In September 2001, Mr Klatt became assistant professor of Contemporary History IFG and got his Ph.D. from the University of Southern Denmark the year after.
In January 2004, the IFG was merged with the University of Southern Denmark and renamed “Department of Border Region Studies”. In 2005, Martin Klatt was named Associate Professor of Contemporary History.
Between September and December 2013, he finally worked as a visiting researcher at the University of Victoria (BC, Canada), for the Centre of Global Studies.

Cian Finn – Ireland

Cian Finn is a PhD candidate in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Limerick. He completed a Master of Arts in European Politics and Governance at the University of Limerick in 2012 and commenced PhD research in September 2013 under the supervision of Dr. Chris McInerney and Dr. Frank Häge. His PhD thesis analyses the depth of citizen and civil society participation in subnational government in Ireland.
His research interests include: Citizen Participation, Democratic Theory, Civic Engagement, Public Administration, Local Governance, and Public Policy.

Thomas Fleiner – Switzerland

Prof. Fleiner was Full Professor of the Law Faculty at the University of Fribourg (CH), specialised in General Theory of the State and Swiss Constitutional and Administrative Law (from 1971 to 2008).
He was also Director of the Institute of Federalism (1984-2008) and he has been Professor for general theory of state at the distant University of Brig since 2008.
He is President of the Curatorship of the Institute for European Constitutional Sciences of the Distant University Hagen Germany, member of the PhD Board of the University of Siena and member of the Centre of the European Constitutional Law (Tsatsos Foundation) in Greece.
His fields of Research and teaching are: Federalism, Rule of Law, Multicultural State Comparative Administrative and Constitutional Law, Political Theory and Philosophy, the Swiss Constitutional and Administrative Law as well as Legislative Drafting.

Davit Gabaidze – Georgia

After getting his PhD in administrative law at I. Javakhishvili State University in Georgia, Davit Gabaidze has been working as a lawyer since 2004. He worked, amongst others, for the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Ajara. He is currently a lecturer at the Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University, and since April 2014 Head of the Legal and Human Ressources Department of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara. He is member of several associations such as the Georgian Young lawyers Association, Batumi branch, and the Georgian Bar association.

Rémi Gayno – Russia

Rémi Gayno studied “International Relations and regional integration” at the renowed French school SciencesPo Strasbourg (Institut for political studies, University of Strasbourg).
He spent one year (2012/2013) at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), during which he could familiarize with the Russian culture, increase his language skills, and deepen his knowledge in Russian history. His Master’s thesis was entitled: “The Franco-Soviet relations during the Euromissiles crisis from a journalistic point of view”. His aim was to analyse the dissensions, but also the coherence between the different views expressed in four newspapers (2 French and 2 Russian). Despite the fundamental differences of objective that the articles are serving, it is possible to identify a consistent picture of the crisis, which is particular to the journalistic world and different from the academic narrative. He would like to focus his future researches on the evolution of the Sino-Russian border, and its impact on the countries’ relations, especially related to the population living in the border area. Rémi Gayno was born and grew up in Tokyo. He can speak french, english, russian and german.

Jan Grasnick – Germany

Dr. Jan Grasnick is research associate at the Institute for Canadian Studies of the University of Augsburg. His research focuses on Democratization, analysis of multi-level systems (EU), processes of regionalization, policy analysis, and comparative politics.
Publications:
2012: Regionales Regieren und Demokratie in der Europäischen Union, in: Jan Grasnick / Katja Walter (Hrsg.): Politik in Nordamerika und Europa – Analysen, Theorien und literarische Rezeption, Wiesbaden, S. 162-176.
2009: Die bayerische Landtagswahl vom 28. September 2008 – Betriebsunfall oder Ende eines Mythos?, zusammen mit Rainer-Olaf Schultze, in: Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen, 40 (2009),1, S. 34 – 55.
2007: Regionales Regieren in der Europäischen Union – Bayern, Rhône-Alpes und Oberösterreich im Vergleich, Wiesbaden.

Nico Groenendijk – The Netherlands

Nico Groenendijk is professor of European Economic Governance at the Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences of the University of Twente, Netherlands. He is co-director of the Centre for European Studies. He has a background in public administration, public sector economics and EU studies. He has specialized in the EU budget, EU institutional development, economic policy coordination, and fiscal federalism. Recently he has done research into EU macro-regional strategies, cross-border cooperation in Europe, the role of regions in the Europe 2020 strategy, and the impact of EU regulation on subnational authorities in the Netherlands. Nico Groenendijk has been a visiting professor in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia and South Africa. Currently he is visiting professor of European Studies at the European College of the University of Tartu, Estonia.

Mujo Hadzic – Bosnia and Herzegovina

Mujo Hadzic is currently head of Section for Coordination of EU Aid Programs and Regional Cooperation of the Government of Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Previously, he worked at many different positions, dealing with the coordination of EU assistance projects. From 1997 to 2002, he was also involved in the International Police Task Force / UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina as language assistant to the Special Response Unit. He is writing a PhD about “The role of culture-specific values in Conflict Management and Psychological Operations”(University of Belgrade).

Ulla Higdem – Norway

Ulla Higdem is Dr.scient and associate professor at the Faculty of Economics and Organization Science at Lillehammer University College. She is affiliated with the Centre of Innovation in Services – public and private. She has a background in the field of regional planning and developmental work and has been the administrative leader of the Eastern Norway County Network, which at that time represented Norway’s counties at the board of the AER (1994-97). Dr. Higdem undertook her doctoral studies at the Department of Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (2007). Her Dr.scient. thesis, “Regional partnerships and their constructions and implementations”, is a case study of three counties in Norway and their partnerships that were constructed to enhance regional development. Her research is focused on such regional issues as policy-making and innovation, planning, directing and governance structures, and regional foresight. Dr. Higdem’s research interests include the new and changing forms of directing, steering (governance), and planning – regional partnerships, innovative networks and processes for regional and local planning and development, deliberation, partaking and partnership in a democratic perspective, and meta-governance.

Pekka Kettunen – Finland

Pekka Kettunen defended his doctoral thesis in 1994 at the University of Turku. The thesis analysed the various theories of implementation research, and tested the bottom-up-approach empirically.  Since then Dr. Kettunen has worked also at the Abo Akademi University, Tampere University and Jyväskylä University and published over one hundred scientific publications in the areas of policy analysis, evaluation, local government research, comparative analysis, and democracy. He has recently co-authored articles in Local Government Studies, Regional and Federal Studies, and Evidence & Policy. He has also co-edited two special issues of journals: in 2012, Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, on evaluation, and in 2013, Halduskultuur (Administrative Culture) on decentralization and governance. Dr. Kettunen has given presentations in several Japanese Universities and made longer visit to several European Universities in the U.K., Denmark, Estonia, Croatia and Slovenia. He has also conducted evaluation for Icelandic, Estonian and Slovenian Research Agencies. His current research interests include the issue of effectiveness of public interventions, as well as the methods applied in analyzing impacts.

Nikolaos-Komninos Hlepas – Greece

Nikolaos-Komninos Hlepas is Associate Professor (specialised in Regional Government and Self Government) within the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He studied Law in Athens and got his PhD (in Law) in Bremen (DE). His main teaching and research topics are: Regional Administration and Local Self Government, Comparative Public Administration, Local Public Sector Reforms, Political Leadership, Administrative Modernization, Democracy, Public Law. He has published several books and articles in Greek, English, German and French and has been Deputy Chair of the Committee that drafted the law on the “Kallikratis” Reform project. Prof. Hlepas has also been the Chairman of the National School of Public Administration and Local Government, in Athens (2010-2012).
Finally, he is Ordinary Member of the Independent Group of Experts of the Council of Europe – Congress of Local Authorities and Regions (ECLR).

Snežana Kresoja – Serbia

After graduating from the Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, Snežana Kresoja became adviser to the President of the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia.Areas of professional interests are: processes of democratic transition and institutional consolidation as the cardinal stone of political, economic, social post-communist transformation, issues of facing/dealing with the past as well as identity politics – understanding and acceptance of European values and standards as a basic concept of strengthening and building up multidimensional European identity patterns.

Santiago Lago-Peñas – Spain

Prof. Lago-Peñas has been Full Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Vigo, Spain, since 2011 and is at the head of the Department of Applied Economics. He is also executive director for the Governance and Economics research Network (webs.uvigo.es/infogen) and co-director (with Jorge Martínez-Vázquez – Georgia State University) of the RIFDE (www.rifde.es).
Moreover, he has been Associate editor of Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics since 2012 and member of the Editorial Board of European Journal of Government and Economics since 2011.He is an expert called by several organisations such as the Forum of Federations and the Argentine Senate, the Agence Française de Développement, the Corporación Andina de Fomento (Peru), and, of course, the AER. Prof. Lago-Peñas has been working as an expert for the Directorate-General for Regional Policy in the appraisal, Implementation and mentoring of cohesion policy interventions, (2012-) and also worked for the reform of the Spanish regional financing system (Ministry of Finance 2006-2008), for the Spanish R+D+i plan (in 2012) as well as for the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. He was also Counselor at the Galician Socioeconomic Council (2003-2011), consultant for the regional government of Andalusia (2005) and currently is adviser and consultant for the regional government of Galicia (2005-).

