Europe
Europe
EERA is one of the partners in the East of England European Partnership and provides a key link between local authorities and other partner organisations and the European Union. Staff are engaged on European work both at the EERA headquarters at Flempton in Suffolk and at the East of England Brussels Office.
The main areas of activity include:
- The development and implementation of a European Action Plan for the East of England.
- Ensuring that the region maintains and safeguards appropriate European Funding
- Developing policy responses to ensure the East of England's interests are protected as European policies are reviewed.
- Making contacts and sharing information to enable regional organisations to respond to and take advantage of the opportunities which membership of the European Union has to offer.
- Delivering practical advice and lessons learned to project developers in order to stregthen regional applications to European programmes.
- Acting as a catalyst to collective partnership working within the region to more effectively influence EU policy and programme formulation.
- Supporting regional representatives such as MEP's and Committee of the Regions members in their task of ensuring the voice of the East of England is heard within the European Union.
"European policy" is not a stand-alone issue, rather it is important that the European dimension of all policy areas is considered alongside the development of policy at national, regional and local levels. For this reason, staff are actively engaged in monitoring, influencing and communicating policy at the European level in all fields from environment and sustainability issues to the Common Agricultural Policy and the rural economy; from spatial planning to tourism and leisure; from asylum to employment and social affairs.
Another key task of EERA has been the development of links with other European regions. In particular, EERA has been pursuing opportunities to work with the regions of Malopolska in Poland and Central Denmark.
EERA is actively involved in a number of pan-European networks including the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) and the North Sea Commission. The CPMR is a network of 160 regions from 26 states who work together to improve their competitiveness and promote the balanced development of the European Union. The North Sea Commission is one of the so-called "geographical commissions" of the CPMR. EERA has held a number of key positions on CPMR and the North Sea Commission, including as the UK representative of CPMR's political bureau and the England representative on the North Sea Commission Executive Committee; chairmanship of the North Sea Commission's Sustainable Development Thematic Group; the vice chairmanship of the Culture and Tourism Group. This involvement has helped to further the region's interests at European level by giving the East of England a strong platform for influencing the development of European policy and by bringing colleagues in the region together with potential partners for European-funded projects. Please click on the links above to find out more information.
Within the region, EERA co-ordinates the Europe & International Affairs Officer Group (EIAOG). This is a network of officers from local authorities and partner agencies with an interest in the European agenda. The Group meets quarterly to discuss policy and funding developments and to share project ideas and successes. Between meetings, it is a vital means of communication for European specialists in the region. For further information on how you can get involved with EIAOG, please contact: Michelle Armstrong michelle.armstrong@eera.gov.uk or Lesley Rayner lesley.rayner@eera.gov.uk.