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2019 Autumn Bureau Meeting in Brussels

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The Autumn edition of the twice-annual AER Bureau Meeting took place in Brussels on 5 December 2019, hosted by the Brussels Capital Region.

The Bureau is the primary political voice of AER. It engages in issues of a pan-European and global nature emanating from members and establishes the political base for AER’s advocacy work.

Political Priorities 2020-2025

The Bureau members had a full agenda with the adoption of the AER Political Priorities 2020-2025 up for discussion and debate.

The new political priorities will be put to a vote at the June 2020 AER General Assembly, and if adopted, will be in effect until June 2025.

If you would like to learn more about the Political Priorities adoption process, see our latest article here.

The political priorities can be read in full here.

The Political Priorities were not the only cause to look ahead at this Bureau meeting. A discussion also took place on the Priority Topics for AER Task Forces from 2020.

The following is the status of the Taskforces at present:

FinishedOngoingSoon to CommenceSuggested
MigrationCohesion Policy
Food Security
Digitalisation
SDGs		DemocracySustainable
Mobility & Connectivity

One taskforce slot is always held vacant in case a matter of urgent importance arises during the Bureau’s mandate.

Taskforce on Cohesion

Michiel Rijsberman, Chair of the Taskforce on Cohesion, gave an update on the work of the group. He emphasised the successful advocacy work undertaken by an AER Delegation to the European Parliament in October to meet with newly elected MEPs.

The time has now come for a final push towards the European Council and EU Member States. Together with the Cohesion Alliance, which gathers all major networks of local and regional governments, we sent a letter to the European Council President, Mr Charles Michel, on Tuesday 10 November 2019. This letter has also been disseminated to AER members to transfer to their national governments. It is important for all regions to mobilise to safeguard cohesion policy. Check the article to know more about this advocacy action.

Taskforce on Migration

Albert Castellanos Maduell, Chair of the Migration Taskforce, reported on the work carried out since the Bureau adopted its position on Migration, “Towards an Intercultural Europe”, in June 2019. A prime example of this is the newly launched Intercultural Regions Network, co-founded by AER, the Government of Catalonia and the Council of Europe’s Intercultural Cities Network. All regions interested in joining this new initiative are invited to come forward. 

Taskforce on Food Security

A discussion was held to finalise the AER Position on Food Security which will form the basis of AER’s advocacy work towards the new European Commission and newly elected MEPs. The position can be read in full here.

Debates

In the afternoon, the Bureau was pleased to host two high-level panel debates pertaining to the work of its taskforces on the Sustainable Development Goals and Digitalisation.

Panel Debate: Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals

With representatives from the European Parliament, EESC, CoR and the United Nations Development Programme, the discussion reflected on the contribution of regional authorities to the implementation, follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda and invite views on how we can more effectively localise its Goals. Read this article to find out more.

Panel Debate on Regions in the Digital Era

Organised by Lower Austria who holds the chairmanship of the Taskforce on Digitalisation, the panel debate formed an opportunity for regions to discuss how to adapt to the digital transformation and make the changes associated with digitalisation work for regions and their citizens. Read more about this subject in this article.

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Bureau signs off on Political Priorities 2020-2025

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During the Autumn 2019 Bureau Meeting that took place on 5 December in Brussels (BE), Bureau members adopted AER Political Priorities for the upcoming 5 years (2020-2025).

AER Political Priorities 2020-2025 were drafted by the appointed Taskforce from the Spring 2019 Bureau Meeting and identified the challenges that AER should address over the next five years.

Among the priorities established in the position paper can be found:

  • Ensuring good governance.
  • Promoting decentralisation and subsidiarity.
  • Respecting and protecting social cohesion and cultural diversity, as well as strengthening intercultural dialogue.
  • Advocating for a stronger cohesion policy that ensures an enhances interregional cooperation.
  • Reaffirming regional commitment towards reaching the pre-established goals in the Agenda 2030.
  • Fostering a society that is based on the promotion and protection of equality.

Read the political priorities in full at the link below:

Political Priorities 2020-2025

About the Political Priorities

AER Political Priorities are developed by the Bureau, which is in charge of providing the priority areas for its mandate and general orientations for the work of the organisation. 

Every 5 years, at the Autumn Bureau Meeting, Bureau Members will set out the AER Political Priorities, outlining the critical issues AER will need to prioritize to achieve its mission. 

By establishing longer-term priorities, AER will be provided by a common vision and focus, with agreed-upon priorities, for a clear direction and longer-term drive of operational priorities.

Photo by Giannis Skarlatos on Unsplash

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Debating the Role of Regions in the Digital Era

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During the AER Bureau Meeting which took place in Brussels on 5 December 2019, the AER Taskforce on Digitalisation hosted a panel debate on Regions in the Digital Era at the BIP – the House of the Capital Region.