Damir Magaš – Croatia

Prof. Damir Magaš is the head of the Centre for Karst and Coastal Research, University of Zadar (HR), (since 2007) as well as Full Professor of Regional Geography (esp. Geography of Croatia), Geoaspects of Regionalization and Spatial Planning and Urban Geography for the Department of Geography at the same University. He completed a BA in Geography (1975), a MA in Urban Geography (1983) and a PhD. also in Geography (1992). He was Spatial and Urban Planer (1976-1993), Head of the Department of Geography in Zadar (1994-2000), Dean of the Faculty of Arts in Zadar (2000-2003), Rector of the University of Zadar (2002-2007), Member of the Zadar-Knin County Government (1993-1997), and Zadar County Government (2000-2004).
Prof Magaš also led various research projects such as Geographical Bases of Small Croatian Islands Development (1996-2006) or Geographical Bases of Croatian Littoral Regions Development (2006-2013). His special interests are regional geography of Croatia, processes of regionalization, historical geography and urban geography.
Publications:
2013: Geografija Hrvatske / Geography of Croatia, Sveučilište u Zadru / University of Zadar, Meridijani, Zadar, p. 600.
2011: The Concept of Territorial Organisation of Adriatic Croatia, Geoadria 16/2, Zadar, 211-236.
2005: Croatia: Towards the Concept of Euroregions, in: Anton Gosar (ed.), Globalized Europe, Annales, Univerza na Primorskem, Koper, 2005, 247-258.
2003: Contemporary Aspects of the Geographical Regionalization and Administrative-Territorial Organization of Croatia, Geoadria, 8/1, Zadar, 127-147.

Enrico Martial – Italy

Enrico Martial (1962) graduated in Philosophy, served at EIPA (European Institute for Public Administration) in Maastricht, at the Valle d’Aosta Region, at the Italian Ministry of Public Works and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Director of the Italian Conference of Presidents of Regional Assemblies, he has been Secretary General of the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE).
He wrote articles on EU integration and Italian affairs in national and international reviews (Il Mulino, Relazioni internazionali, Limes Economia Exterior”, and Raum – Österreichische Zeitschrift für Raumplanung und Regionalpolitik).

Gratian Mihailescu – Romania

Gratian Mihailescu graduated in communication and public relations. He specialized in European Affairs, International Relations and Development receiving scholarships from different countries. He was Erasmus student at Eberhard Karl University of Tuebingen and Erasmus Mundus at Trento University, Italy and Corvinus University of Budapest. Between the two masters, he worked and studied in Brussels, doing a postgraduate course in project management and community advisor.
Since 2012, Gratian Mihailescu is back to Romania and is a consultant and columnist, cooperating with various think tanks on public policy issues, or with consulting companies. His main area of focus are EU policies, EU funds, Regional Development, Democracy & Good-Governance, Regionalisation and Subsidiarity principle.
In 2013, he established an NGO, Local Development Institute aiming to support activities and initiatives that contribute to local and regional development in West part of Romania.

Ilona Pálné Kovács – Hungary

Ilona Pálné Kovács (1954), graduated as a lawyer, defended her PhD in political science, and was elected as a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2013.
She is a scientific adviser in the Institute for Regional Studies, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, HAS and full time professor at the Department for Political and International Studies of University of Pécs. She is a leader of PhD programme in political science here. The focus of doctoral programme led by her is territorial, time and social aspects of governance.
Her scientific interests are regional governance and local governments, management of regional policy teaching also public administration and constitutional law. She was a leader and participant of many domestic and international research projects among them several EU framework, ESF, INTERREG, TEMPUS, ESPON, UNESCO, EC DG Regio programmes.
She has published several books and hundreds of scientific articles. She is a member of several national and international professional organisations (like ESF, IGU, RSA, NISPACee)

Primož Pevcin – Slovenia

Primož Pevcin is currently an associate professor for public sector economics and management at University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Administration.
He defended his doctoral dissertation in 2004, and thesis focused on the empirical verification of factors affecting size of government as well as on the possible determination of the optimal size of government.
His research interests are widely associated with the public sector economics and management topics, including also subnational government financing and organization. This involves addressing the topics like intergovernmental transfers, efficiency of subnational governments, economics of decentralization and regionalization, subnational government consolidations etc.
He has been involved in several national and international research projects that addressed various public sector issues. During his career he has also performed several managerial posts at the faculty, where he served as a vice-dean for international cooperation and scientific research, and currently as a vice-dean for academic affairs.

Paul-Henri Philips – Belgium

Paul-Henri Philips obtained a Master in Public Management (with mention) from the Solvay Brussels School in 1997.
Since january 2001, he is European and International Coordinator at the Region of Brussels.
Since december 2013, he is also President of the European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG) at the Council of Europe.

Lee Pugalis – United Kingdom

Lee Pugalis is an advisor to the Assembly of European Regions. He holds a Readership at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University where he leads the Research group for Economic Development, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (REDIE). Before taking up an academic position at Northumbria University in 2010 he held several senior management and advisory positions across local, regional and national government, including Specialist Advisor to a Regional Development Agency.Lee has over 100 publications to his name, is the UK Editor of Local Economy and Early Career Editor of Regional Studies, Regional Science, and is a World Social Science Fellow.

Māris Pūķis – Latvia

Māris Pūķis is lecturer at the University of Latvia (Associate Professor). He is the author of more than 200 articles in matters of public administration and regional development. In a range of papers, he proves the potentially positive impact of regional governments on the social and economic development of Latvia in the future.
He was a self-government politician during the period from 1989 until 1994.
Since 1994, he has been working at LALRG, the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments.

Pablo Simón-Cosano – Spain

Dr. Simón-Cosano is a current member of the ESCE project: This project aims at contributing to people’s understanding of electoral systems in Europe, giving access for 31 European countries to the details of the electoral system they have used since their first democratic elections for the lower chamber. The project also provides people with access to the electoral laws of these 30 countries (in national language and in English for some articles). Secondly, researchers of the ESCE project produce analysis and research notes on the adoption and transformation of electoral systems in Europe. Dr. Cosano works as a Postdoc. Researcher for the CEVIPOL at the Université Libre of Brussels.

Malin Stegmann McCallion – Sweden

Dr. Malin Stegmann McCallion is currently a Senior Lecturer in Political Science at Karlstad University. Dr Stegmann McCallion’s research interests covers the regional level in society with focus on what role it has and how this role is changing. Of special interest are processes of Europeanisation, Multi-level Governance and Sub-state Diplomacy / Paradiplomacy. Her research mainly focuses on the Swedish regionalisation processes in a ‘EU’ropean perspective. She has published in Journal of European Integration, Regional and Federal Studies, and Regional Studies. Dr Stegmann McCallion undertook her doctoral studies at the Institute of Governance, Public Policy and Social Research, Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland (PhD awarded 2005). Her PhD thesis was titled ‘EU’ropeanisation: Challenges to Regional Administrative Structure and Regional Policy in Sweden. She has previously held lectureship posts at University of Limerick, University College Dublin both in the Republic of Ireland and she was a Research Fellow at Department of International Politics Aberystwyth University, Wales before moving back to her native country and to Karlstad University. Dr Stegmann McCallion is currently working with Professor Alex Warleigh-Lack (University of Surrey), Associate Professor Philomena Murray (University of Melbourne) ‘awkward partners’ in regional integration.

Lorena Totoni – Albania

Lorena Totoni (1972) graduated in Hydrotechnical Engineering from Tirana Polytechnic University and completed a Master in Public Administration at Economy Faculty of Tirana University. She has worked for more than a decade in the field of Regional Development and European Relations, holding the position of Director for Regional Development and International Relations at Tirana Region. She has a rich background in the field of regional and strategic planning, regional policy, policy-making, international policy, project management, directing, governance structures, developmental work, regional partnerships and community development. Since 2014, Mrs. Totoni works also as assistant professor at the Management Department of Economy Faculty, Tirana University. Her thesis of Public Administration Master consisted in a deep research study about “Regional Development in Albania under the framework of European Integration” – an analysis of the preconditions for effective implementation of EU Regional Development policies in the Albanian context.

