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Regionalisation in Romania

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Gratian Mihailescu, AER expert on regionalisation issues, was invited at Adevarul live to comment latests statements of Romanian prime minister Dacian Ciolos regarding decentralisation and reform of public administration.

The Romanian government is concerned about three main aspects:

  1. a) fragmentation at decision level of local government, especially in rural areas, but also at regional level
  2. b) serious problems of coordination and integration of various development programs financed from national funds or European at all levels: local, county, regional, national.
  3. c) financial resources available to local government: their low incomes and the fact that majority of local authorities rely almost exclusively on funds transferred from center authorities (taking into account the political color of the mayor or president of the county)

Regarding the debate of the regionalization there are 3-4 types of alternatives which could be the starting point of the debate.

  1. Association between different counties in order to develop projects
  2. Establishing 8 administrative regions (established on structure of NUTS 2 development regions) as a third level, maintaining the intermediate level – county councils.
  3. 8 administrative regions without 42 counties
  4. Smaller administrative regions (15-18), created by the merger of 2-3 counties based on socio-economic criteria

Mr Mihailescu explained in the TV show that the technocrats government led by prime-minister Ciolos made this decentralization/regionalization proposals which should be implemented by political class, after the elections (local, national) from 2016.

Watch the interview here.

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First 2016 high level meeting with the European Commission

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In the framework of the structured dialogue’s first meeting of the year, AER Secretary General Mathieu Mori met on Friday 22 January the Secretaries General of the European Commission Alexander Italianer, of the Committee of the Regions Jiří Buriánek and a few selected other networks of cities and regions.

This meeting prefigures the annual meeting of President Hande Özsan Bozatli with the Presidents of these organisations on a date to be confirmed.

A key point of discussion was the future of cohesion policy post 2020 and the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) scheduled for the end of 2016. If the European Commission stated that cohesion policy would remain a key tool to fight development gaps between regions, nothing on the scope of the MFF mid-term review nor on the amount of flexibility to be introduced in its functioning was detailed.

AER will therefore continue to follow and influence closely these developments.

AER also stated its wish to be involved in the discussions on the revision of the Juncker Investment priorities at the end of 2017 and its link with cohesion policy.

On thematic issues, the commission took good note on the cooperation proposal from AER to implement the migration action plan to be announced in April 2016.

This first exchange of the year with the European Commission will be followed up by AER in order to make sure our organisation is involved in the decision-making process of all major policies of interest to its members.

If you have in your regions technical expertise about the MFF or the Juncker investment priorities and wish to work with the secretariat and the AER members on these topics, please contact Johanna Pacevicius.

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Broadening your horizons

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In the wake of the AER initiative for revitalising democracy, we are pleased to advertise a symposium where our Vice President for Institutional Affairs, Roy Perry, will speak. The international institute of municipal clerks is organising on 2 and 3 June 2016 an international gathering of civil servants and thoses working in democratic services to discuss the challenges of serving local communities. This conference will be a good opportunity to compare local government democratic systems around the globe with a focus on Europe.

You can find further information about the programme and registration details here.

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Dutch EU Presidency focuses on four of AER’s main policies

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An agenda in line with AER’s

The Netherlands Presidency of the European Union (from January to June 2016) aims to promote prosperity, freedom and security in the EU during the next half year, by focusing on Migration, Innovation, Economy and Energy Policies. The Assembly of European Regions can provide a wealth of knowledge and experience from the regions about these themes, these being at the core of its engagement. This is especially relevant given AER’s 2016 focus on Revitalizing Democracy, with a number of topics and events in line with the priorities of the Netherlands Presidency.

Dutch regions

AER boasts a special relation with the Netherlands, through the participation in AER of three very dynamic Dutch Regions: Flevoland, Gelderland and Noord-Brabant. These provinces already cooperate with regions from across wider Europe inside AER  on the four core priorities of the Netherlands Presidency of the European Union, and will have a pivotal role in the next six months.

Priorities of the Netherlands EU Presidency

Migration & International Security. The Netherlands Presidency of the EU is committed to a common border control, asylum and migration Policy. AER’s longstanding experience in interregional cooperation is instrumental in the implementation of hands-on solution: we cannot afford to not take advantage of each others’ experience. Feedback from peers in other regions allows for agile policy making & implementation of sustainable solutions.

