The AER Youth Team

At its 2004 General Assembly in Vienna, the Assembly of European Regions adopted a proposal aimed at facilitating the greater involvement of young people in the work of the AER. This proposal suggested that the AER create a ‘Youth Team’ that would be responsible for ensuring that youth issues were integrated into the work of all four Committees of the AER. In 2007, Youth Team finished a 2 years trial period and started a new chapter in its existence. During the AER General Assembly in Udine in 9th November 2007, the Youth Team adopted the Statute, which regulates all questions concerning rules, elections and missions.

Role and functioning of the Youth Team

Building on the feedback the AER got from young people in the framework of past initiatives and events, we launch today the AER Youth Team as a platform for permanent exchange and cooperation between the youth representatives and politicians to ensure that the youth dimension is integrated into key areas of each Committee's work.

During their mandate, young people have the opportunity to give input to the AER work, to make contributions and they may also get directly involved in the activities of the Committees.

Length of the Mandate

Delegates to the Youth Team (young persons and adults) shall have a mandate of two years. In order to ensure continuity, each year half of the young and the adult delegates will be subject to election.

Eligibility criteria for the Youth representatives

Youth candidates should
- be aged between 18-25 years
- come from a member region of the AER
- represent formalised groups of Youth in their region (Youth Councils, Youth NGOs, Political Youth Party) - private persons are not eligible
- be appointed to be eligible by their home region
- be given economic, professional and political support for the work in the Youth Team by their home region.

Elections of the youth representatives to be organised at the Youth Summer School

The participants of the Youth Summer School shall elect the 8 representatives to the Youth team from among 16 candidates. The 8 lists of candidates (one per geographic zone and gender group) will be established among the eligible young persons (see above) according to the following requirements:

- balanced geographic distribution:
4 candidates from the North (DK, N, S, FIN, EST, LV, LT)
4 candidates from the West (IRL, GB, D, B, NL, F, A, CH)
4 candidates from the East (PL, CZ, SK, H, RO, RUS, BY, UA, MD)
4 candidates from the South (P, E, I, HR, BIH, YU, GR, MK, BG, TR, GE, AZ, AL)
- The nominations and a brief presentation of each of the nominees should be presented to the participants of the YSS within the deadline for registration.
 
For more details, please see the AER Youth Team Statute

November 2007