Reconnecting Europe with its citizens
It is a well-known fact that one of the EU's greatest challenges is making the citizens understand the workings and decision making of the EU institutions and engaging them in its work. Regions have the potential to play a decisive role as bridges between the European level and the citizens: on one side they play a key role in implementing European policies on the ground, and on the other side they are able to bring the views of the citizens to the European decision-making table. In order to make people aware of their European identity and to allow them to express themselves the AER developed a set of initiatives which comprise the Communicating Europe Award' targeting regional administrations, the Do you speak European'-Competition targeting in particular young people and the European Citizenship Forum' targeting everybody who wants to debate Europe. The AER is also active in the field of policy shaping and providing useful instruments and theoretical insights in how to communicate Europe.
AER White Paper on the Role of the Regions in Reconnecting Europe with the Citizen
In this White Paper, the European regions set out their shared strategy for how they, working together with the citizens and with local, national and European institutions, can help to tackle some of the core problems facing European integration today. It shows how the regions can bring legitimacy to the European integration process and sets out a series of concrete measures that can help to bring the grassroots back into the European Union.
Whitebook Reconnecting Citzens
Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate of the European Commission
The European Commission has developed a number of strategies for improving communication with the citizens, set out in its so-called Plan D' and Communications Strategy'. The AER believes that the Commission needs to give a far greater role to the regions in these initiatives and that it needs to devolve its financial resources for communication to the regional level, where they can be used most effectively.
AER Position on the Commission's White Paper on a European Communication Policy
AER Position on the Commission's Contribution to the Period of Reflection and Beyond: Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate
AER Communicating Europe Award
The AER has launched its first Communicating Europe Award and will launch the second award in spring 2008. The aim of this award is to showcase and communicate best practices in regional communication on Europe and to demonstrate to regional governments what could be done to make Europe relevant to its citizens. For further information, please click here.
AER Competition: Do you speak European?
The Assembly of European Regions (AER) is organising an exciting new competition, which gives young people the opportunity to explore for themselves what it means to be a part of Europe. Do You Speak European?' is a public speaking and personal expression contest which gives teams of young people between the ages of 14 and 18 the opportunity to prepare and present their views on the question of What does Europe mean to you?". Please click here for further information.
AER European Citizenship Forum
The aim of the AER European Citizens Forums is to engage citizens and regional politicians in a debate with representatives of the European Union on the future of Europe. The forums operate as a two-way process, informing citizens about the European Union concrete work, and listening to people expectations about what should be done in the future. The aim of the meetings is to give citizens the opportunity to ask their representatives questions that will help them to gain a better understanding of why the EU matters for their region. The Forums are co-financed by the European Union within the programme Europe for Citizens 2007-2013. For further information, please click here.
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