The State of Regionalism in Europe an AER Report Part II
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The State of Regionalism in Europe An AER Report Part II: How do Regions look like in Europe? An overview for the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe June 2010 The publisher: The Assembly of European Regions (AER) is the largest independent network of regions in wider Europe. Bringing together more than 270 regions from 33 countries and 16 interregional organisations, AER is the political voice of its members and a forum for interregional co-operation. Further information under: www.aer.eu Director of publication: Agnès Ciccarone Chief editor: Regine Kramer Assistant editors: Gabriel Callsen, Martina Viktorinova External contributors: - Valentina Guerra, Doctorate student in Contemporary History, Robert Schumann University, Strasbourg (F), AER press and communication officer - Pascal Goergen, diplomatic representative of Bruxelles-Capitale to the European Union Printed: Groupe CAR Impression numérique (www.car.fr) Published: in 2 languages (English / French) for the first part, 1 language (English) for the second part. Reproduction authorized with mention of the source AER General Secretariat 6, rue Oberlin F- 67000 Strasbourg Tel.: +33 3 88 22 07 07 Fax: +33 3 88 75 67 19 E-mail: [email protected] Strasbourg, June 2010 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgment/ Words of thanks ......................................................................................5 Disclaimer ...............................................................................................................................5 1. Guidelines on how to read the country reports ..............................................................6 2. Country reports ..................................................................................................................7 ALBANIA ..............................................................................................................................7 ANDORRA .........................................................................................................................10 ARMENIA ...........................................................................................................................12 AUSTRIA* ..........................................................................................................................14 AZERBAIJAN .....................................................................................................................21 BELGIUM* ..........................................................................................................................24 BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA* ..........................................................................................31 BULGARIA .........................................................................................................................36 CROATIA ...........................................................................................................................38 CYPRUS ............................................................................................................................41 CZECH REPUBLIC* ..........................................................................................................43 DENMARK .........................................................................................................................48 ESTONIA ...........................................................................................................................51 FINLAND ............................................................................................................................54 FRANCE* ...........................................................................................................................57 The Former Yugoslav Republic of MACEDONIA ...............................................................64 GEORGIA ..........................................................................................................................68 GERMANY* ........................................................................................................................71 GREECE* ...........................................................................................................................79 HUNGARY .........................................................................................................................86 ICELAND ............................................................................................................................91 IRELAND ............................................................................................................................93 ITALY .................................................................................................................................97 LATVIA .............................................................................................................................102 LIECHTENSTEIN .............................................................................................................105 LITHUANIA ......................................................................................................................107 LUXEMBOURG ................................................................................................................110 MALTA .............................................................................................................................112 MOLDOVA .......................................................................................................................114 MONACO .........................................................................................................................117 MONTENEGRO ...............................................................................................................119 NETHERLANDS ..............................................................................................................121 3 NORWAY .........................................................................................................................124 POLAND* .........................................................................................................................127 PORTUGAL* ....................................................................................................................133 ROMANIA* .......................................................................................................................139 RUSSIAN FEDERATION ..................................................................................................146 SAN MARINO ...................................................................................................................150 SERBIA* ...........................................................................................................................152 SLOVAK REPUBLIC* .......................................................................................................157 SLOVENIA .......................................................................................................................164 SPAIN* .............................................................................................................................166 SWEDEN* ........................................................................................................................173 SWITZERLAND ................................................................................................................177 TURKEY* .........................................................................................................................180 UKRAINE ..........................................................................................................................184 UNITED KINGDOM* ........................................................................................................186 Annexes ..............................................................................................................................190 Annex 1: AER Declaration on Regionalism in Europe .....................................................190 Annex 2: Regions in European countries – Synopsis tables ...........................................197 Annex 3: AER Tabula regionum Europae .........................................................................247 Annex 4: Indicative bibliography and useful links and contacts .......................................248 List of acronyms .................................................................................................................254 *: Reports with interviews of regional politicians, MEPs or experts 4 Acknowledgment/ Words of thanks We would like to thank the Regions’ Presidents who took the time to answer our questions and provided us with their views on Regions in Europe and the advantages of being an AER member. We also thank the MEPs and experts from various countries who also accepted to provide us with their testimonies on the key role played by Regions in today’s Europe. Last but not least, many thanks to the regional officers, who checked our country reports, and to the representatives of national governments who helped us in our updating activities. Disclaimer To prepare each country report, the AER Secretariat used various sources, mentioned in Annex 4. The majority of the country reports was submitted to a two-level system of control: on the one hand, the AER General Secretariat asked for Member Regions in the country to check the accuracy of the information provided. On