04/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - The 250 regions that are members of the Assembly of European Regions (AER), which met in General Assembly in Naples on 28 and 29 November, called for wider participation by local and regional authorities in decision-making and the legislative process at European level. These regions are concerned by the fact that the work of the Convention on the future of Europe has so far not taken into account the strategic role of the regions in the European institutional architecture, they say. They call for the progress made by the White Paper on European governance and the Laeken mandate in the draft constitutional treaty to be implemented, that is, for regional authorities to be recognised as full partners of the EU.