We are excited to announce the special edition of the Press Club Brussels Magazine dedicated to the 30th Anniversary of the Assembly of European Regions. This publication highlights the achievements and celebrates 30 years of regionalisation in Europe.

However, the main goal of this issue is not to focus purely on the history of AER but rather to look into the evolution of regionalisation since 1985. The role of regions is still great not only within the European Union but also beyond it. This is highlighted by the fact that AER has members outside of the EU, from countries such as Turkey, Ukraine and Russia. Regions strongly support cultural diversity in Europe and they are major partners in socio-economic development. We will try to show how regions take responsibilities in policy areas such as culture, the environment, regional and national planning, scientific research, etc. In all these fields, regions clearly have a competitive advantage.

We chose 8 unique stories from 8 regions — Gelderland (NL), Dalarna (SE), Budva (ME), Madeira (P), Nordijylland (DK) Värmland (SE), Limousin (FR) and Brčko district (BiH) — that will convey their current priorities as well as the main accomplishments in the past 30 years of working with AER.

We have highlighted, in this anniversary issue, the main achievements of AER with the contributions of high-ranking Academia’s members: