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Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe announces its agenda

20 October 2010 17:03 (UTC +04:00)

New national delegations will elect the Congress President, its Bureau and Presidents of its Chamber of Local Authorities and Chamber of Regions.
The changes proposed include three new statutory committees: a Monitoring Committee, a Governance Committee and a Current Affairs Committee. Once the amendments to the Congress Charter are approved by the Committee of Ministers, the Congressâ€™ Standing Committee will be replaced by a Statutory Forum, the mandate of Congress members will be extended from two to four years, and the 30-per cent requirement for womenâ€™s representation in national delegations will be applied also to substitute members.
Also, the Congress will debate monitoring reports on the situation of local and regional democracy in Russia and local democracy in Estonia and Montenegro. There will be a discussion on the report on observation of local elections in Georgia on 30 May 2010.
Amongst further Congress reports on the agenda of next weekâ€™s Plenary are: inter-faith and intercultural tensions at local level; cultural integration of Muslim women; integration of young people from disadvantaged areas; rights and responsibilities of territorial authorities in the fight against corruption; coastal towns tackling threats from the sea and landscape as a new dimension of public territorial action.
The Congress will also mark the 25th Anniversary of the European Charter of Local Self-Government (opened for signature on 15 October 1985), with Andorra signing the Charter during the session as a first step towards its ratification. In addition, a round table will be held on co-operation with associations representing regions in Europe.
Among the personalities to address the session are Prime Minister of Andorra Jaume Bartumeu Cassany; Musa Xhaferri, Minister of Local Self-Government of the â€œformer Yugoslav Republic of Macedoniaâ€ chairing the Committee of Ministers; Council of Europe Secretary General ThorbjÃ¸rn Jagland and Parliamentary Assembly President MevlÃ¼t Ã‡avuÅŸoÄŸlu; Manuel Chaves Gonzalez, Third Vice-President of the Government and Minister for Territorial Policy (Spain) ; Mercedes Bresso, President of the EU Committee of the Regions; and Mayor of Tbilisi George Ugulava (Georgia).