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AER Task Force on Cohesion Policy

AER Conference on “The Future of Cohesion Policy in an Enlarged Europe”

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Eger, Heves county (H), 15 October 2004 

On 14 and 15 October, the Assembly of European Regions and the Region of Heves – Hungary – held a Conference on the Future of Cohesion Policy in an Enlarged Europe, on the initiative of its Committee C “Regional Policies”. This large event was attended by more than 220 persons, representing more than 90 regional and local authorities, interregional associations and national and European authorities. This Conference was organised in the framework of the Centurio programme, an AER-led Interreg IIIC project, gathering almost 50 regions.

On the eve of the Conference, a technical seminar gave the participants the opportunity to share experiences in the field of structural fund management and exchange their points of view relating to the simplification and decentralisation measures proposed by the European Commission in the new regulations on structural funds. Their input was then discussed in the political Conference on Friday, October 15th.

The Conference focused on the reform of EU cohesion policy, especially the future coordination between this policy and the other EC policies. Mr Lambert Van Nistelrooij, Member of the European Parliament, Member of the Committee for Regional Policy and substitute in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy insisted on the necessity to create consistent bridges between the future structural funds and the research programmes, so as to improve coordination of the various programmes and projects in these two fields and promote the knowledge economy in all European Regions.

The regions also have particularly insisted on the positive outcome of Interreg IIIC and expressed their worries regarding the future of interregional cooperation according to the European Commission’s proposals. On Friday afternoon, the Regions had the opportunity to discuss with Mr Commissioner Péter Bálazs, who highlighted the fact that Regions must be better involved in cohesion and regional policy and that interregional cooperation should be better encouraged. Mr Bálazs emphasised the idea that Regions have similar difficulties and their further involvement in cohesion policy is definitely a means to overcome the numerous contradictions between Member States in this field and make this policy more efficient.

A draft resolution is currently being discussed and should be available to the public in early November. The Assembly of European Regions is planning to meet Ms Commissioner Hübner, in order to discuss this document.

For more information: [email protected]

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The European Union of 25: it’s up to us!

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Kralovehradecky (CZ), 7 May 2004

1st May 2004: the enlargement of the EU became a reality. The political Bureau of the Assembly of European Regions (AER), in order to welcome this event that it prepared since 1989, chose to celebrate it by holding its very first meeting in 2004 in the new EU 25 in the Czech Region of Kralovehradecky. The following decisions were taken:

Cohesion

The Bureau, referring to the third Cohesion report, affirmed the key role of the regions in shaping and delivering the future cohesion policy. “A stronger programme and appropriate funds are needed for interregional and cross-border cooperation in a wider Europe. The regions oppose a new legal instrument which is too strict and binding. Regions do not need a new EU framework to develop cooperation.” said Peter de Martin, Secretary General of the Arge Donauländer.

Regional Aviation

“There is urgent need for non-discrimination and equal opportunity in airport-airline negotiations. Strict guidelines would be damaging to the sector”, analysed Liese Prokop, “because regional airports are of great importance, notably for the isolated or disadvantaged regions which are highly dependable on this kind of infrastructure to boost their economic development. We decided – added Liese Prokop – to create an alliance which will encompass the representative European organisations of low-cost carriers with EFLAA, the regions within the AER, the regional airports and their regional authorities. This Alliance will be pushing regional and local development and aims to prevent the EU from imposing inflexible guidelines on the field of regional aviation”.

Services of General Interest

“Respect for the subsidiarity principle is essential” said Liese Prokop. “Regions are responsible for the provision of the majority of Services of General Interest, including health, transport, culture and education. Moreover, no in-depth study into the long-term implications of liberalisation of services has been carried out to date. The AER will continue to closely monitor developments in this area” she concluded.

Draft Constitutional Treaty

The AER Bureau expressed its full support for the current efforts to adopt the draft Constitutional Treaty for the newly enlarged Union. The regions raised their concerns, however, towards the draft provisions on the common commercial policy. “These may lead to the liberalisation of cultural, educational, health and social services by a majority vote”, noted Liese Prokop. “The Union should respect the current debate on Services of General Interest in Europe and should not move to the further liberalisation of these services under the GATS”, she stated.

