Use the New Media to bring Regional Governments closer to its Young Citizens!

New media technologies and the Internet offer new horizons for regional governments to link up to their young - and not so young! - citizens. This was the statement of the “Youth and Media” Seminar organised by the AER 'Culture, Education & Interregional Cooperation' Committee (3) in Jämtland (S) on 3-5 October. “The Assembly of European Regions (AER) proved to be a perfect meeting place for regions to show their latest innovative concepts for involving their young citizens in regional and European politics,” said Committee 3 Vice-President David Kirk (Hampshire, UK). “The initiatives presented show that there is a wide variety of ideas out there to make best use of new media opportunities.”

Some examples of these projects are WIMPS (Northern Ireland, UK), which aims at creating direct links between young citizens and regional politicians, or Europocket TV (Valencia, E), which is a European Forum for Young Citizens via WebTV.

The discussions and the presentations have also shown that regions need to start developing their youth’s media skills as early in life as possible. The AER Media Sub-Committee will provide practical support for regional governments to foster their media competences and to disseminate their best practices in this field.

The Assembly of European Regions (AER)-www.aer.eu is the political organisation of the regions of Europe and their spokesperson at European and international level. Its vocation is to defend the regions’ interests in the political process and develop interregional cooperation. The AER brings together more than 255 Regions from 33 countries and 14 interregional organisations.

AER Contacts: Francine Huhardeaux, Press & Communications Officer, f.huhardeaux@aer.eu - Tel. +33 3 88 22 74 49; Martin Mühleck, Senior Policy Co-ordinator to the 'Culture, Education & Interregional Cooperation' Committee, m.muehleck@aer.eu - Tel: +33 3 88 22 74 47; Doris Materne, Junior Policy Co-ordinator to the 'Culture, Education & Interregional Cooperation' Committee, d.materne@aer.eu - Tel. +33 3 88 22 74 43.