Innovation and Job Creation. During the next half year, the Netherlands will prioritise new jobs and innovation in the economy of the EU. This sounds as an acknowledgement of AER’s continuous commitment for entrepreneurship, youth employment and the silver economy. By carrying out peer reviews on smart jobs creation, youth employment, innovation policies, by supporting regions to boost entrepreneurship and more specifically youth entrepreneurship, by encouraging youth participation, AER has put relentless efforts in innovation and job creation. The AER Regional Innovation Award typically shows the incredible innovation potential of regions. The AER Summer Academy is another example of a highly succesful initiative for innovation and job creation.

Finance and Eurozone. The Netherlands Presidency wants to continue the ongoing reforms to ensure modern economies with healthy public finances. AER reiterates its position that decentralisation is correlated with economic growth. Healthy and sustainable public finances will only be achieved with a user-based and territorial approach.

Forward-Looking Climate & Energy Policy. The AER enthusiastically welcomes the decision of the Netherlands  to commit to a coherent approach on climate, the environment and sustainability. AER member regions have been strongly promoting sustainable energy policies for many years and can share their experience and findings on topics such as the implementation of regional strategies for renewable energies and energy efficiency or the developement of the funding market for RES.

Forthcoming AER meetings

Many of the above mentioned issues will be discussed in the coming Committees’ Plenary and Bureau meeting. In addition, the AER and the Dutch member regions will soon organise a Breakfast Briefing in Brussels on the current Presidency of the Council (more information soon).

More information

Visit the website of the Netherlands Presidency of the European Union

Contact the AER Secretariat for more information

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Newly elected Executive Board will focus on “Revitalising democracy” in 2016

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The General Assembly elected on 1 December the members of the Executive Board:

The President
Dr Hande Özsan Bozatli, Istanbul (TR)

Hande Özsan Bozatli, AER President

The Vice-President Treasurer
Magnus Berntsson, Västra Götaland (SE)

csm_Magnus_Berntsson_051ae5ad59

The Vice-President for Equal Opportunities & Inclusion
Ana Tomanova Makanova, Vojvodina (RS)

Ana Tomanova Makanova

The Vice-President for Institutional Affairs
Roy Perry, Hampshire (UK)

Roy Perry

The full executive board can be found on the following link.

After some months of transition and major change, the new Executive Board is now eager to bring the organisation in a new era of its existence. The active debate and involvement of Bureau members on the issue of the refugee crisis on 2 December and the trustworthy atmosphere at the General Assembly are promising signs for the network to continue its efforts in favour of regional interests.

The Executive Board has agreed to focus on the issue of “revitalising democracy” in 2016. This broad topic will be tackled from various angles including:

  • State of Regions: continuing our work on the 2015 report on regionalisation handled by the AER experts
  • Societies fighting radicalisation through intergenerational cooperation, youth participation, de-radicalisation, etc.
  • Sustainable and innovative regions
  • Mobility and migration and the follow-up on the refugee crisis

We look forward to sharing and promoting the contribution of regions on these issues in 2016.

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Highlight the most deserving MEPs

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For the 12th consecutive year, the Parliament Magazine organizes the MEP Awards, a unique occasion to celebrate the work and achievements of the Members of the European Parliament across a range of policy areas. Wishing to highlight the personalities whose work has served the interests of our regions over the past year, AER contributes each year by selecting the most deserving MEPs.

The AER members are therefore offered to communicate their choice before 28 November to the AER Secretariat which will centralize the proposals. You can send us your nominations for the following categories:

  • Agriculture
  • Animal welfare
  • Corporate governance
  • Development
  • Digital agenda
  • Economic and monetary affairs
  • Employment and social affairs
  • Energy
  • Environment
  • Foreign affairs
  • Health
  • ICT policies
  • Justice and cicvil liberties
  • Regional policy
  • Sport and physical activity
  • Trade and internal market
  • Transport
  • Outstanding achievements
  • Tourism

The list of MEPs selected for the second round will be announced on 6 January 2016 and the official ceremony will take place 16 March 2016.

More information about the MEP Awards 2016 here.

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Public opinion about the EU in the European regions

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The Eurobarometer’s survey offers a very detailed (and mainly pessimistic) view of the European public opinion at regional level in 2015. It has been published in October under the title: “Public opinion in the EU regions“. The survey was realised by interviewing citizens aged 15+ from all the 28 EU member States and living in one of the 209 considered European regions (a mix of NUTS I and NUTS II). Questions were divided into four main areas:

Regional Economic Situation and Quality of Life: public opinion puts on evidence a still not cohesive European Union, showing deep differences among Central/Northern Regions and Southern/Eastern Regions, in terms of feelings about the present and future economical conditions and the level of quality of live. At the same time, pessimistic expectations about the quality of life for the next year prevails in only 22 European Regions.