Food

The European Regions have the right to remain non Genetically Modified (GM-free); they need appropriate legal means to make this right true. “Authorising the introduction of GM-crops that have been rejected by 80% of the European citizens is totally illegitimate” underlined Brian Greenslade, President of the AER Committee on ‘Regional development’.

Bureau members are set to agree on the first opinion on the European Commission’s Green Paper on Services of General Interest and the corresponding new directive. They are expected to express reservations about the liberalisation of sectors such as culture, health, social affairs and transport.

For more information: [email protected]

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New cohesion policy: still a long way to go – The AER calls for more pragmatic approach

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Strasbourg, 19 February 2004

The AER welcomes the Third report on economic and social cohesion which takes the majority of our proposals into account. The sharing of structural funds for the period 2006-2013 between regions from the new Member states and those from the EU 15, as well as the concentration of objectives on convergence, job creation and competitiveness open to all the regions, with large urban or rural areas, will allow them to tackle the challenges of enlargement and globalisation in a more effective way.

The focus on vital sectors such as services of general interest, the accessibility of peripheral regions and innovation matches well with the AER recommendations and priorities. The recognition of the regions as regional policy makers and main partners is another significant step forward. “We are particularly satisfied with the integration of interregional cooperation in the new architecture for EU cohesion policy; its promotion figures today among the three main priorities, next to convergence, regional competitiveness and job creation” stated Brian Greenslade, President of the AER Regional Development Committee, at the round table organised by the CoR yesterday in Brussels.

“However the delivery modalities of this strategic priority, as well as those for Objective 2, must be clarified; the Cohesion Forum in May would be an opportunity for us to formulate some concrete proposals in this field” he added. The AER insists on the high importance of better coordinating cohesion with other EU policies, especially the Common market and Competition policies. “We must take care in the future that regional development projects subsidized with state aid would not hindered by the competition rules, as recent examples of regional airports have pointed out” Brian Greenslade stressed.

Nevertheless uncertainty remains about the feasibility of this new cohesion policy, because of disagreement between the Commission and some Member States concerning the financial perspectives for the next period.

The AER calls upon the political wisdom and pragmatism of the European Council and of the Commission in finding an agreement, which could allow to overcome the economic difficulties in the EU 15 as well as to face up to the growing need for cohesion in an enlarged Europe.

For more information: [email protected]

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Simplifying the management of structural funds

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Strasbourg (F), 2 June 2003

The current system of managing structural funds is too complicated and excessively centralised, from the planning phase to the payment, monitoring and control phases. A decentralisation of procedures and a new definition of objectives and programmes are thus needed.

Well aware of these challenges the Assembly of European Regions (AER) is organising a conference titled “What future for regional policy? Regional proposals for the simplification, the decentralisation and the creation of new partnerships”. Within the context of an enlarged Europe, conference participants will debate needed reforms and ways to put them in place.

Furthermore, the experiences of regions will be presented in order to learn from the problems they have encountered, how they have dealt with them, and the solutions they have found. The AER will introduce the new edition of the Centurio programme for the training and the exchange of experiences in the area of the management of regional policy, as a concrete action for new regional partnerships.

The regional representatives will also look at the position of interregional and trans-national co-operation in the new European regional policy and the opportunities provided by the Interreg III programme.

The conference will bring together approximately 150 people including experts as well as regional, national and European political representatives.

The Italian region of Calabria will be hosting this AER conference on the 5th and 6th of June 2003.

For more information: [email protected]

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The regions request the preservation of a strong European cohesion policy

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…and the development of a new regional policy for an enlarged Europe

Pécs, Baranya (H), 15 November 2002

In a common resolution adopted at the closure of a conference organised by the AER on the 14th and 15th of November in Pécs (Baranya-H), the 250 Presidents of Regions, regional Ministers and heads of regional development policy representing 80 regions (EU, candidate countries and those outside of the EU) request the preservation of strong European cohesion policy and the implementation, in consultation with all of the regions, of a modern regional policy that will aid the competitiveness of the regions.

Economic, social and territorial cohesion must remain paramount Community objectives, asserted the Regions that came together in Pécs. They stressed that the European Union must not disregard its responsibility in the matter and must, in addition, develop a new policy aimed at making all of the regions competitive, in order to enable them to face the challenges of globalisation and an enlarged Europe. The AER suggests, in particular, that the new eligibility criteria not only take account of GDP, but also indicators of sustainable development such as unemployment, demographic data and access to transport.