Vesselina Troeva – Bugaria

Vesselina Troeva is the executive director of the National Centre for Regional Development as well as professor in Landscape and Urban Planning at the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in Sofia. She was contractor and coordinator of the project for establishing the first planning major in Bulgaria in collaboration with Herriot Watt University (GB) and the University College of Dublin, accredited in 2002 and leading to Planning being recognised in the National Classification of Professions and Occupations in 2006. Mrs Troeva has been named “honourable member of the Royal Town Planning Institute” and is vice president of the AESOP (1994-1998) and member of the Best Planning Publication Commission (2004-2008). To be stressed is also her participation in over 25 international projects funded by the World Bank, EU, UKKHF, BC and SFS, among which “Urban Knowledge Arena” and “Urban Crime prevention” COST actions and a BC Creative Collaborations project “Children City Culture Concept (4C)”. She acted as a team leader of many large-scale pilot projects such as the National Concept for Spatial Development of Bulgaria (2013-2025), the Integrated Plan for Urban Regeneration and Development of Sofia 2020 and the Strategy for development of Sofia-city district 2014-2020. She also received three national awards from the UAB for innovative planning (1997, 1999, 2000) and from ESRI for GIS (greographic information systems) implementation in planning (2000). She has contributed to more than 100 publications in national and international media.

Partners

The Assembly of European Regions develops and maintains relationships with a wide range of thematic and geographic networks, organisations and institutions for the benefit of its members. Structured cooperation with an increasing number of relevant partners enables the AER to position itself as a forward-looking network.

INSTITUTIONS & ADVISORY BODIES

European Union

European Committee of the Regions (CoR)

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the voice of regions and cities in the EU. It represents local and regional authorities across the European Union and advises on new laws that have an impact on regions and cities. A pillar of multi-level governance, it has the mission to involve regional and local authorities in the European decision-making process and thus to encourage greater participation from our fellow citizens. CoR members are grouped according to their political affiliation.

The #CohesionAlliance is a coalition of those who believe that EU Cohesion Policy must continue to be a pillar of the EU’s future. Since its launch in October 2017, the Alliance’s gathered together more than 12 000 individual signatories, 140 regions, 137 cities and counties, 50 associations of regional and local governments, 40 Members of the European Parliament and 35 EU sectoral associations.

The Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs (CIVEX) is responsible for coordinating the Committee of the Regions’ work on constitutional and institutional issues, the area of freedom, security and justice, and the EU’s external dimension, focusing on enlargement and neighbourhood countries and on development cooperation from a local and regional angle.​

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Cities and Regions for Integration of Migrants initiative provides a political platform for European mayors and regional leaders to showcase positive examples of integration of migrants and refugees, share relevant information and promote diversity as an added value to building inclusive cities and ensuring social cohesion.

Council of Europe (CoE)

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is an institution of the Council of Europe, responsible for strengthening local and regional democracy in its 46 member states and assessing the application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. As the voice of Europe’s municipalities and regions, it works to foster consultation and political dialogue between national governments and local and regional authorities, through cooperation with the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers.

The Committee of Experts on Intercultural Integration of Migrants (ADI-INT) assists the Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination and Inclusion (CDADI) in steering the Council of Europe’s intergovernmental work to promote equality for all and build more inclusive societies, offering effective protection from discrimination and hate and where diversity is respected.

The Intercultural Cities Programme supports cities and regions in reviewing and adapting their policies through an intercultural lens, and developing comprehensive intercultural strategies to manage diversity as an advantage for the whole society.

The Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion (CDADI) steers the Council of Europe’s intergovernmental work to promote equality for all and build more inclusive societies that offer effective protection from discrimination and hate and where diversity is respected.

United Nations (UN)

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works in about 170 countries and territories, helping eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and exclusion, and build resilience so countries can sustain progress. As the UN’s development agency, UNDP plays a critical role in helping countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is one of five regional commissions of the United Nations. Its major aim is to promote pan-European economic integration. UNECE includes 56 member States in Europe, North America and Asia. However, all interested United Nations member States may participate in the work of UNECE.

The UNFCCC secretariat (UN Climate Change) is the United Nations entity tasked with supporting the global response to the threat of climate change. The ultimate objective of all three agreements under the UNFCCC is to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system, in a time frame which allows ecosystems to adapt naturally and enables sustainable development.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is part of the United Nations System as the leading inter-governmental organization promoting since 1951 humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all, with 175 member states and a presence in over 100 countries. IOM works in the four broad areas of migration management that is to say migration and development, facilitating and regulating migration, and forced migration.

Organization for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD) 

The OECD Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC) was established in 1999. It works to improve living standards and well-being fro citizens from all regions, cities and rural area by designing and implementing effective place-based policies. By providing internationally comparable subnational data, the Committee is able to inform global debates on regional, urban, rural and water policy, subnational finance and multi-level governance.

MEDIA NETWORKS & INFORMATION HUBS

Cafébabel is the first multilingual participatory magazine. The online magazine is a unique platform in which a network of volunteer authors, translators, filmmakers and photographers work together to report on the daily lives of young Europeans. Cafébabel is published by Babel International, an NGO based in France.

EURACTIV is an independent pan-European media network specialised in EU affairs, established in 1999. It covers EU policy processes upstream of decisions and spreads across eight thematic clusters: Agrifood, Economy, Energy & Environment, Global Europe, Health, Politics, Technology, and Transport.

Europe Direct Strasbourg informs the general public of the European Union’s programs and policies, as well as the life of all the European institutions located in Strasbourg through informative brochures, exhibitions and various activities.

Promote Ukraine is a Brussels-based media platform for expertise and civil society initiatives for Ukraine and the EU. It is also a civil society and advocacy organisation established during the Revolution of Dignity in Brussels, European Citizen’s Prize Awardee 2022.

INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 

The Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments is a coordination and consultation mechanism that brings together the major international networks of local governments to undertake joint advocacy work relating to global policy processes. It was set up in 2013 to bring the perspectives of local and regional governments to the SDGs, climate change agenda and New Urban Agenda in particular.

Regions4 represents regional governments (states, regions and provinces) before UN negotiations, European Union initiatives and global discussions in the fields of climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development. Regions4 was established in 2002 at the World Summit in Johannesburg as the Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable Development and it represents 41 regional governments from 21 countries in 4 continents.

The World Organization of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is a voluntary international alliance of associations, unions and individual municipalities established in 2004 in order to represent rights of citizens at the level of local self-government. UCLG is committed to representing, defending and amplifying the voices of local and regional governments to leave no one and no places behind.

CIVIL SOCIETIES ORGANISATIONS | NGOs | THINK THANKS

The Active Collectively to bridge Space and Society (EURISY) raises awareness of emerging satellite applications which can help professional communities in many sectors of application: from transport to risk management, from habitat protection to energy.

The Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) was founded in 1971 by the first border regions which had started cross-border cooperation in Europe after the Second World War, strengthening the integration of citizens across national boundaries. AEBR works on behalf of European border and cross-border regions to highlight their role in the political landscape, to represent their common interests, to enhance cooperation between border regions throughout Europe, and to promote exchanges of experiences, information and solutions to common obstacles.

The Association of North East Asia Regional Governments (NEAR) is an independent cooperative organization that strives to achieve mutual development and cooperative exchange in Northeast Asia, consisting of metropolitan and local self-governing governments of six countries such as states, provinces, prefectures, aimags, and metropolitan cities.

DYPALL Network (Developing Youth Participation at Local Level) is a European platform of over 80 civil society organisations and local authorities from more than 30 countries that aims to involve young people in decision-making processes at local level. It enables municipal and regional authorities to address the needs and interests of youth, engage young people as active actors of problem-solving and increase the level of ownership, commitment and involvement of an important part of our communities.

The Prize honours and supports European togetherness and offers incentives for further concepts. AER President Magnus Berntsson is a Patron of the Prize, and YRN Vice-President Norbert Nagy is a member of their Jury, in 2023.

ALDA – European Association for Local Democracy – was established in 1999 at the initiative of the Council of Europe. It is a global alliance of local and regional authorities and civil society actors working together with a participative approach for resilient, inclusive and sustainable communities. 

The European Countryside Movement (ECM) is a platform gathered around specific initiatives and/or position papers. Without legal or politic personality, it values the specific NGOs partners while respecting their identity and diversity.

ENoP serves as an umbrella network and information hub on topics related to democracy and development cooperation. As such, it provides its members a joint platform to engage into a coordinated dialogue with EU institutions, CSOs and other relevant stakeholders.

The European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN) is a Brussels-based platform of Research and Innovation Organisations and Stakeholders in Regions. ERRIN aims to strengthen regional Research and Innovation capacities.

