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AER Centurio 2000: Results

6 December, 2000 By Editor

Seinäjoki, South Ostrobothnia (FIN), 6 December 2000

The evaluation seminar 2000 for the Centurio programme of the Assembly of European Regions took place on 6 th December 2000 in Seinäjoki (FIN), bringing together both trainees from regional administrations in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and coordinators from the host Regions in Western Europe.

Around 30 traineeships were included in the edition 2000 of Centurio with candidates from Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, representing ten countries. The “Centurio for the Balkans” branch of Centurio was launched for the first time by the AER this year. This branch organised around ten traineeships for high-ranking civil servants and political representatives from various Cantons in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Region of South Ostrobothnia accepted two trainees in Centurio 2000: Grzegorz Reizer from Woj. Podkarpackie (PL) and Angela Vörös from Hajdu Bihar (H) under the coordination of Mr Timo Urpala, Head of the Department of Regional Development. “We are delighted to be able to make, thanks to the AER, at out level, a real contribution for the Regions in applicant countries to prepare for joining the European Union or to develop democracy in the other countries in Central and Eastern Europe” stated Timo Urpala of the Regional Council. “We are proud of the interregional partnerships which are currently being set up with the two Regions” he concluded.

Centurio is an AER training programme which exists since 1994 and aims at the promotion of the exchange of experience and know-how between political representatives and civil servants of the Regions of Europe. Through this programme, the trainees become familiar with the organisation of regional administrations in Western Europe as well as the techniques and instruments of interregional and cross-border cooperation. They also gain further knowledge of the Community “acquis” and the development of cooperation projects. “We are delighted with the positive outcome of Centurio 2000, however we are disappointed that we were not able to accept more trainees due to insufficient host Regions” said Laura De Rose, Centurio Head within the AER. “In 2001, we hope that more Regions from Western Europe will participate in the programme which will celebrate its 8th edition and we hope that the scandinavian Regions will be particularly active next year” she added.

In order to strengthen Centurio, it was decided, at this meeting, to create a standing Centurio Committee which will be made up of former trainees and coordinators, the future “ambassadors” for Centurio throughout Europe, and chaired by one of the AER Vice Presidents. It was also decided to link future editions of Centurio and the Summer School, another AER training programme for the Regions of Central and Eastern Europe. This meeting was also the starting point for cooperation with the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA/Barcelona) in the field of training and the repetition of Centurio in the Balkans in 2001.

It must not be forgotten that Centurio 2000 received funding from the European Commission.

For more information: [email protected]

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15th General Assembly of the Regions of Europe: 7–8th December 2000, Seinäjoki, Etelä-Pohjanmaa (FIN)

20 November, 2000 By Editor

At the invitation of Mr Kyösti Virrankoski, President of the Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia, the representatives of around 270 Regions from 26 countries, members of the Assembly of European Regions (AER), will meet on 7th and 8th December 2000 in Seinäjoki, Finland, for their General Assembly.

The AER will take this occasion to open a debate on the new forms of governance in Europe. The “post-Nice” will also play an important role along with members Regions’ contribution to the White paper of the European Commission which is currently being prepared. Discussions will mainly deal with the role of the Committee of the Regions in the European Union, the Regions’ participation in the implementation of European policies with an impact at regional level, the direct participation of citizens in European affairs and the process of decentralisation which is currently underway in EU member States.

This years’ General Assembly will be marked by the sign of change in the AER. Members will elect their new President, Vice-Presidents, Committee Presidents as well as the 46 members of the executive Bureau and their alternates, for a two year mandate. One new item is on the agenda: in order to respect the balance between the Regions of Western Europe and the Regions of Eastern and Central Europe – which represent over 40% of AER members – a second Vice-President should be elected for the first time this year.

Also on the agenda: this 15th General Assembly is the first to take place in a Scandinavian country. Five years after the entry of Finland in the European Union and the creation of real regional bodies in this country, this is the occasion to present the level of regional administration in the Region of the Batic Sea to participants. This led to the idea of a seminar preceding the General Assembly, where the issues of the information society and the possibilities offered by information technologies in order to improve and develope democracy and cooperation in Europe would be discussed.