Main issues in the region: immigration is dramatically growing in importance, especially in Sweden and Central Europe. However – although it registers a drop – the main issues under the EU regional public opinion still remains unemployment, especially in France, Finland, the Mediterranean and in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs).

Trust in the EU: trust, at regional level, is very uneven. However,  only 42% of the respondents tend to trust the EU, confirming what had already emerged in 2012.

The best placed to explain how European policies impact citizens’ day-to-day life: for the majority of the CEECs, the best placed are Members of the European Institutions. In Western Europe, on the contrary, regional and national representatives are best ranked. Finally, complete skepticism largely prevails in Italy, Greece and Cyprus.

Download Flash Eurobarometer 427

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These are the candidates for the new Executive Board & MEG

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The General Assembly on 1 December in Brussels will be electing the new members of its Executive Board.

These are the applications received:

The President
Dr Hande Özsan Bozatli, Istanbul (TR)
Download the application

Hande Özsan Bozatli, AER President

The Vice-President Treasurer
Magnus Berntsson, Västra Götaland (SE)
Download the application

csm_Magnus_Berntsson_051ae5ad59

The Vice-President for Equal Opportunities & Inclusion
Ana Tomanova Makanova, Vojvodina (RS)
Download the application

Ana Tomanova Makanova

The Vice-President for Institutional Affairs
Roy Perry, Hampshire (UK)
Download the application

Roy Perry

The Vice-President for International Cooperation & Mediterranean Issues
No application received

We have also received two applications for the position in the Monitoring & Evaluation Group (should Ms Tomanova Makanova be elected as Vice-President for Equal Opportunities & Inclusion)

Milivoj Vrebalov, Vojvodina (RS)
Download the application

Milivoj Vrebalov 02

Goran Pauk, Šibenik-Knin (HR)
Download the application

Goran Pauk

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Does open government trigger innovation?

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The Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit is currently taking place in Mexico.  The OGP was launched in 2011 to provide an international platform for domestic reformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens.  Since then, OGP has grown from 8 countries to the 66 participating countries In all of these countries, government and civil society are working together to develop and implement ambitious open government reforms.

Open government is a concept that holds that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public scrutiny and oversight, thus ensuring transparency.

The OECD says in its report from 2013 that ‘Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives have proliferated since the mid-2000s both at central and local government levels in OECD and non OECD countries.’

Yet does open government trigger innovation in governance and ultimately better governance and increased democracy?

 

 

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An integrated approach to regional development

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Gratian Mihailescu, expert from the AER’s Observatory on Regionalisation, was invited to speak at the Danube Conference about multi-level governance on 16 October 2015.

The roundtable discussion was organized in Cluj Napoca, with the occasion of 100 years celebration of Junior Chamber International. JCI is a is a international NGO of young people between 18 and 40 years old It has members in about 124 countries, and regional or national organizations in many of them and it encourages young people to become responsible citizens and to participate in efforts towards social and economic development, and international co-operation, good-will and understanding.

Gratian Mihailescu participated in a roundtable about Smart Cities and Innovation, together with various stakeholders including the mayor, vice-president of Cluj county, academia from Babes Bolyay University, Business sector and local NGO’s.

Learn more about the AER’s Observatory on Regionalisation and our pool of experts.
You can find and read his presentation here below.

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Commission’s appetite for an EU budget focused on results

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The Assembly of European Regions participated on 22 September in a high-level conference organised in Brussels by the European Commission called an EU budget focused on results. Leading figures in Europe’s political landscape like European Commission’s President Jean-Claude Juncker, Vice President’s Kristalina Georgieva and Maroš Šefčovič and German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble exchanged views on how to improve efficiency of spending and achieve more with the available resources, notably regional and cohesion policy.

All the speeches, presentations and videos of the conference are available online here.

This conference was the first of a series of annual events, intended to support the implementation of “EU Budget Focused on Results” strategy of Kristalina Georgieva. The event paved the way for joined efforts of EU institutions and member states towards better spending, increased accountability and transparency and maximum added value for EU citizens.

