Brussels, 31/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The mobility of young people in the regions of Europe is an essential part of the Eastern Partnership. The Assembly of European Regions (AER) and its Youth Regional Network (YRN) discussed this issue at a seminar held in Wroclaw, Poland, on 28 October on the initiative of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers. Mobility programmes for young people from the regions that are part of the Eastern Partnership and other European countries were showcased. MEP Piotr Borys (EPP, Poland) said at the seminar that “today's discussion about the Easter Partnership is not coincidental. The Eastern Partnership covers over 70 million citizens, which corresponds to nearly 20% of the EU population. The on-going initiatives by the EU to achieve greater integration with Eastern Europe stem from the strong will to share our good practice with our Eastern neighbours, and we have allocated nearly €2 billion to it”. Young people are becoming more and more interested: over the last few years, more than 27,000 young people have taken part in projects in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus (EEAC) countries as part of the “Youth in Action 2007-2010” programme, which is funded by the European Commission. This support will increase, stated Maria Podlasek, from DG Culture and Education of the European Commission: “In 2012, the European Commission's Youth in Action programme will receive €31.5 million to finance exchanges with Eastern Europe and the Caucasus countries. This is an unprecedented amount of money which will be allocated from the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument”. What better way of ensuring the lasting success of neighbourhood policy with the regions of the east? (MD/transl.rt)