The AER is convinced that “the success of the new cohesion policy (…) will depend on the capacity of all the actors concerned to show a spirit of solidarity and efficiency”. In this respect, the Regions of the AER confirmed in Pécs their unified engagement towards those Regions that are lagging in terms of development and their desire to fortify co-operation with the European Union and the Member States in a true partnership. They underlined that EU Structural and Cohesion policy must fully support the Regional policies of spatial planning, which reflect, primarily, the diversity of the territories and a knowledge of their needs.

This “bottom up”, decentralised approach, must also ensure the increased inclusion of the regions, not only in the development phase, but also in that of the attribution and management of funds, stressed the resolution of Baranya. Within this framework, the AER believes that the idea of tripartite contracts is going in the right direction but expresses serious reservations as for their application. In particular, the AER pointed out the absence of clarity in relation to the role of the regions in this type of contract and formally requests that the regions be recognised as partners, acting on an equal footing with the Member States and the EU. Moreover, the Ministers who came together in Pécs asked that the proposal for bilateral contracts negotiated in respect of the laws be duly taken into account in the current debate.

The AER emphasises that an increase in the allocated budget of the EU is necessary, along with the consequently parallel engagement of the States. Finally, it believes that co-ordination between Community policies remains a major priority necessity.

For more information: [email protected]

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What cohesion policy for an enlarged Europe?

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AER European Conference

Pécs, Baranya (H), 14-15 November 2002

What objectives for the future cohesion policy? How to more efficiently support the regional policies of the Regions and to encourage their sustainable development? What lessons can be learnt from the current experience of the Regions in terms of structural fund management? How to set up a new type of governance including the Regions, States and the European Union?

Over 220 regional Presidents, Ministers and politicians in charge of regional development are expected at the AER Conference in Pécs whose main objective is to answer these few essential questions and to define the project of the Regions for a new European cohesion and regional development policy. The Conference also aims to promote innovative regional practices in favour of sustainable development, the sharing of know-how and the exchange of experience with Regions in future European Union (EU) member states.

Many Regions contributed to the preparation of this debate by participating in the discussion forum launched by the AER at the beginning of the year. Relevant proposals have already been put forward regarding the objectives of the new regional policy. This should continue to ensure economic, social and territorial cohesion while guaranteeing support for all lesser-develped European Regions. To this end, this policy should remain one of the EU’s main objectives. In fact, the Regions are against any attempt to “renationalise” this policy.

The new regional policy must also be defined with increased coordination with other cohesion related EU policies as a major concern while guaranteeing the implementation of the principles of subsidiarity and partnership. This must be based on real collaboration between the EU, the States and the Regions and contribute significantly to the development of interregional, cross-border and transnational cooperation.

The AER Conference will assist in opening up a dialogue and collaboration in this field between the representatives of the European institutions, States and Regions. Luciano Caveri, President of the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional policies, Transport and Tourism and Jean-Charles Leygues, Director of the Directorate General on Regional policy within the European Commission will join speakers at the Conference as well as representatives of national authorities from various European countries.

For more information: [email protected]

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Recent exchange of views between Brian Greenslade and Commissioner Michel Barnier

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Brian Greenslade is President of AER Committee on Regional Policy and Leader of Devonshire. He met Commissioner Michel Barnier in Plymouth, on 20th September 2002, during a conference on the future of European Cohesion Policy.

On this occasion, Brian Greenslade presented the AER’s main proposals for the future of regional policy and announced future AER major events in this field.

“The efficiency of the future Regional Policy in an enlarged Europe will depend on the full Regions’ involvement. Regions – and their regional development policies – have a particular and necessary role to play as actors in cohesion and development. This means they must be better integrated at the programming stage and also – in advance of the actual programming stage – decide on future objectives of common regional development policies along with EU and national states. This also requires that the Regions must be provided with appropriate competencies and adequate financial backing: this is what I told Mr Barnier, during the conference, also in the presence of Mr Caveri, MEP, President of the EP Committee of Regional Policy, and of Mr Graham Watson MEP, European Parliamentary Leader for the Liberal Caucus”, Mr Greenslade said.