The European Youth Forum (EYF) is the platform of youth organisations in Europe representing more than 100 youth organisations. It works to empower young people to participate actively in society to improve their own lives by representing and advocating their needs and interests and those of their organisations.

The Foundation of European Regions for Education and Training (FREREF) is the instrument European Regions have adopted in the field of education and training to create a forum for exchanges and cooperation. It supports regions and territorial actors in the implementation of Lifelong Learning policies and promotes the collaboration of these actors on a transnational and European scale.

The Institute for European Environmental Policy is a sustainability think tank that works with stakeholders across EU institutions, international bodies, academia, civil society and industry. Its team of economists, scientists and lawyers produce evidence-based research and policy insight.

The Institute of Innovative Governance is an NGO and a think tank that advocates for digital inclusion, digital rights, and inclusive digital governance.

The Local Authorities Major Group gathers a number of networks of local and sub‑national governments working on sustainable development policies and programmes that are willing to engage in the international negotiation processes. Through its links with the Global Taskforce it reaches all relevant networks – thematic, regional and global – working for local governments internationally.

The MIHealth Management & Clinical Innovation Forum is working on an innovative and renovated scientific programme focused on the new challenges of the Health System and how to applied new technologies to enhance the efficiency of the Hospital Management Systems.

NECSTouR is the Network of European Regions for Sustainable and Competitive Tourism. Based in Brussels, it develops Interregional Projects and fosters cooperation to enable Sustainable Tourism Governance in Europe.

The Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS) is an initiative by regions from all over Europe emphasising the use of space technologies. The network represents the interests of European regions that use space technologies whilst simultaneously highlighting the regional dimension of European space policy and programmes.

Established in March 2012 by ICMC Europe, Share Network supports regions, cities, towns, and rural communities interested in welcoming refugees and migrants.

Oru Fogar is an organisation working on interregional cooperation and advocacy acting as a speaker for the regions.

The Young European Federalists (JEF Europe) is a political youth NGO advocating for the creation of a democratic European federation as a guarantee for peace, the rule of law and human rights. JEF Europe promotes true European citizenship, works for the widening and deepening of the European Union and strives for a more just and integrated society on the European continent and beyond. Established in 1972, the organisation has more than 10,000 activists organised in over 250 national, regional and local sections in 33 countries. 

The Zero Project’s mission is working for a world with zero barriers. Worldwide, the Zero Project finds and shares models that improve the daily lives and legal rights of all persons with disabilities

The WHO-Regions for Health Network is the authority responsible for public health within the United Nations system. The WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) is one of WHO’s six regional offices around the world.

The World Investment Conference (WIC) runs the leading conferences on cross-border investments. These unique platforms are dedicated to stimulating and facilitating FDI from around the world to specific and targeted countries or regions.

ORGANISATIONS OF REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS

The Regions of Climate Action (R20) is a non-profit organisation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, founded in 2011 by former Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and other global leaders in cooperation with the United Nations. R20 aims to help regional governments develop and implement projects, policies, and best practices for low-carbon green growth economic development in the face of climate change.

EU-AER PROJECT PARTNERS

ART-ER Attractiveness Research Territory is the Emilia-Romagna Joint Stock Consortium born  with the purpose of fostering the region’s sustainable growth by developing innovation and knowledge, attractiveness and internationalisation of the  territory.

Cyprus-based NGO collective experiences in the fields of Education, System Rationalization, Information & Communications Technologies, Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation, Global Health Process – Life Sciences, Business Forensic Intervention, Youth Development & Motivation, and Resource Realignment with Goals and Objectives.

ICEI works with people and local communities to improve social and economic conditions and to promote inclusive, fair and sustainable societies with a participatory approach.

Established in 1951, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the leading intergovernmental organisation in the field of migration and is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. IOM is part of the United Nations system, as a related organisation.

IVETA (International Vocational Education and Training Association) is a network of vocational educators that includes vocational skills training organisations, business and industrial firms, individuals and groups interested or involved in vocational education and training worldwide.

  • Skillman International Forum – Project Partners: SKILLNET

The Skillman International Forum is part of a long journey in skills development where international keynote speakers, sponsors, partners, and participants work together to achieve common goals aiming at improving education and TVET. The AER participated at the Skillman International Forum as speaker, partner and contributor in 2020, 2021, and 2022 editions.

A Mutual-learning Community

Since its inception in 1985, the AER has always had at its core to facilitate experience exchange and policy learning. The community the AER creates between its member regions, which have both very diverse contexts and shared challenges, is an essential element for mutual learning to happen.

Facilitating the knowledge flow

Knowledge in the AER is incremental and never static. Members present a practice that works, share a concern or an idea for joint action. Then this leads to experience exchange in an event, a working group or a project. When new findings arise within these contexts, the results are brought back to the network and inspire other regions.

The AER provides a framework for its members to initiate mutual learning activities on any topic relevant to regional policymaking. This can be done through:

  • thematic events (see our Knowledge Transfer Toolkit to get a glimpse of the variety of possibilities)
  • thematic working groups
  • bilateral peer-to-peer meetings
  • knowledge transfer activities organised in the context of EU co-funded projects

The main idea is to make it easy for AER members to engage in exchanges with peers across wider Europe. To get feedback, share ideas, and develop joint initiatives.

Peer learning for policy innovation

Peer learning supports innovation in the public sector, via the sharing of good practices, but also by creating spaces of trust and exchanges where policymakers can get feedback, test ideas, find a community to inspire and support their regional initiatives.

Having an international network is instrumental for the development and implementation of new policies and practices in the regions. It encourages connectors, bridge-builders, and catalysts for change, to further connect diverse stakeholders and develop or support new initiatives.

Read more about the AER network.

The Knowledge Transfer Facilitator

The AER has built an expertise in peer learning and knowledge transfer, which is widely recognised among institutions and partners.

From the famed regional peer review methodology developed back in 2006 and used in several EU-funded projects on topics such as sustainable energy communities, financing of renewable energy infrastructure, the creation of innovation-based jobs or regional strategies for sustainable tourism, to the AER mutual learning events which gathered politicians, academia, NGOs and business on hot topics such as digital health innovation, artificial intelligence, the sharing economy, industry 4.0 and innovation in the food value chain, the AER has constantly been gathering stakeholders across silos to exchange and learn from each other.

Contact

For more information, contact [email protected]

AER Political Priorities

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Ratified by AER General Assembly 2015

In these troubled times of crisis, when confidence in public institutions is decreasing and there is a tendency for everyone to focus efforts on their own communities, regions have to be the leaders for change. The end goal of regional authorities must always primarily be to make their territory the best possible place to live for their citizens. To this end, they need to improve the services they deliver to the people in order to keep their trust.

The AER’s mission is to address regional political concerns and foster leadership excellence, in order to provide services for better decision-making and offering visibility to regions in Europe. The objective is to make regions a driving force for political, economic and social development, with a view to accomplishing a multi-player Europe. Our guiding principle is subsidiarity.

To this end, the AER fosters interregional cooperation: this means working together on common projects, sharing and transferring best practices and learn new methods and ideas to enrich regional policies.

The AER must be a driving force in the field of governance, territorial reform and (re)definition of regions’ competences, building on the experience of its members and on its guiding principles. An example of this is the lobbying work carried out by the AER towards the main European institutions, aiming to integrate a territorial dimension into the centre of all policies designed at the European and international level.

In accordance with its mission, decentralisation, youth and equal opportunities, remain key transversal issues that are an integral part of the AER DNA.

In this context, here are the AER priorities for 2015-2017 :

Supporting regions in ensuring a sustainable future for all

Supporting regions for fostering a more sustainable growth and investing in future generations

The AER aims at fostering economic development for all regions and at supporting regions in ensuring the sustainability of their policies, from a social and environmental perspective. This encompasses issues such as territorial planning and environment, sustainable strategic choices in energy policies, but also regional policies dedicated to youth, neighbourhood policy actions and responsible social choices. This aims at providing equal opportunities for all citizens, as well as education measures to strengthen the future generations. For regions to perform better in these areas, resources are needed: the AER will remain vigilant on the implementation of the European Union cohesion policy and will start reflecting on the future of this policy after 2020.

Supporting employment policies in European regions

The AER has made it a priority to support employment in all European Regions. Regions act in the field of education, training and entrepreneurship and many AER activities will continue to help regions in their fight against unemployment.

Building a sustainable future also means peace and stability in the wider Europe

The AER contributes to ensuring continued dialogue between countries at war or stuck in frozen conflicts. Hence the importance of the work performed in the framework of the neighbourhood policy, around the Black Sea, the Mediterranean areas and for the Eastern Partnership.

