County Councillor Secures Seat on European Regions' Assembly

11.30.22am GMT Tue 19th Dec 2006

Cllr. Duncan Fisken

Frome County Councillor Duncan Fisken has been re-elected a member of the Bureau of the Assembly of the European Regions (AER) for a further two years. Cllr. Fisken was attending the November 8th Bureau meeting, preceding the XXIII General Assembly of the AER, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

The Bureau, which meets twice a year, makes all the decisions necessary for the smooth running of affairs between General Assemblies and coordinates the work of the different Committees.

Duncan commented: "It is a great honour to represent Somerset County Council on the governing body of this important organisation. Indeed, the European Commission pays particular regard to the views of the Assembly, and therefore the member Regions, and to that effect the European Commissioner for Rural Policy, Danute Hubner, was at the recent General Assembly of the AER. The work of the AER is of real and direct benefit to the people of Somerset."

ENDS

Notes to Editors;

1. Please note that all regions of Europe that are governed by a 2nd tier elected government are eligible for membership of AER. In England this means County Councils are eligible for membership of AER but regional assembles are not, hence Somerset is classed as a 'region'.

2. The AER consists of more than 250 member regions, largely from the EU but there are additional members from other European countries (including Norway, Turkey and Russia).

3. Over the past six years, Somerset has secured significant grants from the funding programmes managed by the European Commission, totalling more than £12.5m for different projects, ranging from a few thousand pounds to more than £2m of European monies.

Two young people from Somerset attended this year's AER Youth Summer School.