“Mr Barnier welcomed the AER’s proposals. He recognised the indispensable role of the AER as a bridge between all the Regions, despite huge differences among them and competition”, Mr Greenslade added.

This dialogue between the AER and major EU institutions will continue in Pecs, Hungary, on 14-15 November 2002, during the forthcoming 1st AER Conference of Regional Presidents and Ministers of Spatial Planning. Jean-Charles Leygues, Director, DG REGIO, and MEP Luciano Caveri, President of the European Parliament Committee on Regional Policy will share their views with the European Regions.

For more information: [email protected]

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The AER at the Johannesburg Summit: Initial reactions and future projects

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Ten days of tough negotiations at expert and political level were finalised in Johannesburg yesterday when world leaders adopted a plan of action and solemnly reaffirmed principles for sustainable development meant to bring about a better planet.

The AER representatives in Johannesburg illustrated the assets of a full implementation of the principles of subsidiarity, partnership and proximity. By concrete examples, they showed how regions act in favour of economic, territorial and social cohesion.

Mere hours after his arrival from the Johannesburg Summit, one of the AER representatives Mr Thomas Hagg, Councillor form Jämtland (S) was willing to share his first impressions with colleagues – members of the AER.

“The world expected the Johannesburg Summit (WSSD) to make significant progress towards eradicating poverty and protecting the environment. In order to live up to these expectations, concrete measures will be necessary, of course, to implement the WSSD plan of action”, Mr Hagg said. He also stated: “The Summit raised the awareness of all sectors of society about the need for a global commitment for sustainable development. The sense of inevitability provoked indeed a strong mobilisation of local and regional authorities, non-government organisations, the private sector and civil society. Sustainable development is not only a question of environmental protection. It is mainly a matter of political commitment in favour of democracy, participation and Human Rights. The European regions are indispensable pillars of the institutional framework and the partnership initiatives which will implement the WSSD plan of action.”

The AER will further develop co-operation with all other active regional and local stakeholders (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives-ICLEI and the newly established Regional Government Network for Sustainable Development) as a preparation of the forthcoming AER Interregional European Summit on Sustainable Development to be organised in 2003.

For more information: [email protected]

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A successful step for giving European regions one voice

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Linz, Upper Austria (A), 21 March 2002

On 21st March 2002 in Linz (A), the Assembly of European Regions united the Presidents of the European interregional organisations to built up a real common policy. For the first time in many years, these organisations have made a major step in joining their forces to defend and promote the role of the regions in the future of Europe. The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), the Committee of the Regions (CoR) of the European Union and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (CLRAE) of the Council of Europe were also actively involved in the debates.

The participants of the Linz Conference decided in particular to invite their respective governments to support the draft European Charter on Regional Autonomy in order to have this text rapidly adopted as an international treaty by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

Convinced that strength can only be achieved through unity, the participants of the Linz Conference decided together as follows:

Governance and the future of Europe

We :

• demand that, alongside with the CoR, the large European representative organisations of local and regional authorities be invited to be heard by the Convention and be directly involved in its activities in order to deal with issues linked to the role of the Regions and local authorities in the EU;

• recommend the drawing up of a Code of Conduct by which the Commission would commit itself to cooperation with the Regions and their representative bodies in the decision-making process, from the consultation process until decisions are taken. This would represent an important step towards real dialogue between the EU, Regions and cities;

• stress that good European governance should be built on representative and participation-based democracy;

• reiterate that the discussion on Governance did not concern further competences, but rather a clear and correct distribution of competences between the Union, the States, the Regions and Local authorities and call for a more precise definition of the distribution of competences between the Union, member States and their Regional and Local authorities in order to enhance democracy, legitimacy of European action and coherence between public policies;

• insist on the possibility of legal control via either a specialised Chamber of the European Court of Justice or a specific organ, when the competence distribution is not respected;

• call for the reinforcement of the role of the Committee of the Regions.

