Structure

- President

Onno Hoes (Noord-Brabant - NL)

- President of the Sub-Committee on "Sustainable development and rural policies"

Hakan Sandgren (Jönköping - S)

- President of the Sub-Committee on "transport and infrastructures"

Riccardo Conti (Toscane - I)

- Economic development

- Renewable energies

- Sustainable tourism

- Rural development

- Transport policies

- Committee 1 Secretariat

- Policy coordinator: Agnès Ciccarone

- Assistant Policy coordinator: Estelle Delangle

- Assistant (Committees 1 & 3): Araceli Gómez

he former Committee was known as the "Regional policy" Committee. Why has the name changed, and what are the targets of the new body?

The main target of our new Committee is to promote economic development and regional development. I feel that the former structure was not "representative" enough. The new President, Riccardo Illy, also felt this way when he joined the AER two years ago. It was therefore decided to define the Committee's purpose in terms of economics in a more specific manner, and to be more focused in our work on energy, regional airports, tourism, etc. I then became President of the Committee. I agreed with the principle of increasing our focus on economic interests, as I am myself in charge of economic and European affairs in my Province, Noord-Brabant (the second most active region in the Netherlands). When it comes to the development of the Regions in Europe,

- Encouraging the exchange of experience and good practices in the fields of work of the Committee

- Monitoring current European and national issues and informing members and relevant actors of any developments

- Organising events on specific themes in order to launch debates and reach a common position to be promoted at all levels of power

- Supporting co-operation projects at the initiative of the regions or other partners

- Representing the interests of the regions and their common opinions at international, European and national level

we generally accord priority to economic aspects.

The idea was not to completely re-organise the Committee, but rather to anticipate future issues and specify our competences in terms of "economic development" more precisely. We did not intend to split the Committee into economic development and regional development, as the respective priorities have certain aspects in common. Moreover, significant differences exist between the regions and their possibilities for activity in their geographical areas. We have therefore created two Vice-President functions and four working groups. This demonstrates the importance accorded to the Committee by Riccardo Illy, who intends to ensure that the Regions participate as widely as possible, and we need Regions which are fully committed to these priorities!