Sharing regional policies that improve wellbeing

Any strategy does not and should not only make regions an attractive place for businesses and investments, but first and foremost for its inhabitants

The attractiveness of a territory, in terms of transport, health and social policies, attitude to new businesses, leisure, culture, is a key for economic development but also for the wellbeing of citizens. In our old European societies, this means also to take concrete measures on demographic change and AER should support its member regions in this respect.

Supporting integrative forces within the regions

The AER focuses on creating inclusive societies that will encourage citizens’ participation to public life, prompt them into starting new businesses and become genuine integration drivers. Inclusion comes through education, equal opportunities and employment: 3 key topics that are central to the AER. Territorial integration is not sidelined either: this includes transport and communication policies, and maintaining public services in rural or disfavoured areas. Territorial cohesion is a condition for social inclusion.

The AER may also focus on issues relating to both the integration of asylum and refugee reception and integration in general.

Making European Regions the connecting link between Europe and citizens, while increasing the link between the European Regions

Promoting multi-stakeholder approaches, cooperating with different parts of the society: this is what partnership is about

Working with youth, empowering citizens via innovative participatory approaches, listening to business owners and investors and understanding what their needs and expectations are, reflecting on regional media, to maintain proximity information and mix it with more macro information, thus introducing Europe at the local level, finding new ways to deliver public services to all the citizens.

Interregional partnership and cooperation remains at the heart of AER actions

Making AER the connecting link among regions also means contributing to their attractiveness, notably through enhancing the connectivity of territories and citizens, via the Trans-European Transport Networks, among other initiatives.

Using networks and interconnections to boost the regions’ innovation potential

AER, as a network, is a key tool for interconnection of stakeholders at international level. By sharing best practices and making AER members interact with each other, by raising the international profile of European regions and bringing them the necessary support for change management, AER is fostering innovation and economic cooperation on the territories. Regions are drivers for innovation, for example in healthy ageing, adapt to the digital agenda and cooperate via many different EU programmes on innovation strategies. AER’s mission is to aggregate all this energy and knowledge and disseminate it all over Europe.

Multiculturalism is also an innovation vector: intercultural dialogue, interregional exchanges, promoting language and cultural diversity are at the core of AER action.

Accompanying youth towards better involvement and participation in public life

The AER promotes the foundation of youth councils and other types of youth representative organizations and supports the development of education systems so as to increase youth participation. In line with the priorities of the EU and UN, the AER sees youth, and working with youth, as the key to growth, success and sustainability, as well as to a wealthy society with proper jobs.

With these priorities, the AER aims at making our regions stronger. Using its different tools, the AER is gathering, capitalising and disseminating its members’ expertise and also contributes to actively train regional teams throughout wider Europe.Follow AER!

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AER Statement against Terrorism

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In reaction to the events in Paris from 7th to 9th January 2015

On behalf of all members of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) and at the initiative of AER President Ms Hande Özsan Bozatli and Mr Jean-Claude Gayssot, AER Vice President, former French minister and instigator of the French law against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, the following statement has been issued.

Deeply shocked by the tragic events which took place in Paris on January 7th 2015 against the French magazine Charlie Hebdo and with deep sorrow for the horrors which followed all along the 2 days after, we express our sympathy and solidarity to the victims, their families and to all citizens of France and wider Europe who were touched by these terrorist attacks.

It is with respect and re-assurance that we saw millions of citizens worldwide stand firm and march for democracy, humanism and progress on Sunday 11 January.

Bearing in mind the high importance granted all core European and we hope universal values, and underlining the severe breach of fundamental international rights which are the freedom of expression, the freedom of press and the inherent right to life of every human being, AER – now more than ever – stands strong on its position in the fight against terrorism, racism and xenophobia. Acts of such severe violence and hate are direct attacks on the values which Europe and AER hold dearly and which can never be eradicated. The worrisome evolution of extremism in new and unpredictable ways has become the main challenge for all international, national and regional actors.

No region, nor country, are immune from its effects. No region nor country can be weak nor find room for compromise in the anti-terrorist fight. An attack on any citizen anywhere in the world, is also a direct attack on humanity as a whole.

AER firmly condemns all acts of terror, whatever religious, political or ideological reasons are used to justify them. AER also hopes that such acts will not give further reason to the rise of extremism, islamophobia and hate speeches across the globe.

The fight against terrorism is not only a matter of national and international security, justice and intelligence. The roots and ways hate speech and behaviour develop can also be fought at a regional level within regional government’s competencies. Policies tackling youth, education, economic development, equal opportunities, equal access to health and the job market have an impact on the way citizens feel integrated. The less angry and embittered our citizens feel, the less likely they will be to look for ways to fight society.

We call on all AER member regions to act directly on the policies they are responsible for and that can make a difference and to spread this statement as widely as possible. The immediate reactions and successful movement which took place throughout France and the World after the tragedies are proof that together, we are indeed stronger.

For more information: [email protected]

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Committees 1 & 3 joining forces

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Following last year’s positive experience, AER Committees ‘Economy and Regional development’ (1) and ‘Culture, Education Youth and International Cooperation’ (3) joined forces again from 5-7 November to discuss in Arnhem (Gelderland-NL) about the state of play of their political priorities and activities.

This time the format of the plenary meeting changed with the main focus being on two political debates: ‘Energy security’ and ’The role of regional media’.

Committee 1’s working groups (WG) and Committee 3’s Sub-Committees (SC) work at a glance:
While WG “Transport“ discussed why connectivity is essential to Europe’s regions, SC “International Cooperation” tried to identify new possibilities to deepen the relationships with regions from the Eastern Partnership. SC “Youth” worked on a toolkit to complement the political report on youth participation in democratic life. At the same time climate change was the topic of WG “Energy” and a proposal for the elaboration of a political report on “energy security” has been submitted. SC “Education” debated on questions related to early school drop-outs and how to improve the transition from school to the labour market. The WG “Investment, Business and SMEs” focused on how to turn environmental challenges into business opportunities. Finally the WG “Rural development” discussed the trends, key challenges and opportunities for European rural areas in the coming years, while SC “Culture” presented regional experience in the field of ‘Culture and Health’ and how it can contribute to the wellbeing of the society.

The work sessions ended with a meeting of the working group on school drop-outs which started sharing experience in the field of compensation measures. The Summer Academy Organising Committee worked on the agenda for the upcoming Academy in Mordovia (RU) from 16 to 22 August 2015.

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ICTs have changed the world: the rules of the game

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Arnhem, Gelderland (NL), 6 November 2014

Most of the services and companies we know will disappear in a few years and without much notice. Our society is in transition, the exponential growth of technology and the information society mean that businesses need to adapt for their survival – and in a way, so do regional authorities. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) control the market of the XXI century economy, and impact the expectations of our citizens. Today, in the framework of the Assembly of European Regions’ (AER) autumn plenary session, our politicians and civil servants tried to figure out how regions can adjust to be more citizens-oriented and reform their own structures and policies in the information society.

A new renaissance

From smartphones to voice command apps and tablets, streaming TV, but also biomedicine, domotica or big datas: new technologies constantly alter our lifestyle in ways we could not have imagined a few years ago. Martijn Aalander, a professional “life-hacker” and people’s connector, brought us a few examples of current new devices that will continue to revolutionise our society.

Graphene is pure carbon in the form of a very thin, nearly transparent sheet, no more than one atom thick. Santhakumar Kannapan, from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in Korea, discovered that we can use graphene as a supercapacitor for electric vehicles or smartphone batteries. We will be able to charge our smartphones in two seconds! And 16 seconds for an electric vehicle.

In the field of health, we have the Scanadu Scout. This device will be on the market in two years and will provide us with daily access to valuable data about our body.

But the revolution does not stop at new gadgets, much can be done by regions to tap into the potential that technology and information have to offer. To improve the lives of citizens, regions should not only focus on the technology itself but to the problems that need solutions. ICTs represent a window of opportunity to solve the biggest problem of any administration: the lack of subsidiarity. Technology should be used in a more « citizens-oriented way » underlined Hugo Verheul, expert on government and the use of information and communication technology. He gave the example of passports in the Nederlands. Today, instead of going to the city hall, you can receive your passport at home as if it were an Amazon delevery.

ICTs are fundamental for economic growth. European regions have to be up-to-date on the latest ICT developments. Their future depends on it. This is why AER strongly supports active training in our regions and pledges for a good use of European funds to that effect.

Political debate on regional public television

Linked to this morning’s debate on ICTs, AER also organised a debate on the future challenges for regional broadcasters and the implications for regional public authorities. Slavisa Grujic, Vice-President of the AP Vojvodina (SRB) and Chantal Teunissen, from Omropep, exchanged their views on this issue. In addition to facing severe cutback, regional public televisions also face new competitors offering programmes on-demand, such as Netflix.

