- The programme is open to young people aged 18 - 30, job seekers or young graduates living in a partner Region

- Since its creation, approximately 10 000 young people have gained professional experience via Eurodyssey

- Experience is organised and financed by the host regions. Twenty-seven Regions currently participate in this programme

- President

Carlos Manuel Martins do Vale César

President of the Autonomous Region of Açores (P)

- Secretary of the Eurodyssey programme

Rui Jorge Leite de Bettencourt

Regional director of the Autonomous Region of Açores (P)

- Member Regions

- Belgium: Bruxelles-Capitale, Wallonie

- Croatia: Istria

- France: Bourgogne, Champagne-Ardenne, Franche-Comté, Île-de-France, Limousin, Picardie, Poitou-Charentes, Rhône-Alpes

- Georgia: Adjara

- Germany: Baden-Württemberg

- Norway: Akershus

- Portugal: Açores, Madeira

- Romania: Caras-Severin, Harghita, Hunedoara, Tulcea

- Spain: Castilla y León, Catalunya, Murcia, Valencia

- Switzerland: Jura, Ticino, Valais

Eurodyssey was the first AER programme to be created in 1985 and aims to improve the opportunities for young Europeans to enter the employment market by providing them with the possibility to acquire professional experience abroad. Eurodyssey has represented a model programme in terms of professional mobility for young people for the last 22 years and has served as an inspiration for the many programmes which have appeared since this time.

The programme was initially successfully managed by Franche-Comté (F) and later Wallonia (B), before being transferred to the Açores (P) for a 2-year mandate (2007-2008).

You hold the Presidency of the Eurodyssey programme for the period 2007-2008. Why did you take up this commitment? During your mandate, what vision of the European construction and a Europe of the Regions will you pursue?

The Açores Region views the Eurodyssey Presidency with great enthusiasm, in light of five elements of European and regional reality.

The first element is a vision of a united, free and developed Europe, defended by us and many others from the Urals to the Atlantic, or from Samara to the Açores: the Europe of the Assembly of European Regions, promoter of Eurodyssey.

The second element in understanding

the importance accorded by our Region to this Presidency is linked to how we conceive the meaning, scope and potential of an organism for the Europe of the Regions, such as the AER.

The third essential element is the current

programme is a convincing example of how effective the regional approach to constructing Europe can be.

And now to mention the fifth element: in this context, the Açores wish to play a strategic role in the construction of the Europe of the Regions.

What are your priorities for this two-year Presidency?

Our priorities relate to the strategic role which Eurodyssey must play in the construction of the Europe of the Regions, by linking young people, competences and employment. To this end, we intend to: extend Eurodyssey to new AER Regions and increase the number of trainees, make courses more accessible and improve quality, optimise the information provided to young people, business and the Regions, enhance the effectiveness of the programme and the interregional cooperation network, and, above all, continue to provide the Regions with a powerful tool which facilitates professional mobility for their young people and their companies.

two-dimensional situation of Europe: enlargement and the efficiency of consolidation strategies, with a Europe of employment and competitiveness, and consequently the effectiveness of strategies for developing employment and a professional attitude by young people. These are the issues which Eurodyssey intends to address.

The fourth element in understanding our commitment is the current position of Eurodyssey as a 22-year old standard-setting and emblematic programme. Initially managed by the French Region of Franche-Comté and subsequently by the Belgian Region of Wallonie, Eurodyssey allows hundreds of young people to be mobile annually and involves several dozen European Regions. This