Regional Policy and Cohesion

• with regard to the impacts of the European Unification and the Globalisation, this policy must increasingly encourage a polycentric development of the Community, particularly by means of the EU Community Initiatives;

• such a policy not only requires common objectives, but also the recognition that the diverse socio-cultural basic structures in Europe as well as transeuropean cooperation are the basis for a sustainable economical development;

• the GDP seems to be unsuitable as the only or essential scale for European structural and cohesion policy. A new allocation of European funds should therefore consider the actual competitivity ability of the Regions;

• a harmonisation of the currently different criteria for the individual EU policies (ESDP, Structural Funds, research and innovation) will be possible: key criteria, i.e. GDP and employment, need to be complemented by other relevant factors such as economic structure, innovation, accessibility and workforce skills;

• “Community Initiatives” imply that the EU assumes responsibility for all issues which are of major importance for the Community as a whole and for the future development. This is why INTERREG must continue to cover all parts of Europe and address all types of problems (and not only those of economic nature), which continue to exist or newly arise.

One solution would be to separate community initiatives from the structural funds as from 2007 and to define them as an independent EU task.

Transport networks in Europe

The measures which are suggested in the White Paper on Transport do not meet the increasing need of intermodality and – above all – do not take into sufficient account the transport needs of specific regions and areas.

• Regions have to be recognised as “statutory consultees” of European and national authorities in this field: they already have – to varying degrees – competences for transport planning, public transport provision, road transport infrastructure and maintenance, traffic management and road safety. They usually also have responsibility for the complementary social environmental and land use policies because of their involvement in these fields, Regions must be associated in defining and implementing EU transport policy;

• Due to transport’s huge impact on social, economic and territorial cohesion, Regions should ask that the development of a balanced and integrated transport be a key objective for the future structural funds.

Sustainable agriculture and protection of rural areas

• Multi-functional agriculture must make an essential contribution to environmental conservation and rural planning. These are missions of public interest which must be supported by public funding as the market will not take them into account. The appreciation of these functions and their means of allocation will lay the conditions for sustainable European agriculture in a decisive manner.

• Cohesion, multi-functionality, competitivity and sustainability must represent the foundations of the new model for agriculture. Alongside of quality and food safety standards, these elements could help the future CAP to gain credibility with European tax payers. The idea of quality must be recognised, reinforced and promoted in such as way as to differenciate between agricultural products. The registered origin label is one factor for differenciation and a means of meeting the quality requirements of consumers/citizens : Tradition, quality and safety.

• Europe must protect its wealth of rural landscape, characterised by the great diversity of its Regions. In order to preserve the social and economic importance of the rural world in the European context, the future must make full use of regional potential.

In order to reach these objectives, Regional Authorities which are close to territorial realities must be associated to the drawing up and implementation of future common agricultural and rural policies.

Sustainable development

The European interregional organisations call on the Commission of the EU to declare the period 2003-2012 the European decade for sustainable development and 14th June as European sustainable development day.

For more information: [email protected]

 

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Presentation of the AER position on the European Convention to Valéry Giscard d’Estaing

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The AER intends to observe the Convention’s activities and to participate as the representative umbrella organisation of the Regions, both within the European Union and in accession countries. The AER also hopes to play an important role – along with other political organisations such as the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) – in the Forum set up by the Convention.

“The AER insists that the Convention must take into full account the legal status of the European Regions”, Liese Prokop, AER President, explained in her statement to Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, President of the Convention. For the AER, the European institutional framework must establish a Europe of the Regions as a third level of Government.

On the occasion of a debate organised by the CEMR with representatives of regional and local organisations and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (March 7, 2002 in Valencia, Spain), Liese Prokop asked for a distinction between legislative and executive competences – a question closely linked to that of a catalogue of competences.

Other topics were:

– Distribution of competences according to the principle of subsidiarity,
– Right to referral before the European Court of Justice concerning the principle of subsidiarity,
– Enlargement and a Constitutional treaty: a proper representation for the Regions and their citizens in the decision-making process is necessary,
– Regions as direct partners in cohesion policy: a new scenario, for future cohesion policy based on the principles of increased decentralisation, competitivity and subsidiarity.

For more information: [email protected]

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A working programme for 2002, capable of meeting the stakes in a Europe for the Regions

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The members of the Presidium of the Assembly of European Regions (AER), at their meeting in Strasbourg on Friday 1st February 2002, welcomed the outcome of the Belgian Presidency of the European Union which led to further involvement for the Regions in European decision-making. They regretted the absence of regional policy on the priority list of the new Spanish Presidency. According to the AER, Regional policy and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are heavy players in current accession negociations, and will create impetus for new governance in an enlarged Europe, therefore reform seems indispensable. The AER now asks the future Danish Presidency (2nd half 2002) to include these two priority items in its programme.