For more information: [email protected]

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The Centurio programme of the Assembly of European Regions

4 October, 2000 By Editor

Centurio is a training programme, created and run by the Assembly of European Regions, aiming at the promotion of the exchange of experience and know-how between political representatives and regional civil servants of Eastern, Western and Central Europe. Since 1994 the traineeships offered by this programme allow administrators and political representatives from the Regions of Eastern and Central Europe to get to know the various practices in regional democracy, acquire direct experience in the running of various regional administrations in Western Europe and to establish cooperation agreements and partnerships.

Each year, Centurio begins with an introductory seminar with will take place on 5th and 6th October in Brussels this year. Two new aspects of Centurio are to be launched: on the one hand, the programme is opening up to the Balkans, and on the other hand, a Centurio standing Committee is to be set up in order to build on the experience gained since the creation of the programme in 1994. In total, over 30 work placements will take place over the period 2000-2001. Trainees from Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Slovakia will be able to meet their German, English, Austrian, Belgian, Danish, Spanish, Finnish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish and Swiss hosts and to get to know the general running of the programme. They will debate the practices in regional administration in the Europe of today and tomorrow together.

In this way Centurio greatly contributes to European integration and encourages the transition process both in candidate countries for the European Union and in the other countries of Eastern and Central Europe. The introductory seminar, co-financed by the European Commission, is a place given to discussion with the representatives of the Commission and the Committee of the Regions of the EU.

This meeting represents the beginning of the work placements. An evaluation session will be held on 6 th December 2000, just before the AER General Assembly in Seinäjoki, Finland, in order to bring in the reactions of participants in the programme.

For more information: [email protected]

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Luc Van den Brande Laureat of the Emperor Maximilian Prize 2000

14 June, 2000 By Editor

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

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

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

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

For more information: [email protected]

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The AER and the CLRAE: Mr L Cuatrecasas, elected President of the Congress

25 May, 2000 By Editor

Strasbourg, Alsace (F), 23-25 March 2000

At the 7th Plenary session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 23-25th May 2000), Mr Llibert Cuatrecasas (Catalonia – E) was elected President of the Congress with the support of the AER and all the political groups.

Mr Cuatrecasas is an active member of the AER and is rapporteur for the draft European Charter on Region Self-Government. He will work, over his two year mandate, in favour of the adoption of this Charter by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The AER, which supports this project since the very beginning (1997), commits itself to supporting the Congress’ work in this field by undertaking, in particular, action to mobilise members, regarding the first draft, within national governments.

Elections also took place for the Presidence of the Chamber of the Regions of the Congress where Mr Risto Koivisto (Tampere-FIN) succeeded Mr J C Van Cauwenberghe (Wallonia-B). Mr Koivisto is rapporteur, with Mr Luc Van den Brande, President of the AER, on the Intergovernmental Conference within the Committee of the Regions of the European Union. In his nomination speech Mr Koivisto stressed the importance of the current debate on new forms of governance in Europe and spoke in favour of auto-governance at regional and local level.

The AER took the occasion of the annual session of the Congress to officially launch its Centurio in the Balkans programme; this programme aims to offer work traineeships in democracy and public administration, in EU Regions, to the representatives of local authorities in the Balkans. Indeed, since the end of April, many candidatures have been arriving at the AER, coming from, in particular, the Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Bosnian Canton of Sanjack in Serbia which is currently undertaking brave action against the discriminatory ethnical policies of Belgrade’s regime. The Italian Regions have already offered to take in some trainees. However, mobilisation in other European Regions is necessary in order to satisfy all of the requests and contribute, through this gest of solidarity, to stability in the Balkans.

For more information: [email protected]

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Decisions made by the Presidium of the Assembly of European Regions

18 February, 2000 By Editor

The AER Presidium met on 18th February 2000 and welcomed with satisfaction the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi’s, announcement concerning the drawing up of a White paper of European governance and decided to commit AER member Regions to making a contribtion to this deliberation in the interest of regional authorities.