The event was organised under the leadership of the Taskforce Chair, the Region of Lower Austria.

The shift towards an information society has profoundly changed our way of living and thinking. Information society, with the help of ICT, offers great opportunities to local and regional authorities to enhance the democratic participation of citizens and increasing the quality and efficiency of public services and local administration.

Likewise, regions plan and pursue their own digital strategies in order to enhance economic growth and to promote their citizens’ wellbeing.

During the debate, experts from European Institutions, academia and the private sector had the opportunity to reflect on the challenges that regions face to foster an ecosystem that is conducive to the uptake and usage of digital applications to benefit its citizens. Concurrently, debate attendees seized the opportunity to pose questions to the panel to learn how to better harness digitalization and empower citizens in their regions.

Kerstin Koren from the Lower Austrian Regional Government moderated the debate, which was opened by Martin Eichtinger – Minister of Housing, Labour, and International Relations of the Government of Lower Austria, Chair of the AER Task Force on Digitalisation

Mr. Eichtinger showcased the work that Lower Austria is doing in promoting digitalisation by establishing different projects and initiatives, such as Digi Contest, a competition for employees to come up with innovative project ideas, alongside other citizens’ participation programmes, which can be used as examples by other European regions.

Anne-Marie Sassen, Deputy Head of Unit at the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission gave insights into the Commission’s Digital Europe programme with a detailed presentation.

You can revisit the presentation by accessing the slides here.

She stated that there are some European organisations that have already implemented new technologies, but not all of them are making the most of things when it comes to digital competences. The same applies to regions, are implementing a lot of technologies, whereas others are not. With the Digital Europe Programme, the European Commission hopes to encourage European public services, companies and citizens to be more aware of the advantages of digitalisation and to enable these actors to seize the benefits that can come from digital technologies.

Ms. Koren subsequently asked the audience to feedback on the first thing that comes to mind when we discuss digitalisation.

Sli.do 5 Dec 2019

Thomas J. Lampoltshammer – Deputy Head of Center for E-Governance, Danube University Krems reflected on the outcomes of this audience poll and the situation of regions & companies active in the digital era, stating

“We have different challenges and we need to find a way to put together the main pillars in order to find solutions.” He advised that we need to bring the public and private sector together to cooperate on the digital transition and he stressed in particular that given that each region has its own profile and background which affects the development of digital literacy, there is a need to develop a programme for providing solutions to the problems, to make people aware of the digital era and to encourage them to get on board in the ways that work best for them.

Stefan Moritz, Managing Director of European Entrepreneurs (CEA-PME) gave the perspectives of SMEs and stressed that SMEs need to be more digitally literate. To do this we need to share good practices with other countries, and to cooperate. For regions and EU Member States, he advised that E-governance will be a pull factor for digital companies, as well as for citizens so it is crucial that public services keep up the pace.

Ludmilla Georgieva, Public Policy and Governmental Relations Manager, Google, shared her views as somebody who has previously worked in the public sector before joining the tech giant. She underscored the opportunities that digitalisation offers to governments, regions and citizens. She gave the example of the cloud as a means to help to reduce costs, to reduce time, and to improve overall quality of life.

She reiterated that digitalisation is an opportunity for regions to foster regional development, the grow local economies and keep citizens in their region by providing digital infrastructure and promoting connectivity through digital technologies.

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Glocalising the SDGs – Moving Together in the Right Direction

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The AER Taskforce on the SDGs organised a Panel Debate entitled ‘Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals’ in the context of the AER Autumn Bureau Meeting which took place in Brussels on 5 December 2019. The debate was moderated by AER President Magnus Berntsson, who was joined by experts from the UNDP, European Parliament, Committee of the Regions, and the European Economic and Social Committee.

More than Climate Action

The discussion kicked off with a question to the audience, asking them to reflect on what first comes to mind when they hear the phrase “Sustainable Development Goals”. The words that emerged immediately were ‘Future, Social, Climate, Environment, but the uniformity of responses did not surprise our guests. Maria Nikolopoulou – Member of the Sustainable Development Observatory of the European Economic and Social Committee – remarked that it is quite common for people to associate the SDGs with Climate Change and Environment, however, it is important to bear in mind that the SDGs framework is based on 3 main pillars: economic, social and environmental and it is, therefore, necessary to work on all of them simultaneously, otherwise there will be an imbalance. 

Global Challenges tackled at the Local Level

The word cloud of responses led the debate to explore another topic embedded in the SDGs: citizens and their future. In this context, Erik Bergkvist – a former regional politician and now a Member of the European Parliament – was in a unique position to reflect on the role of Cohesion Policy in supporting regions municipalities and cities achieve the SDGs. He stressed that everything happens locally and people have to perceive that they are part of the project and they are not left behind. Concluding his remarks, he stated ‘You have a really important job to do and most of it is still undone. I am encouraged by the quotation of Oscar Wilde: We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars’. 

