Erasmusprogramma voor regionale en lokale bestuurders gelanceerd (en)

Following on from the success of the EU's Erasmus i programme for student mobility and training, the European Commission has put together a similar initiative to provide EU training to local and regional leaders from the Member States. Launched in collaboration with the Committee of the Regions, it will enable a group of mayors and regional governors to discover more about European Cohesion Policy through a programme of ad hoc training and learning across borders.

Following a call for expressions of interest (closed 20 June), the European Commission received over 1100 applications from mayors and regional representatives keen to learn more about the EU and European regional policy. A hundred candidates have been selected, eight of them members of the Committee of the Regions - from Belgium, France, Sweden, UK, Lithuania, Ireland and Poland.

The programme stretches over six months - Autumn 2012 to Spring 2013 - and has three components. First comes a visit to Brussels (8 to 11 October 2012) to take part in the 2012 OPEN DAYS, the European week of cities and regions jointly organised by the European Commission's DG Regio i and the Committee of the Regions. The event includes workshops on EU Cohesion Policy issues.

This will be followed by a visit (2½ days) to an EU city or region where participants can build on the OPEN DAYS experience and explore some issues more closely on the ground. These will include community-led development, energy efficiency, territorial regeneration and urban-rural partnerships, as well as social and economic inclusion. The programme concludes with a two-day seminar in Brussels to delve deeper into the topics covered, discuss lessons learned and compare notes.