At this meeting, the AER Presidium adopted the AER working programme for 2002. “We have already produced common proposals of the Regions of Europe concerning the European constitution, new governance, enlargement, cohesion in an enlarged Europe and the setting up of environmentally friendly European transport networks. In 2002, we will compare these positions with those of other interregional organisations in order to act in collaboration with the latter at European level. The 2nd summit between the Presidents of the Interregional organisations in Europe, organised by the AER, will take place on 21st March 2002 in Linz (Austria). I hope that this event will lead to a major contribution in strengthening the role of the Regions in Europe and making their expectations heard in the Convention on the future of Europe” said Liese Prokop, AER President, at the press conference.

The President also gave the kick off for the activity programmes of the four Committees: Institutional affairs, Health, Regional policy and Culture, and its three programmes – Centurio, Eurodyssey and the Summer School.
She entrusted the Committees with organising three Conferences on important issues for the Regions and for the development of interregional cooperation in Europe:

– the 2nd Conference of Regional political leaders in the field of Culture,
– the 2nd Conference on Health,
– the 1st Conference on Spatial planning.

The AER President congratulated Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), for his nomination as President of the Convention on the future of Europe, and Mr Erwin Teufel, MinisterPresident of the Land of Baden-Württemberg, represented on the AER Presidium, for his nomination as member of this Convention. Mr Teufel has been a distinguished member of the AER since its creation.

For more information: [email protected]

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Conclusions of the AER Bureau meeting in Oberkirch

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Oberkirch (A), 2 March 2001

At the invitation of Mr Stächele, Secretary of State of Baden-Württemberg (D) and President of the AER Institutional Committee, the political Bureau of the Assembly of European Regions held a meeting on Friday 2nd March in Oberkirch.

Under the chair of Mrs Prokop, AER President, Bureau members were informed on the activities of the four AER Committees and of the three resolutions produced by the Institutional Committee concerning the new Fundamental European System, the “White paper on European Governance” and enlargement which form the basis of the positions of the regions of Europe in the debate on the future structure of the European Union in particular.

Among the major claims of the regions of Europe can be found:
– the constitution of a Fundamental European System including the regions and underlining the principle of subsidiarity;
– a more precise legal definition of this principle in the European constitutional Treaty;
– a distribution of competences based on the principle of subsidiarity in order to protect the autonomy of member States and regions and a clear definition of competences;
– increased involvement of the regions in European decision-making thanks to the transformation of the Committee of the Regions into a fully fledged body of the Union with the same rights as the other institutions,….

The AER Bureau was also delighted with the initiative of the Institutional Committee to create two working groups, one on European Governance and the other on the Fundamental European System, which will allow the AER to prepare its contribution for the next Intergovernmental Conference in 2004.

Willi Stächele, President of this Committee, declared the following on the subject of post-Nice: “A satisfactory distribution of competences requires a debate on the clarification of responsibilities in which the regions must be fully implicated. At the Intergovernmental Conference in 2004 the foundations of a Fundamental European System will be set. The AER must, now, formulate the main points of the opinion of the regions in order to influence the discussion concerning the bases of this Fundamental European System at the appropriate time.”

For more information: [email protected]

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AER political Bureau meeting Presentation

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The political Bureau of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) will meet on Friday 2nd March. At the invitation of Mr Stächele, Secretary of State for Baden-Württemberg (D) and President of the AER Institutional Committee, this meeting will take place in Oberkirch – Baden-Württemberg.

Roughly 50 representatives, chaired by Mrs Prokop, AER President, from the regions of Europe will mainly focus on three priority issues:

1. Governance: only a few months from the publishing of the “White paper on European governance” the Bureau will finalise, among other issues, the preparation of its contribution for the public hearings of the European Commission planned for midMarch.

2. The European constitutional system: The AER Institutional Committee met on 8th and 9 th February in Berlin, chaired by Willi Stächele, and drew up a draft position on this important issue. On the basis of this document, the Bureau will discuss the AER’s position, in particular in view of the next Intergovernmental Conference in 2004.