Following this, Juan Carlos Lopez Cecilia – Territorial Partnership Advisor at the United Nations Development Programme – further elaborated on what it means to “localise” the goals and gave advice to regions on how best to achieve this. A multi-level and multi-actor approach is needed to localise the agenda, only with the full participation of local and regional authorities will it be possible to implement the 2030 agenda.

Not Reachable until 2030?

As we approach the implementation decade, it was interesting to see one of the previous responses to the first question was ‘not reachable until 2030’. Participants were, therefore, asked to define the challenges that regions are facing in their view. Political willingness and financing immediately appeared among the biggest challenges and this was subsequently confirmed by Arnoldas Abramavicius – European Committee of the Regions Rapporteur on Sustainable Development Goals. Mr Abramavicius presented the survey launched jointly by the CoR and the OECD on the contribution of cities and regions to sustainable development. The lack of support was identified by regions as a challenge for localising SDGs and insufficient resources were also at the centre of the matter. It is not surprising that the survey’s findings coincided with the answers from the audience. To help European regions and cities overcome these challenges, all stakeholders have to find a long-term EU strategy for a sustainable Europe by 2030 and organisations such as AER have a large role to play in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. Maria Nikolopoulou stressed the importance of having different voices from different levels push from the bottom to implement the SDGs.

Because regions need to be more vocal on SDGs, AER has decided to organise a profile-raising conference ‘Agenda 2030: Transforming Regions, Changing the World’ which will take place at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Région Grand Est, in June 2020.

Rubik’s Cubes & Lens

All the panellists agreed on the importance of the regions and the necessity of taking a holistic approach to implementing the goals. Inspirational metaphors came from both Maria Nikolopoulou and Eva Hallström, a strong advocate for the SDGs within the AER network. The former linked the SDGs to a Rubik’s cube: you have many pieces connected together and you can only manage to solve it if you have a strategy, you have to move the pieces in coordination without trying to fix just one part but the cube as a whole. The latter, Eva Halstrom, added that we need to use the SDGs like a pair of glasses, or as a lens, through which we see and elaborate our regional development strategies.

The debate confirmed the AER member regions’ commitment to implementing the 2030 agenda and AER invites all its members to take action together and cooperate for a more sustainable Europe.

Read more about the 2019 Autumn Bureau Meeting here.

2019 Autumn Bureau Meeting in Brussels

2019 Autumn Bureau Meeting in Brussels

The Autumn edition of the twice-annual AER Bureau Meeting took place in Brussels on 5 December 2019, hosted by the ...
Read More
Bureau signs off on Political Priorities 2020-2025

Bureau signs off on Political Priorities 2020-2025

During the Autumn 2019 Bureau Meeting that took place on 5 December in Brussels (BE), Bureau members adopted AER Political ...
Read More
Debating the Role of Regions in the Digital Era

Debating the Role of Regions in the Digital Era

During the AER Bureau Meeting which took place in Brussels on 5 December 2019, the AER Taskforce on Digitalisation hosted ...
Read More
Glocalising the SDGs - Moving Together in the Right Direction

Glocalising the SDGs – Moving Together in the Right Direction

The AER Taskforce on the SDGs organised a Panel Debate entitled ‘Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals’ in the context of ...
Read More
Regions in the Digital Era

Regions in the Digital Era

The Assembly of European Regions will host a debate focused on the topic of Digitalisation on the 5th of December ...
Read More
AER Debate on Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals

AER Debate on Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals

The AER debate on Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals will take place in Brussels on 5 December from 14.30-16.00. As ...
Read More
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Regions in the Digital Era

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The Assembly of European Regions will host a debate focused on the topic of Digitalisation on the 5th of December from 16.15h to 17.45h in Brussels.

The 21st century has become the digital revolution era and the European Institutions are responsible for ensuring that this digitalisation is managed in a way that serves the interests of citizens in all EU member states.

The European Commission has been supporting regions to adapt to the digital transformation; for instance, last year they presented some instruments and measures to bring artificial intelligence to European citizens, to boost innovation in the Digital Single Market, and to develop further initiatives to increase public and private investments in this field, which consequently boosts innovation in the Digital Single Market, and therefore Europe’s competitiveness.

The Assembly of European Regions considers that regions play an important role when it comes to leading this digital transformation, as well as in providing digital services and creating and managing digital infrastructure. Consequently, AER members have come together in a Task Force to review and guide the Commission’s strategy to adapt the single market effectively for the digital era.

