The 6th AER Summer School will be held from 26th to 30th August in Constanta, Romania, on the Black Sea Coast. Over one hundred regional politicians and administrators from applicant countries and representatives from the regions of the European Union are expected.

The 2001 edition of the AER Summer School will focus on the crucial topic of EU enlargement. Under the title “Our Future: European Regions and European Expansion”, the participants will insist on the Regions’ role in the construction of Europe and on concrete aspects of regional development.

The main issues to be looked at this year are:
· Regions towards the EU enlargement process
· Regions’ contribution to the environmental protection
· Tourism at regional level as a motor of economic and sustainable development
· European spatial planning and future European regional policy

The Summer School 2001 will consist of a number of Plenary sessions, followed by smaller workshops that will deal with the above mentioned issues in more detail and on the practicalities of Phare and Tacis projects. This year, it has received again the support of the European Commission (General Directorate Enlargement) and of the Council of Europe. The AER invites all persons interested to take part in this event. The practical information are available on the Web sites of the AER http://www.are-regions-europe.org and of the Constanta Region http://www.cjc.ro/school/index.html

The AER launched its Summer School programme in 1996. Previous editions were held in Pest-H, Krakow-PL, Thüringen-D, Istra-HR and Vilnius-LT. The Organising Committee, which makes this event possible each year, is made up of 7 member regions: Constanta (RO), Friuli-Venezia-Giulia (I), Gloucestershire (GB), Noord-Brabant (NL), Thüringen (D), Uppsala (S), Wien (A). Over the years, this event has become one of the pillars of AER policies in favour of EU enlargement and East-West interregional cooperation.

For more information: [email protected]