- Representation of Interest
- Representation of Interest at European Level
- Regional Organisations
- Nordic Council of Ministers
Representation of interests at European level
AEBR is the only regional organisation in Europe that specifically deals with cross-border issues. The association represents the interests of border and cross-border regions at European and national level (see 'aims and tasks') by:
- submitting proposals, bringing in its know-how and showing problems and possible ways of solving them,
- being active in European institutions, organisations and networks,
- co-operating with other European regional associations.
In practice, this is done by elaborating joint statements of the European border regions, participating in hearings and consultations at European institutions, lobbying at politicians and administrative bodies, etc.
At the Council of Europe, AEBR co-operates with:
- the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and its Committees,
- the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE),
- the Expert Committee on Interregional Cooperation.
The most important results of the cooperation with the Council of Europe were the foundation of the European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning - a Committee of Border Experts - and the 1980 Madrid Framework Convention on cross-border cooperation between local and regional authorities. Two Additional Protocols were added in the nineties, and its 3rd protocol on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities has produced a new legal instrument for territorial cooperation in the territories of the Council's 47 Member States, the Euroregional Co-operation Groupings (ECGs). In March 2010, a cooperation agreement was signed between AEBR and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe wishing to:
- reinforce local and regional democracy and co-operation between local and regional authorities in Europe;
- promote territorial cooperation in general and cross-border cooperation in particular;
- strengthen the participation of local and regional authorities in defining and implementing the European policies;
- combine the forces of the Congress and the AEBR for more effective initiatives in favour of regional authorities and in particular in favour of European Border Regions;
Since its establishment in 1949, the Council of Europe has been committed to solving the problems of European border regions. Co-operation between the Council of Europe and the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) was established as early as in the end of the 1960s and thus the joining together of border regions was encouraged even prior to the official foundation of AEBR in 1971.
In close co-operation with AEBR, the Council of Europe has above all carried out the following activities:
- formulation of specific objectives and solutions in the area of European spatial development: "European Charter for Spatial Planning" (1983), "Guiding Principles for Sustainable Spatial Development of the European Continent" (2000), Recommendations of the Council of Ministers on these Guiding Principles (2002);
- improvement of the legal framework for cross-border co-operation in Europe, particularly by initiatives to improve cross-border co-operation between the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe - establishment of Euroregions; adopting the "European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation between Territorial Authorities", (1980 - Madrid Outline Convention) and its additional protocols in the 1990s;
- dealing with problems of cross-border co-operation, such as spatial development, infrastructure, environment, commuters, culture, social issues and disaster prevention policies;
- organisation of 7 "Conferences of Border Regions" between 1972 and 1999, during which important resolutions were taken;
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