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The role of European regions in 2015

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As the new programming period has started, the AER is willing to look into the role that regional authorities actually play in European politics and in Europe in general in 2014. The study will focus on several questions, such as: To what extent is the subsidiarity principle implemented in European countries? Have Regions seen their competences and influence developed in the last years? How does multilevel governance look like in the various European states? If we consider the case of EU regional policy, to what extent has the partnership principle been respected for the setting up and implementation of this key policy for European regions? The study will be published in 2015 at the occasion of AER’s 30th Anniversary.

Link to the country reports
Link to the full report

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Meetings with Committee of the Regions and European Commission Presidents

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Brussels (BE), 18 September 2014

Today, Dr Hande Özsan Bozatli, President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER), met the outgoing European Commission’s President Barroso for a final talk, together with the Presidents of the other main local and regional organisations*.

AER President focused her speech on the cooperation in the Eastern Neighbourhood and the Black Sea area. “As our membership comprises regions from wider Europe, AER monitored actively the development in the framework of the Eastern Partnership policy, designed as a new way of getting to grips with our Eastern neighbours.” While pointing out the importance of including regional and local authorities, AER made comments on technical aspects of the policy and ensured that it gets its members informed and involved in a wider cooperation.

Ms Özsan Bozatli emphasized the political development in Ukraine, and warmly welcomed this week’s signature of the cooperation agreement with the European Union. AER is currently preparing seminars in Ukraine to promote the principles of regional democracy, and will continue to do so. Next action on the field: at the demand of the national government and the three regions of Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk, AER is preparing to send experts in regionalisation to these territories in the coming month of October. In this context, President Özsan Bozatli urged the upcoming Commission to “take into account our contacts, our work and our expertise in this field.”

* Committee of the Regions, Council of European Municipalities and Regions, Association of European Border Regions, Conference of peripheral maritime regions, EUROCITIES, Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies, Conference of European Regions with Legislative Powers.

For more information: [email protected]

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Launch of the AER Academic and Training Centre: a brand new approach to decentralisation

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Zadar (HR), 20 February 2014

The Bureau members of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) symbolically chose the region of Zadar, Croatia, to hold their first meeting of the year, a few months after Croatia’s accession to the European Union. Among the priorities decided for the future, they announced the launch of a study about the role of the regions in 2014.

As the new programming period is starting, AER is indeed willing to look into the role that regional authorities actually play in European politics and in Europe in general in 2014. To what extent is the subsidiarity principle implemented in European countries? Have Regions seen their competences and influence developed in the last years? How does multilevel governance look like in the various European states? If we consider the case of EU regional policy, to what extent has the partnership principle been respected for the setting up and implementation of this key policy for European regions?

These questions will be at the heart of the study which will be run in 2014 and promoted in 2015, year of the 30th AER Anniversary.

The study will be coordinated by the AER Academic and Training Centre which was officially launched at a high historical place, the university of Zadar, which is the first Croatian university, built 620 years ago. This Centre will bring together under a single label all training activities proposed by the AER and act as a single point “one-stop-shop” on regionalisation in Europe.

5 experts professors from Zadar (HR), Fribourg (CH), Sofia (BG), Banska Bystrica (SK) and South Denmark (DK) have already accepted to bring a scientific contribution to the AER study on decentralisation. Present at the launch event, the Prefect of Zadar County and the Rector of Zadar University both underlined their conviction that the members of the university, professors but also students, will get engaged in the work of the Academic Centre.

Taking the opportunity of their presence in Zadar, AER members called the Croatian national government to adopt a bottom-up approach in their current plans for administrative and territorial reform. “You absolutely have to work hand in hand with your regions if you want to reach democratic and fair territorial structure. We, AER, know very well the situation in the country, as we gather 18 members in Croatia. We would be willing to be partner in your regionalisation process”, said AER President, Mrs Hande Özsan Bozatli.

 

For more information: [email protected]

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AER advocates subsidiarity at Congress plenary

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Congress-plenary2013

AER Committee 3 President Sonja Steen participated in the plenary session of the Congress of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 29-31 October). During the debate at the Chamber of the Regions, which focused on the impact of the crisis on regionalisation and devolution, recalled the AER claim that subsidiarity remain the key principle of any policy-making processes in Europe. Budgetary constraints should not, as a consequence, be used to jeopardize the very existence of regional authorities, or to limit their remit. Regions are key actors of the European economic revival and should remain in position to fulfil their tasks.

The AER recommendations on the Regions and the crisis were also displayed at a stand, where other novelties such as the newly launched AER Academic and Training Centre were unveiled.

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