Netflix is a paid-for, on-demand Internet streaming provider offering television shows and movies online as well as on televisions in HD format to viewers in different countries around the world. Today, they have more than 200 millions subscribers. These platforms meet the viewer demands (I.e. the TV series House of Cards). Experts expect the TV landscape to radically change in a few years as a result of these now platforms. AER is currently working on a political report on the future of public television to be released in March 2015.

For more information: [email protected] AER!

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Final Conference of ECREIN+ : Recommendations on eco-innovation

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Banniere-CP-ECREIN_

Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (F), 29 November 2012

“The ECREIN+ project was born only three years ago, and yet so much work has already been done, and so many prospects are in place for the months and years to come! ECREIN+ is a strong partnership, made up of regions that are as geographically diverse as they are close when it comes to their objectives. Placing eco-innovation at the heart of EU investment decisions is vital for the future. Cohesion policy, supported by all sectoral policies, should enable all the regions of Europe, based on their respective potential, to develop teaching and research, support eco-innovative SMEs and encourage the creation of clusters in their territories in order to develop a truly green economy.” said Alain Chabrolle, Vice-President of the Regional Council of Rhône-Alpes (F), in charge of health and environment.

Main recommendations 

• Regions should establish their own eco-innovation targets based on : regional innovation current activity (based on market analysis); key economic sectors of the regions and their impact on the environment; environmental regional policies and commitments; EU eco-innovation priorities.
• Exchange of experiences with other regions to build an eco-innovation regional strategy.
• Regions should increase their eco-industry and eco-innovation market knowledge through: solid EGSS (good and services) and eco-innovation directories, creation of regional observatories and eco-innovation platforms.

Some obstacles identified during the project 

• Lack of financial capital supporting R&D activities towards eco-innovation
• Distance between R&D and implementation activities
• Distance between SMEs and university
• Lack of stimulation from the national government
• Lack of awareness about benefits coming eco-innovation
• Fragmentation of the productive system

Our journey under the motto “Think green… and act green!“

• Project launch in Uppsala (S) on 19 February 2010
• Workshop n°1 in Sibiu (RO) on 17 and 18/06/2010
• Workshop n°2 in Seville (E) on 17-18/11/2010
• Conference on New financial instruments and public private partnerships for eco-innovation in Brussels on 13/12/2010
• Workshop n°3 in Paris (F) on 7 and 8 March 2011
• Workshop n° 4 in Stara Zagora (BG) 7 and 5/8/2011
• AER Breakfast Briefing on ECREIN+ in Brussels on 31/05/2011
• 2nd dissemination conference in Krakow (PL) on 7 and 8/11/2011
• Workshop n°5 in Milan (I) on 21 and 22/03/2012
• Workshop n°6 in Heidelberg and Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg-D), 2-3 July 2012
• AER Crisis Summit in Pescara (I) on 21 and 22/09/2012
• Tales from Europe in Strasbourg (F) 24/10/2012

AER roadmap 

Michèle Sabban, AER President, calls on regions to continue this work : “At a time when regions are mobilising themselves for a strong defence of the EU budget for cohesion policy, eco-innovation remains a priority for us. To overcome our economic and environmental challenges, Europe must support this cause. It is for this reason that the Assembly of European Regions will continue following this path. We invite you to join our debates at the next Crisis Summit in Paris and at our Summer University in Mariefred, Sweden.”

For more information please visit the official website of ECREIN+. You can also find on our website all the presentations.

A video with the conclusions of this project will be sent out in the coming days. You will also be able to watch it on our AERegions channel.

11 partners together with AER are partners of ECREIN+: Rhône-Alpes (F – leader), Andalucia (E), Romanian Association of Municipalities (RO), Baden-Württemberg (D), Galicia (E), Ile-de-France (F), Lombardia (I), Malopolska (PL), Chamber of Commerce of Stara Zagora (BG), Uppsala (S), Chamber of Commerce of Coventry and Warwickshire (UK).

The Assembly of European Regions (AER – aer.eu) is the largest independent network of regions in wider Europe. Bringing together more than 250 regions from 35 countries and 16 interregional organisations, AER is the political voice of its members and a forum for interregional co-operation.


For more information: [email protected]

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Crisis Summit Brochure

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Faced with the crisis: The Regions at Europe’s bedside

21-22 September 2012
Pescara, Abruzzo (I)

Even faced with significant challenges – creating jobs, generating economic growth, harmoniously developing the territory, fighting climate change – regions demonstrate a stunning potential for innovation while dealing with a rapidly evolving societal, economic, and environmental reality.

Nevertheless, regions cannot solve Europe’s current economic problems on their own. Companies, institutions, and non-governmental organizations also have a major role to play in the development of local politics in view of moving towards an exit to the crisis.

This is why the Assembly of European Regions (AER) has decided to organize a summit intended as a meeting point for all these actively involved parties within a dynamic of shared expertise and solutions, but not for that alone. It’s also a question of reflecting on the future together and proposing concrete courses of action and efficient political recommendations. Finally, it’s a question of facilitating the emergence of a truly effective multi-level governance offering Europe a perspective for the sustainable, harmonious, and balanced development of its land.

In order to achieve this, it seems crucial to us to emphasize four main themes capable of responding to these expectations and to engage dialogue between these active parties. Boosting employment through education and training, the role of eco-innovation in economic recovery, the commitment of small businesses in local activity and the growth opportunities offered by the health and cultural sectors are
therefore themes to be explored, questioned, and adopted during the panels. I am happy to welcome you to Pescara, and I hope our work together will be fruitful!

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Regions at the bedside of Europe

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Introduction

The financial and economic crisis that has plagued many countries worldwide and in Europe for the past several months is far from over. Regions are directly concerned by the budgetary restrictions that the situation requires. In this context, if one can welcome the setting up of the European Stability Mechanism as a key element, it will not be sufficient on its own. Restoring public finances and relaunching growth imply taking into more account policies implemented at regional level, which have shown to be efficient in a time of crisis.

The Pescara Summit allowed for an in-depth exchange of views among participants in four key fields for economic development, namely:

  • education and training
  • eco-innovation
  • support to SMEs
  • the link between culture, demographic change and economic revival

 

In those four fields, the following Recommendations have been adopted:

 

 

Recommendations

We, representatives of European Regions, gathered in the presence of national and EU representatives, of private stakeholders and associations in Pescara, Abruzzo, on 21-22 September 2012, convinced about the key role of regional authorities in the setting up of the growth objectives of the European Union, have adopted the following Recommendations:

 

  • Education and training: a motor for regional development

Education and training have a key role to play to prepare young people for working life, by helping them to develop competences and knowledge which will help them to find employment and improve their employability in the long term so that young people can better meet the demands of a changing world. In this context, Regions have an important role to play:

  1. It is important that the regions realize that combating youth unemployment also implies the transmitting of appropriate values. Therefore regions should consider ways of embedding generic employability skills in the school curriculum so that all young people are taught the core values and basic attitudes required by all employers, regardless of the particular profession they choose. This could include a work experience/placement programme for young people still in school or a raising of awareness for the value of work itself through early career guidance.
  2. Regions should have a more active approach towards young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs) and those at risk of early school leaving. They should 1) Take early measures to prevent early school leaving by establishing a long term monitoring system of those at risk of early school drop-out and those who are already falling behind; 2) Introduce an individual educational path for those mostly endangered, which will involve cooperation between a teacher, a psychologist, a pupil and parents. 3) Provide a second chance to return to school for those who have dropped out by establishing second chance schools.
  3. Regions should avoid a possible mismatch between the curriculum and the employers’ needs. As a consequence, regions should help voice the needs of their local enterprises towards the national authorities responsible for the design of the school curricula. Regions, if competent in this field, should also directly take the employers need into account when drafting their schools curricula.
  4. At the same time, it is necessary that regions encourage their schools to additionally focus on general, transferable skills (e.g. communication, teamwork, initiative, etc) so that young people can better adapt to various occupational areas and can be more flexible to meet the demands of a changing labour market.
  5. Regions should not underestimate the importance of vocational training to reduce youth unemployment. It is advisable for them to sustain incentives for employers to offer or support vocational training positions. In order to avoid precarious situations for the youth, regions should ensure that all students have suitable conditions for attending practical training with responsible employers, and that the students are paid in accordance with the law. Additionally, the vocational programmes should be as inclusive as possible and therefore aim at all unemployed young people (especially the long-term unemployed) to pursue further qualification or self-employment in order to prevent their de- professionalization.
  6. Traineeships or internships might be an alternative way into the labour market. Regions should raise awareness of these possibilities and improve young people’s perceptions of these employment-related steps that currently seem to be underevaluated. In order to reach this goal, regions could develop more specific, tailored interventions for young people – like an internship programme for secondary school graduates or an apprenticeship programme to create a ‘first step’ into the labour market.
  7. Mobility of young people must be enhanced. A traineeship or internship will have an even more beneficial impact if it is undertaken abroad. In this context, the AER Eurodyssey programme which allows each year more than 600 young people to undertake an internship abroad represents a major tool of the mobility policy of European Regions.
  8. Also, regional authorities should encourage employers in both the public and private sectors to provide more opportunities for paid internships, apprenticeships, and other forms of work engagement. In this context it is important that the regions recognise the significance of small enterprises, which carry out a lot of “training” informally. Regions should consider whether the training and workplace learning needs of small and very small enterprises are being adequately understood and monitored and seek ways to improve or augment such training.
  9. Internships, traineeship and apprenticeship can be successful means to reduce the youth unemployment rate. However, regions should take steps to ensure that these schemes are not abused and that trainees receive appropriate training by defining the rights of trainees, apprentices and interns. They have to confirm that precarious conditions are avoided, and that there are clearly defined conditions for internships (in respect of internship duration, remuneration, and full social protection), and clear indications of expected skills to be acquired.
  10. Although internships might facilitate the labour market entry for some young professionals, there is the risk that they are used to serve as substitutes for regular job positions. Regions have to make sure that employers do not use apprentices to replace regular employees. Also, regions have to pay attention that young people participating in such schemes do not become locked into a pattern of recurrent short term unpaid work placements.

