The Lisbon Treaty puts in place a new democratic instrument - the so called European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) - which will give theoretically citizens the chance to have a greater say in European politics. However, important questions are still open: 'How will the ECI work in practice and how can regions contribute to it or make use of it? Will it finally contribute to making Europe more citizens friendly and transparent? AER is continuing to monitor this initiative and make the voice of the regions heard when implementing it.

The June 2007 European Council underlined the crucial importance of reinforcing communication with the European Citizens. Last October (2007)  the European Commission published a Communication called:  Communicating Europe in Partnership. This Communication builds on the previous iniatives and activities of the European Commission, it sums them up, consolidates current activities, and it formulates a set of concrete proposals on how to enhance communication policy of the EU.

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.

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 Communication Atelier on Europe

• Debate European Communication and see what other regions are doing in this field

AER Communicating Europe Award

• Showcase your best practices in regional communication on Europe

AER Competition: Do you speak European?

• Compete and debate with other regions from all over Europe  of what it means to be European

AER European Citizens' Forum

• Discuss with regional and European politicians the present and future of Europe