The Minister of Housing, Labour, and International Relations of the Government of Lower Austria, Martin Eichtinger, will host this debate that aims to bring together relevant stakeholders and experts from European institutions in this field to reflect on how regions can contribute to the digitalisation reality that is already revolutionising Europe.

During this session, speakers will provide answers to key questions, such as how can a fast and reliable electricity and broadband infrastructure that reaches and connects all Europe be facilitated; how can a common understanding on the values of civil society in a digital world be achieved, and how can the digital transformation of the labour market in order to ensure prosperity and employment in the future be faced?

If this has peaked your interest and you would like to attend the debate, please register here.

Photo by Fuse Brussels on Unsplash

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AER Debate on Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals

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The AER debate on Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals will take place in Brussels on 5 December from 14.30-16.00.

As we approach the decade of delivery of the 2030 Agenda, including a comprehensive review of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the European Union (EU) debates how it can follow up on its commitments by 2030, this panel debate will reflect on the contribution of local and regional authorities to the 2030 Agenda and invite views on how we can more effectively localise its goals.

Local and regional authorities are at the forefront of development. Their role in realising the 2030 Agenda has been increasingly acknowledged. However, much more needs to be done to meaningfully engage them in the implementation, follow up and review of its global goals.

One of the most fundamental challenges is the localisation of the SDGs. The sub-national contexts are not always embedded within the national SDG strategies, compromising the alignment of efforts, as well as the ownership, coordination and partnership principles which are the foundation of the 2030 Agenda. One major reason for this limited localisation process is the lack of effective multi-level mechanisms for coordination and follow up of the SDGs.

Bringing together local and regional authorities, institutional and civil society stakeholders, this event will explore how Europe can accelerate progress towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda by securing the effective localisation of its goals. We will also hear insights on how to articulate EU cohesion policy programmes with the local and regional efforts towards the SDGs implementation.

The debate will be hosted by the AER Task Force on SDGs, chaired by Magnus Berntsson, President of AER and Regional Minister of Environment and Vice-President of the Regional Council of Västra Götaland, Sweden.

Speakers

Erik Bergkvist – Member of the European Parliament
Juan Carlos Lopez Cecilia – Territorial Partnership Advisor, United Nations Development Programme
Arnoldas Abramavicius – European Committee of the Regions Rapporteur on Sustainable Development Goals
Maria Nikolopoulou – Member of the Sustainable Development Observatory of the European Economic and Social Committee

We look forward to seeing you there!

Registration here.

Participants are warmly invited to attend the morning Bureau Meeting, but if you are interested in attending only the panel debate on ”Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals’ please follow the instruction below, as the Registration Form applies to all the day’s events:
– Click on this link for the Registration Form
– Fill all the relevant fields with your personal information
– Reply “no” to the section concerning the morning sessions
– Reply “yes” to the section concerning the afternoon session (14:30-16:00) on the SDGs

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Autumn Bureau Meeting – Brussels Capital (BE)

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The autumn meeting of the AER Bureau took on 5 December 2019 in the Brussels Capital Region.

The Bureau came together to adopt AER’s political priorities for 2020-2025 and it also hosted two debates with European parliamentarians on the Sustainable Development Goals and Digitalisation.

 

A draft agenda for the event is accessible at the link below:

The Working Documents can be downloaded at the link below:

 

 

Presentations from the event can be downloaded via the link below:

Photographs from the event can be viewed at the link below:

Revisit the highlights from the event in the articles below:

2019 Autumn Bureau Meeting in Brussels

2019 Autumn Bureau Meeting in Brussels

The Autumn edition of the twice-annual AER Bureau Meeting took place in Brussels on 5 December 2019, hosted by the ...
Read More
Bureau signs off on Political Priorities 2020-2025

Bureau signs off on Political Priorities 2020-2025

During the Autumn 2019 Bureau Meeting that took place on 5 December in Brussels (BE), Bureau members adopted AER Political ...
Read More
Debating the Role of Regions in the Digital Era

Debating the Role of Regions in the Digital Era

During the AER Bureau Meeting which took place in Brussels on 5 December 2019, the AER Taskforce on Digitalisation hosted ...
Read More
Glocalising the SDGs - Moving Together in the Right Direction

Glocalising the SDGs – Moving Together in the Right Direction

The AER Taskforce on the SDGs organised a Panel Debate entitled ‘Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals’ in the context of ...
Read More
Regions in the Digital Era

Regions in the Digital Era

The Assembly of European Regions will host a debate focused on the topic of Digitalisation on the 5th of December ...
Read More
AER Debate on Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals

AER Debate on Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals

The AER debate on Glocalising the Sustainable Development Goals will take place in Brussels on 5 December from 14.30-16.00. As ...
Read More

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