In addition, the Presidium exressed its concern regarding the difficulties facing the peace process in Northern Ireland and asked all involved parties to commit themselves to the restoration of conditions in which regional democracy and autonomy can be fully applied and as quickly as possible.

With reference to the crisis in Chechnya, the AER President stressed that only the values of regionalism, such as the respect of peoples’ rights and diversities, interregional and cross-border cooperation as well as the principle of regional autonomy, can offer a constructive solution to current problems. The AER puts its expertise and its bodies at the service of the involved parties and institutions in charge of the discussion.

In addition, on the occasion of this meeting, the Presidium members committed themselves to giving AER support to the new Polish Regions which are currently preparing their development strategy for the enlargement process.

The AER, responding to a direct appeal from seven of its member Regions which had been effected by the ecological disaster of the Danube, asked its members – in particular its riverside dwelling Regions of the Rhine – to put their know-how in terms of water treatment at the service of the Polish Regions.

For more information: [email protected]

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Draft European Charter of Regional Democracy

10 September, 1997 By Editor

The Draft European Charter of Regional Democracy was initiated by the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe (CLRAE) in 1997. The original idea behind the Charter was to set out the key principles that should underlie effective regional democracy in Europe, covering areas such as financial autonomy and legislative powers. However, the Charter failed to attract the support of a sufficient majority of Member States at the Ministerial Conferences in Helsinki in 2002 and Budapest in 2005, with disagreements emerging over whether the instrument should be legally binding. In order to restart the debate on the Charter, the Congress has developed a new text, which responds to the objections raised by the Member States and also takes into account developments in the field of regional democracy over the past ten years. The AER supported this initiative as it was wishing to see a binding regional charter enter into force.

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AER Declaration on Regionalism

30 August, 1996 By Editor

The “Declaration on Regionalism” in Europe was adopted by the AER in 1996 during the General Meeting of European Regions in Basel (CH). It is a reference document for new regions or those undergoing expansion. It defines the norms and criteria for regional development and fixes the different steps to be undertaken so that the region can beacknowledged as a fully-fledged political entity. There is currently awide range of different regional structures in Europe. The “Declaration” has not chosen to promote a specific type of regionalism but sets out ageneral framework within which the regions may develop.
“The Assembly of European Regions strives to have regionalism recognised not only within the European Union but also beyond. At a time when, within Europe, the strengthening of the European Union is being reflected upon, the role of the regions in the unification process is gaining importance. Themes such as the distribution of responsibilities and the cooperation through partnerships between the various policy levels have consequently come to the fore, subsidiarity being the basic principle to define everyone’s role. The movement for regionalism is strong within the European Union as well as beyond. It is fuelled by the belief that the powers vested in the European Union, the (Member-) States and the regions are complementary.Regions, federated states and autonomous communities are above all mainstays of democracy; they strongly support cultural diversity in Europe and they are major partners in socio-economic development. This is why they should be able to take responsibilities in the policy areas where they have a competitive advantage, amongst others, in economics (employment), culture, the environment, regional and country planning, scientific research etc.The Declaration on regionalism adopted by the Assembly of European Regions offers a reliable guide for regions on the way to enlargening and strengthening their powers. It is a document of norms and standards, an entity of beacons and stepping stones. It is not a charter that fixes the minimum norms for recognition of a region. The rich diversity of regions in the AER yields a great number of models and structures to streamline regional development. The Declaration on regionalism sets out the guidelines within which the AER member regions develop. Thus they endorse the AER objective: strengthening regional development.
By this Declaration the AER wants to show what it, together with its members, strives for. They can enrich and strengthen the AER. This is why the Declaration is distributed, presented and discussed within the AER as well as beyond. In our capacity as former and current Presidents of the AER, we want to further promote regionalism in Europe, thereby enabling regions to take up more responsibility in a Europe that is closer to the citizen”.