Association of European Border Regions
Acronym: AEBR
General Information
Identification Code: 527847492211-91
Website: [object Object]
Entity Form: registered association
Registration Category: Associations and networks of public authorities
Registration Date: 4/9/2024
EP Accredited Number: 0
Mission & Interests
Goals: - AEBR represents the interest of European border and cross-border regions towards EU institutions, national governments and other entities.
- Identifies their problems, opportunities, tasks and relevant projects.
- Initiates, supports and coordinates their cooperation in the whole continent.
- Promotes the exchange of experiences and information to identify and coordinate common interests on the basis of a diversity of problems and opportunities, proposes solutions and works to implement them.
- Promotes Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) structures, projects and programmes.
- Supports the preparation of CBC events and other activities.
- Advocates for and disseminates information about CBC to general and targeted audiences.
Interests Represented: Does not represent commercial interests
Interests:
- Agriculture and rural development
- Borders and security
- Communication
- Culture
- Education and training
- Employment and social affairs
- Energy
- Enlargement
- Environment
- European neighbourhood policy
- External relations
- Foreign affairs and security policy
- Humanitarian aid and civil protection
- International co-operation and development
- Migration and asylum
- Public health
- Regional policy
- Research and innovation
- Single market
- Trans-European Networks
- Transport
- Youth
Levels of Interest:
- global
- european
- sub-national
- national
Activities
Main EU Legislative Proposals: Regional and Cohesion Policy
European Territorial Cooperation
Cross-Border Cooperation within the EU, at its external borders, in Accession and Neighbourhood states, and in third countries.
European Neighbourhood Policy
Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance
Employment
Transport
Health and social services
International Cooperation
Youth
Communication Activities: Last General Assemblies, Annual Conferences and CB Schools, with the participation of EU institutions:
- On-site, CB School, General Assembly and Annual Conference in Kosice (SK) on 8-10 November 20232 and study visit to Transkarpathia (UA 9 on 11 November
- On-site, CB School in Szeged (HU) on 28 September 2022; General Assembly and Annual Conference in Novi Sad (Vojvodina, Serbia) on 29-30 September 2022; study visit to Timisoara on 2 October.
- Hybrid, but mostly on-site, from Arnhem, on 20-22 October 2021
- Online from Eupen (German-speaking Community of Belgium, Euregio Meuse-Rhine), 4-6 November 2020
- Dresden (Euroregion Elbe/Labe, Germany-Czech Republic), 23-26 October 2019
- Oulu (Bothnian Arc, Finland-Sweden), 19-22 September 2018
Other events organized by AEBR:
- Conference "Cross-border service accessibility in the Valga hospital, Valka (LT), 14 March
- Conference "Harmonising Building Standars in the Nordic Region", Oslo, 23 March 2023
- AEBR Task Force External Borders meeting in Uzhhorod (UA), 6-7 June 2023
- CB tele-working across German borders, Kleve, 9-10 March 2023
- East Borders Forum 2022: Developing European Union’s Eastern External Borders, Lappeenranta (FI), 30 August 2022
- CB Public Services 2.0 Final event, Vaasa (FI), 16 June 2022
- Young Women and CBC, online webinar on 15 March 2022
- NEXT CBC, with TESIM, on 15 December 2021
- New Anholt Talks on the 50th Anniversary of AEBR on "50 Years of CBC" and "Communicating CBC", Anholt Castle, 18 June 2021
- Interreg Volunteer Youth (IVY), online event to celebrate Europe's Day with young volunteers, host organizations, European Commission's DG Regio and AEBR, 10 May 2021
- "SMEs in Border Regions (specific problems, possible solutions, opportunities offered by the new EU programmes and more)", online seminar in collaboration with EURADA (European Association of Development Agencies) with the participation of the European Commission's DG Grow, CB structures and chambers, CBC projects and institutional players, 4 February 2021
- "Functional CB regions as engines of EU integration of the Western Balkans", online conference to commemorate the 5th anniversary of CESCI's and AEBR's Balkan Offices, 16 December 2021
- Online Forum "IPA countries CBC challenges in times of Covid-19 pandemic", 26 August 2020
- Online Forum to promote "7 June as the International Day of Integration across National Boundaries", 8 June 2020
- Online Forum "CBC in times of pandemic - New borders vs. new opportunities", 5 June 2020
- WS on CB Labour Markets, Flensburg (Regio Sonderjylland-Schlleswig, DE-DK), 27 February 2020
- Information Session on EU-Russia CBC, Committee of the Regions, Brussels, 27 January 2020
- WS at the European Week of Regions and Cities 2021, 2020, 2019, etc.
