• Home
  • About
    • Governance & Structure
    • The AER Executive Board
    • The AER Secretariat
    • Statute & Strategies
      • AER Statute
      • AER Procedures
    • AER stands with Ukraine
    • The History of AER
  • Members
    • Who are AER’s members?
    • Member Directory
    • Join AER!
  • Mutual Learning
    • About Mutual Learning
    • The Knowledge Transfer Forum
    • Working Groups
      • Ongoing Working Groups
      • Past Working Groups
  • Advocacy
    • About Our Advocacy Work
    • The Bureau
    • The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
    • AER Political Priorities 2020-2025
    • Intercultural Regions Network
  • Projects
    • About Our Projects
    • Ongoing Projects
    • Look for Partners
    • Completed Projects
  • AER Programmes
    • AER Eurodyssey
    • AER SUMMER ACADEMY
    • AER Youth Regional Network (YRN)
    • AER Observatory on Regionalisation
  • Events
    • AER events
    • Other events

Assembly of European Regions

Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985

You are here: Home / News / “The Future We Want, the UN We Need”- AER Reactions

“The Future We Want, the UN We Need”- AER Reactions

9 October, 2020 By Gisela Guari Cañada

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail
Share this!

The United Nations 75th Anniversary consultation on “The Future We Want, The UN We Need”, is an ambitious UN exercise in crowdsourcing priorities and solutions. The Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments facilitated the drafting of a Visioning Report on behalf of the constituency to which the Assembly of European Regions is part of.

On 21st of September, world leaders of the United Nations General Assembly gathered virtually to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the UN. On 8th of October, the constituency of Local and Regional Authorities met to not only celebrate but to also share the future United Nations they envision for 2045. On this occasion, the AER President, Mr Magnus Berntsson, will be representing the Assembly of European Regions.

↘️ #Listen2Cities this #UrbanOctober

Responding to the #UN75 report, our President, @MagnusBerntsson underlines the AER “stands ready to support regional and local governments to deliver on basic universal services and ensure that no one is left behind.” 🤝🌍 pic.twitter.com/wQBD3dUeo8

— AER (@europeanregions) October 8, 2020

The year 2020 will mark a turning point for our societies. Local and regional authorities found themselves at the forefront of the health crisis, having to coordinate a quick response to protect their citizens and their economy from the pandemic. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance for a renewed system, “multilateralism is not an option, but a necessity, as we build back better for a more equal, more resilient and more sustainable world”, as claims the statement from the adopted declaration on the commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary. 

At the Assembly of European Regions, we consider this to be the right time to advocate for a new model of governance in which the Local and Regional Authorities have the opportunity to be represented at the global level and are welcomed to seat at the global decision-making table. 

In the next forty-five years, the Local and Regional Authorities Constituency hopes to see a structural shift towards a territorially integrated multilateral system, which promotes a bottom-up approach. A structural shift that is achieved through the principle of subsidiarity, collaborative governance and effective decentralization. 

Global challenges are also the local and regional challenges, as a matter of fact, we all have interconnected problems, hence we should ensure interrelated solutions. “Think globally, act locally” this should be the concept of the new system. 

In 2045 we expect to see Local and Regional Authorities sitting on the same table with global leaders, and confronting together global challenges from a local and regional approach to guarantee the wellbeing of the world citizens. 

↘️#Listen2Cities #UrbanOctober

"Together we need to be hand in hand to coordinate the responses & actions to leave no one behind"@MagnusBerntsson, VP of Region Västra Götaland & Regional Minister for Environment, Pres. of @europeanregions #UN75 pic.twitter.com/7wYfuzv0eT

— Global Taskforce (@GlobalTaskforce) October 8, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and widened the profound inequalities that exist among our regions and cities. We have just entered the decade of delivery and we can not let this global crisis undermine our joint efforts and achievements reached so far. The AER envisions a future in which through stronger collaboration and enhanced dialogue across generations are found alternatives to deliver on sustainable development. It is our shared responsibility to advocate for the structural shift towards a community-driven multilateralism, and we should do it hand in hand, unifying forces and coordinating responses and actions to ensure that no one is left behind.

Local and Regional Authorities are in charge of bringing the voice of their citizens to the global level and placing citizens at the core of governance. However, this can only be achieved with the establishment of partnerships and with the support of key stakeholders, such as the Assembly of European Regions. Together we will fight inequalities and ensure that all groups of the population are listened to. 

Image credits: The Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Authorities

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Economy, Governance, Health, Subsidiarity, Sustainable development

← Culture, a pillar of sustainable regional development Join the webinar on lifelong learning: upskilling and re-skilling of 50+ →

More articles on this topic

European regions, implementing the SDGs through Cohesion Policy
Illy re-elected in 2006
The Assembly of European Regions 2006 vintage: Riccardo Illy re-elected AER President
A New Horizon for Europe: Navigating into the European Horizon for Research and Innovation
How Smart is Your Food?
Committee 1 Annual Report June 2019 – November 2020

AER. Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985.

Follow our newsletter!




View previous campaigns.


  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Tweets by @europeanregions

AER Projects

  • Ongoing projects
    • EU-BELONG: An Intercultural Approach to Migrant Integration in Europe’s Regions
    • Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe
  • Partner search
  • Completed projects
    • SCIROCCO Exchange project
    • SKILLNET – Sector Skills Network of VET centres in Advanced Manufacturing: a coalition of transnational VET providers
    • CUBES – Cultural Administration Boosting with the Engagement of Sustainability for Local Communities
    • Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it
    • AMiD – Access to Services for Migrants with Disabilities
    • AER Summer Academy 2016
    • Alcohol Prevention Peer Reviews
    • ECREIN+
    • Engaged
    • Joint Efforts to Combat Dropout (JET-CD)
    • Let’s REUnite! Together for cohesion project
    • MOCHA
    • MORE4NRG
    • PRESERVE
    • PYE – Promoting Youth Employment
    • PRO-I3T
    • REALM – Regional Adult Learning Multipliers and the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiatives
    • Regions4GreenGrowth
    • Road to the Future
    • SEED European Silver Economy Awards
    • Smart Care
    • Smart Europe
    • YES – Youth Entrepreneurship Strategies

Library

Statutory Documents
AER Strategies
Minutes
Media Kit
Activity Reports
Newsletters
European Regions Map

Join AER!

Become a Member

Job Opportunities

Sign up for our Newsletter

Website map

Brussels · Strasbourg · Alba Iulia

A Network, a Partner and a Voice of European regions, since 1985 · Copyright © 2023 · Assembly of European Regions · [email protected] · Log in