3. Cohesion: The AER wishes to make a major contribution to the debate on the future of Regional policy in view of the cohesion forum to be held in May 2001. The Bureau will therefore specify the overall lines which will allow AER members to develop an indepth discussion on the future of Regional policy. The contribution of AER member regions’ from EU applicant countries will represent real added value for this debate.

For more information: [email protected]

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The Regions of Europe present their own ideas concerning a European constitutional system

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Willi Stächele: “In the future, We, the Regions, will play a even greater role in discussions within Europe”

The Regions of Europe request a delimitation of competences based on the principle of subsidiarity within the European Union which does not affect the foundations of the autonomy of member States and Regions, declared Willi Stächele, Secretary of State, President of Committee A “Policies and Institutional Affairs” of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) on Friday 9th February 2001 in Berlin.

With the “Declaration on the future of the Union”, the European Council in Nice opened the debate on the European Constitution, stressed Willi Stächele, who is also AER Vice-President. Representatives from over 40 European Regions explained, when speaking during the meeting, how the European constitutional system should meet the future demands of regional autonomy, he added.

At the centre of the Regions’ calls also comes the nomination of an independent authority which would ensure that the respective competences were respected and that the Regions could sue directly. Finally, the Committee of the Regions should be strengthened as the representative of the Regions’ interests, maintained Mr Stächele.

These are the main points for an AER position on the Intergovernmental Conference in 2004, formulated by Committee A “Policies and Institutional Affairs” on 8 and 9 February at the premises of the representation of Baden-Württemberg in Berlin. The German and Austrian Länder were present as well as the Spanish autonomous Communities, the Belgian Regions and linguistic Communities and Regions from all over Europe: Denmark, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Committee A presented other draft resolutions which must be adopted in March by the AER Bureau, added Willi Stächele. The Committee dealt with the European Commission’s draft White paper on “new governance”: the approach to the concept of governance, according to which new forms of cooperation between the various levels of activity and decision within the EU must be found, was well received.

The danger of networking decision-making was also stressed, as this would allow European bodies to be influencial outside of their areas of competences. The concept of governance could be in contradiction with the objective of Nice, i.e. to strictly specify the competences within the EU. The representatives of the Regions in Berlin proposed, in this light, to reduce the complexity of the regulations.

For more information: [email protected]

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4th Summer School on East / West Cooperation

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Porec, Istra (HR), 3 September 1999 

150 delegates from 65 European regions and 19 countries will participate in this 4th Summer School, organised under the aegis of the Assembly of European Regions from 29th August to 3rd September 1999 in Porec (Istra). The Programme of this 4th Summer School takes up key issues such as :

• The EU Accession process in Central and Eastern European countries : the impact of this process on the regions of these countries, their hopes in the framework of the EastWest cooperation development and the training needs for the regional authorities.

• the EU Regional policies and the European programmes implemented in the context of the European Union enlargement process (Phare, Tacis), with interventions of European Commission representatives,

• the importance of partnerships at regional and interregional levels for strengthening social cohesion in an enlarged Europe,

• the responsability of the regions in the peace keeping process and the protection of minorities. Representatives of the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will address the participants.

Established in 1996, the AER Summer School is a training programme which encourages dialogue, the exchange of experiences and the implementation of cooperation between the regions of Central and Eastern Europe and those of the West. To organise the programme, the AER is assisted by the following regions: Essex (GB), Friuli-Venezia Giulia & Veneto (I), Istra (HR), Krakow (PL), Noord-Brabant (NL), Pest (H), Stockholm & Uppsala (S), Thüringen (D), Vlaanderen (B) and Vilnius (LT). The region of Vilnius will welcome the Summer School 2000.

As last year, this year’s Summer School will welcome, among its participants, the AER Centurio Programme trainees. Established in 1994, Centurio is an AER Programme for government officers and political representatives from the regions of Central and Eastern Europe. Over 20 “Centurio” trainees from Poland, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Moldavia, Russia and Croatia will be taking part in the 1999 Summer School sessions. They will then go on to their work placements (1 or 2), each of four weeks, in two different regions in Western Europe.

For more information: [email protected]

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