Main projects currently implemented:
- IVY (Interreg Volunteer Youth), deploying young volunteers in Interreg projects, including ENI-CBC and IPA-CBC; more than 900 volunteers deployed to date (April 2023), March 2017 - December 2024
- b-solutions: identifying CB legal and administrative obstacles and proposing possible solutions, two calls for proposals in 2018 and 2019 produced the study of 43 cases, published in a first Compendium available in: https://www.b-solutionsproject.com/library; a 3rd and 4th calls followed in 2020 and 2021, with 47 new selected cases included in a 2nd Compendium at the end of 2021 and other publications. New calls for proposals and a new one for expressions of interest to identify additional experts were kept open, and a 3rd Compendium with new 41 cases has been published in April 2024. The project runs from December 2017 to September 2024
- several in the Balkans with young people;
- various with sub-national authorities in Latin American CB areas; direct contracts with the local authorities, and in the framework of wider EU projects (EUROsociAL, INNOVACT, etc.);
- exploration activities in Jerusalem, West Africa, and North-West Asia
Inter-institutional or Unofficial Groupings: Unofficial groupings
Head Office
Address: Enscheder Str. 362
Post Code: 48599
City: Gronau
Country: GERMANY
Phone: [object Object]
EU Office
Address: Enscheder Str. 362
Post Code: 48599
City: Gronau
Country: GERMANY
Phone: [object Object]
Financial Data
New Organisation: false
Closed Year: [object Object]
Current Year: [object Object]
Membership Information
Members10 Percent: 0
Members25 Percent: 2
Members50 Percent: 3
Members75 Percent: 1
Members: 13
Members F T E: 9.75
Info Members: 7 AEBR employees working 100% (5 work in projects directly connected with EU Territorial Cooperation, plus the Secretary General, directly dealing with these activities and issues, and the Book-keeper)
1 AEBR employee working 75%, developing administrative and logistics tasks
3 persons working 50% as external experts
2 persons working 25%, an external and a senior expert, who deal mainly with these issues.
Other people who collaborate with us, such as our members, also take part in these activities. On the other hand, there are projects such as b-solutions, where we hire further experts to advise on legal and administrative obstacles to cross-border cooperation. Therefore, the number of people working actively for us grows sometimes and then decreases again when the project tasks are over.
Structure
Structure Type: Structure
Is Member Of: There are some hundred AEBR members: border regions (their governments), cross-border regions (Euroregions, Eurodistrictis, EGTCs, ...). You can find them here: https://www.aebr.eu/members/
Organisation Members: ORU-FOGAR (Organisation des Régions Unies - Forum of Global Associations of Regions)
http://www.regionsunies-fogar.org/images/Documentos/46_declaration_marseille_en.pdf
AEBR Vicepresident François Maitia (Aquitaine) signed the "Declaration of Marseille", Founding Document of FOGAR; current AEBR President is Vice-president of ORU-FOGAR: https://www.regionsunies-fogar.org/en/
TEIN (Transfrontier Euro-Institut Network), Euro-Institut, Kehl: https://transfrontier.eu/
Cohesion Alliance: https://cor.europa.eu/en/engage/Pages/cohesion-alliance.aspx
European Cross-Border Citizens' Alliance: https://www.aebr.eu/initiatives/european-cross-border-citizens-alliance/
European Cross-Border Platform: https://cor.europa.eu/en/our-work/Pages/cross-border-cooperation.aspx
Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM): https://cor.europa.eu/en/our-work/Pages/ARLEM.aspx