 

  • Eco-innovation: a pool for employment in the territories

 

In the context of the current crisis, the declining industrial base of many European regions, the difficulty to create jobs through innovation and the difficult access to finance faced by enterprises, in particular SMEs, are not an unchangeable fate.

The green economy has the potential to restructure our industry towards future-oriented sectors and foster employment in Europe. These are undeniable challenges but regions, strongly aware of territorial realities and close to economic actors, can take them up. Eco-innovation is a fully-fledged example of the regions’ capacity to adapt to policies and global challenges. Still, they need the resources required. In that context, Regions underline the need to :

  1. Invest significantly in a cluster policy that is tailored according to the territorial capital of the different regions and focusing, depending on the different stakeholders present in the territory. Only regions have sufficient knowledge of the area as well as a critical size to act as a relay and evaluate the suitability of one action or another in accordance with a region’s territorial identity. This cluster policy must aim at enhancing the links between research, innovation and market. It can only be successful if the triple helix model is applied, thereby involving the local and regional universities.
  2. Improve SMEs’ access to applied and fundamental research, through an increased cooperation between SMEs and bigger corporations, cluster policy. Easing the participation of SMEs to European projects in the framework of Horizon 2020 via simplification measures is also a way to streamline the link between SMEs and the academic sphere.
  3. Promote new financial instruments to encourage the financial institutions to support SMEs that invest into the greening of their activities or create eco-innovative products. Those projects create less immediate profitability but prove more sustainable than traditional economic activities: there is therefore a lack of appropriate mechanisms to support those investments.
  4. Provide targeted funding opportunities for regions at European level, and therefore retaining and strengthening a regional programme in Horizon 2020. Cohesion policy alone cannot support all regional investments in green economy: Horizon 2020, aiming for excellence, should be designed in a way to better support triple helix players at territorial level.
  5. Foster interregional cooperation and partnership in European regions. In order to innovate and set up ambitious eco-innovation strategies, experience-sharing, mutual learning, peer reviews, benchmarking are central instruments. In difficult times for regional budgets and finances, regional governments should not underestimate the added-value of interregional and international partnerships.

 

 

  • Small businesses –being small is not necessarily a liability

 

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are at the backbone of European economy: SMEs represent 99% of EU companies and provide 67% of all jobs.[1] Yet, uncertainties about the economic outlook, high international raw materials and energy prices and on-going difficulties in access to finance, threaten their survival.

With their tailored strategies, regions answer specific needs of SMEs within their territories that are otherwise not sufficiently addressed at the European or national levels. While national recovery plans mainly target large companies and the financial system, regions focus on the real economy. In fact, by supporting entrepreneurship and SMEs and by boosting their innovation capacity, regional actions can contribute to to strengthen regional economies and safeguard jobs.

The Assembly of European Regions and its members are following closely the implementation of the Small Business Act for Europe, and the development of the COSME and HORIZON 2020 programme and underline the need to: :

  1. Promote entrepreneurship by supporting an entrepreneurial spirit and providing concrete information, training and coaching for business starters and entrepreneurs in specific situations such as business take-overs, innovation or financial difficulties. In this context focus should not only be on innovative, technology oriented or knowledge based businesses but all types of viable company creations should be encouraged.
  2. Improve the environment for SMEs by reducing regulatory and bureaucratic burden in order to facilitate processes such as company creation or transfer, taxation, accounting or recruitment of employees.
  3. Facilitate access of SMEs to international markets and public procurement and provide alternatives to traditional loan financing, offering guarantees and tailor small loans for micro enterprises. In this context regions can play a role in helping SMEs in trouble to find solutions by offering mediation activities with the involved stakeholders.
  4. Improving SME’s access to European funding by cutting red tape and streamlining regulations in order to seize the full potential of SME’s involvement in COSME and HORIZON 2020, but also by making make it easier for Managing Authorities of Structural Funds to give support to SMEs.

 

  • Demographic change and culture: two sectors with growth potential

 

The future of European health systems depends on the degree to which regions can change mindsets, foster innovation and introduce new procedures or models. European policy and funding programmes should support regions to make these changes, be it at organisational level or by supporting the deployment of ICT. In this context, Regions make the following recommendations:

 

  1. The successor to the current European Public Health Programme should be entitled “More Health for Sustainable Growth” to demonstrate that quality services accessible to all citizens contribute to social cohesion and thereby to Europe’s economic recovery and sustainable growth. It should be clearly stated that cutting investment in health will hinder sustainable economic recovery to some extent. This programme should expressly acknowledge and target regions as key actors in shaping future health.
  2. The EU should complement AER’s actions to inform regions about the potential for health-related investment in the future EU Cohesion Policy and to encourage regions and member states to include health as a spending priority in the future Operating Programmes.
  3. The EU should support AER in implementing a leadership programme targeting regional decision-makers and looking at how to introduce innovation and change management in health. Europe needs open-minded individuals who are prepared to transcend the traditional boundaries of the health sector and implement innovative public procurement models, work with SMEs to develop new tools and services and introduce change.

 

AER welcomes the fact that the European Commission seems to have identified culture as a sector worth investing into with the proposed culture programme for the period 2014-2020 “Creative Europe” seeing its budget increase by 37% compared to current spending level. AER would like to remind all political leaders that the cultural and creative sector represents 4,5% of EU GDP and 3,8% of EU workforce with higher than average growth rates than other sectors. These rates could be even higher if we really started considering culture as a sector with high return potential. In this context, Regions make the following recommendations:

 

  1. Cultural and creative industries need to be supported but tend to be more and more identified as the tree of economic profitability hiding a forest of cultural bodies living from grants and subsidies with no return whatsoever. This vision of the sector is outdated. All types of activities within the cultural sector can be profitable. Cultural heritage protection can help boost tourism in a region; a thriving cultural life will help a region attract multi-national companies which need to offer a good quality of life for their employees; a respected cultural scene will increase the soft power of a region. The European Commission must take the diversity of the cultural opportunities into account.
  2. AER and the European Commission to work together to help deliver this message to European regions. A study to evaluate the return potential of the sector as a whole, must be jointly organised.
  3. AER and the European Commission to help regions accompany their cultural sector in order to make the most of all economic growth opportunities.

 

Conclusions

Europe is at a crossroads: If we do not make reforms in a series of key areas, then the European Union, and Europe in general, will suffer;

The expertise gathered at AER proves it : The Regions, through their projects and strategies, are already helping to deliver solutions in response to the crisis in many of the various sectors requiring reform.

There are therefore no major challenges that the European Union can tackle without the help of the Regions. But Regions cannot act on their own. They need the support of national governments and European institutions in the setting up of their growth policies, in the spirit of multilevel governance.

In this context, European Regions reiterate their attachment to cohesion policy, which they consider as the main tool to achieve the objectives of an inclusive, intelligent and sustainable growth. Lastly, rather than a “democratic federation of nation states”, Regions call for a change in political culture, and for the respect of the principles of subsidiarity and partnership which would allow them to fully play their role of key actors in the revival of the European Union and of Europe in general.

[1] http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/12/395Follow AER!

