The Presidents of European regional and local organisations meet President Barroso: AER President advocates for a bottom-up approach to the Europe 2020 strategy

Brussels (B), 29 June 2010.

Michèle SABBAN, President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) was part of the delegation that met today M. BARROSO, President of the European Commission.

On behalf of these organisations, Ms. Sabban reported the position concerning the strategy Europe 2020:
“We support a bottom-up approach that includes territorial cohesion, a multi-level governance and the cohesion policy. It is important to monitor coherence between the Europe 2020 strategy and the other two important dimensions for us: cohesion and regional policy. One should not be subordinate to another, but rather a strong coordination between the two is essential”.
“Moreover, there is too little reference to multi-level governance, including regions, and no reference at all to a bottom up approach, an approach that will be crucial not only in the delivery of the strategy but also in its development. The current Lisbon strategy only managed to deliver limited results when it was broadly rolled out in the regions and local authorities” concluded the AER President. To corroborate this fact, Ms. Sabban is stand to present President Barroso with concrete examples of what European regions have already realised in this context.

*Delegation of the Presidents of regional organisations :

Michèle SABBAN, President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) and Vice President of the Regional council of Ile-de-France (FR), Mercedes BRESSO, President of the Committee of the Regions, President of the Association of elected representatives from mountainous areas (AEM), and Regional Councillor from Piémonte (IT), Marcelino IGLESIAS RICOU, President of the Conference of European regions with legislative power (REGLEG) and President of the Aragon Regional Council (ES), Karl-Heinz LAMBERTZ, President of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) and First Minister of the German-speaking Community in Belgium (B), Giovanni KESSLER, President of the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE) and President of the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Trento (IT), Wolfgang SCHUSTER, Vice-President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) and Mayor of Stuttgart (DE), Claudio MARTINI, President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), and Lars WEISS, Vice-President of EUROCITIES and municipal councillor of the city of Copenhagen (DK).

The Assembly of European Regions (AER – aer.eu) is the largest independent network of regions in wider Europe. Bringing together more than 270 regions from 33 countries and 16 interregional organisations, AER is the political voice of its members and a forum for interregional co-operation.

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