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Thematic dossier n°30 on Eco-innovation in the regions – Spring 2012

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Eco-innovation in the regions

Table of contents:

  • Editorial: Alain Chabrolle, Vice President of Rhône-Alpes Regional Council (F)
    in charge of health and environment
  • No time to waste. Europe must support eco-innovation if it is to overcome
    its economic and environmental challenges
  • Better Together. ECREIN+ provides a platform for regions to share best practice on eco-innovation
  • Interview: Rhône-Alpes (FR)
  • Interview: Ile-de-France (FR)
  • Interview: Baden-Württemberg (DE)
  • Interview: Romanian Association of Municipalities (RO)
  • Driving growth. Europe must support eco-innovation if it is to meet the targets contained in its 2020 economic strategy

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Thematic dossier n°28 on Regions tackle natural disasters Summer 2011

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Regions tackle natural disasters

Table of contents:

  • Editorial: Thymios N. Sokos, General Secretary, Decentralised administration of Macedonia and Thrace (GR)
  • When disaster strikes: Europe’s regions must work together if they are to cope with the growth in natural and manmade disasters
  • Crisis management: Cooperation, coordination, communication. These are the guiding principles behind the Flinkman project, which aims to improve flood risk management
  • Interview: Ourania Georgoutsakou, AER Senior Policy coordinator of the ‘Social
    policy and Public health’ Committee
  • Interview: Marja Segers, policy advisor on flood prevention at the Province of Noord-Brabant
  • Intreview: Dr Nikolaos Tsotsolis, general director of land planning and environmental policy at the Decentralised Administration of Macedonia and Thrace
  • Interview: Matthias Löw, flood protection and hydrology at the Hessian Ministry of Environment, Energy, Agriculture and Consumer Protection
  • Interview: Professor George Zalidis, responsible for science policy at the Balkan Environment Centre
  • On the ground. Good examples of disaster management from Timis in Romania,
    Catalunya in Spain and the Portuguese Açores
  • No time to waste: From flood management to civil protection, the EU has several programmes and funding mechanisms to help cope with disasters in Europe and beyond

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“REFER”: New Blog by the AER and GE Energy to promote discussion on European Energy Challenges

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Brussels (B), 22 June 2010

The Assembly of European Regions (AER) and GE Energy today announced the launch of R.E.F.E.R. (Responsible Energy for European Regions), a blog aimed at facilitating thoughts and discussion on energy matters across all regions of Europe. Available at refer.blogactiv.eu, R.E.F.E.R. reports on the latest energy news, energy analysis and commentary about the various regional energy markets, energy efficiency, regional sustainability, secure energy supplies and public policies from across Europe.

Far from being a mere publication, R.E.F.E.R. will allow the exchange of views and ideas between politicians, companies, researchers and citizens.

“Global warming is our generation’s greatest challenge and solving it is an opportunity to build a healthy, sustainable and prosperous future. With the regional approach, we transform the debate and lay the groundwork for a successful, multi-stakeholder climate action agenda.” said Michèle Sabban, AER President. “I invite all living forces, politicians, civil society and citizens, to join and enrich this blog and help us improve the implementation of sustainable energy solutions that will benefit both the regions’ economy and our citizens’ quality-of-life”.

“Our goal is to support Europe in meeting its ambitious 20-20-20 climate goals. Apart from offering our extensive portfolio of greener and more efficient energy technologies, supporting initiatives like this blog can help support development, growth and networking in all areas of energy. We want to encourage discussions on various issues and share different views to raise awareness of what we can do today to build a sustainable future”, said Ricardo Cordoba, President of GE Energy for Western Europe and North Africa.

The Assembly of European Regions (AER) and GE Energy welcome your comments at refer.blogactiv.eu

Well-structured and reader-friendly, R.E.F.E.R. (Responsible Energy For European Regions) provides news and expert views on the latest energy developments and facilitates discussion around them.

About AER – GE Energy’s cooperation
The blog is the latest joint initiative of GE Energy and AER, who in 2009 have teamed up in an innovative collaboration between public and private stakeholders in the energy field to tackle climate change on a regional level. By joining forces, AER and GE Energy have created a unique gateway between globally renowned energy experts and regional public decision makers. The aim is both to support the European Union’s energy and environmental strategy and to facilitate the creation of a benchmark centre of expertise and solution provision in the energy field for all European regions.

AER and GE Energy have held the first European Regions Energy Day in April 2010, a joint initiative to examine the energy challenges facing European regions today and to promote their possible solutions. The European Regions Energy Day is the first summit to bring together regional decision makers and European energy experts and will be held annually in Brussels, Belgium.

For more information: [email protected] AER!

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ALEC2010: First international conference on Regions’ e-he@lth

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Luleå – Norrbotten (S), 5 February 2010.

The Assembly of European Regions’ (AER) e-he@lth network has organised the first international e-he@lth conference that targets directly the regions and their partners. Over 200 regional politicians, officers, university experts and entrepreneurs from across Europe have come to the Arctic Light E-health Conference (ALEC2010) in Norrbotten (S) to share their successes and mistakes and discuss how they can work together to make e-health a reality for all citizens.

“The ultimate goal of the AER e-he@lth network is to improve our citizens’ health and quality of life. E-health allows us to harness the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and to provide healthcare where our citizens want it and when they need it. Our citizens are at the centre of our work: we want to give them the knowledge and the tools they need to make informed decisions about their health,” said Agneta Granström, Chairperson of the AER e-he@lth network and County Commissioner of Norrbotten County Council (S).

AER member regions are true incubators for innovation in healthcare. The Province of Noord-Brabant (NL) decided to act as a catalyst for the development of smart care in the region, even though this area is not listed among their primary competences. They have created a platform where regional, commercial and healthcare organisations, as well as user/patient associations, can work together to develop innovative responses to the challenges posed by demographic change and an ageing population.

Regions are cooperating to bring down borders in healthcare. The Canton of Basel-Stadt (CH) is working with neighbouring Germany on a pilot project that will allow citizens to receive medical treatment on the other side of the border. The obstacles they encountered ranged from creating acceptance among the health professionals to amending their respective legal systems, which previously did not allow patients to seek treatment abroad. Their experience has shown them that it is important to adopt an incremental approach to change, taking one step at a time, involving health professionals and end users from the very beginning and communicating success.

ALEC2010 aimed to shape the regions’ e-health agenda for the coming years. “The debates of the past two days have emphasised the importance of cooperation. We have the technology and we have the entrepreneurs. Our role as regions is to make sure that they create the e-health tools that our citizens and patients really need. If we all work together around the same table, we can make sure that e-health delivers not only quality healthcare, but also economic gains for our regions. The AER e-he@lth network will develop an education programme for regional politicians, to increase knowledge about how e-health can be successfully implemented across regions. There is no future without e-health,” concluded Agneta Granström.

For more information: [email protected]

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Hübner in “Deep Water” at AER Summer School in Valencia

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Valencia (E), 28th August 2009

In her first speech as chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Committee for Regional Development, Danuta Hübner has said that water will be a “major priority” of the EU’s Regional Policy.

“There are regions that will require specific responses, which will be more affected than others by droughts, floods or water scarcity,” Ms Hübner said today. “That is why, more than ever, the European regional policy 2007-2013 will be ambitious in its environmental initiatives at local and regional level.”

Ms Hübner was speaking on the final day of the Assembly of European Regions’ (AER) 14th annual Summer School, hosted by the Spanish region of Valencia. Focusing this year on water issues, the week-long event in the city of Valencia brought together around 150 regional politicians, officers and young people, along with international experts and EU officials, to address the many challenges related to water.

AER president Michèle Sabban, speaking earlier this week, said: “We are not in Valencia by accident. Spain is the European country most threatened by desertification and drought.”

“By bringing young people together with experts and politicians to discuss this increasingly global problem, we hope to promote a new “water culture” in the regions. The young people here can take back to the regions what they have learnt this week, thereby raising awareness among peers who will face the consequences tomorrow of what we do today.”

The summer school featured expert speakers, roundtables and workshops, along with study visits where participants could see firsthand the Valencia region’s expertise in water management.

Valencia’s deputy minister for European affairs, Rafael Ripoll, noted that the region of Valencia, whose strong commitment to addressing water scarcity has made it a European leader in the field, is the “perfect framework to talk about promoting the better use of water across all the European regions.”

Background
The proper management of water plays a key role in maintaining biodiversity, human health as well as in economic and social development. The “blue” challenge is of huge importance as the world enters a water crisis. Safe access to water for all is one of the Millennium Goals, while water savings can be improved by around 40% in Europe.
By bringing together decision makers, officials and young people, the AER Summer School in Valencia aimed to provide the tools to regions to tackle the challenges of water management. Participants were able to share experiences, develop new instruments to raise awareness and define strategies to contribute to creating a water-saving culture across the regions of Europe.

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